Chapter 24: Hagar Intervenes – Summary and Analysis

⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.

Summary

The chapter opens immediately after Hagar has interrupted the girls’ attempted rain spell in the woods. Fern must confess the truth about their witchcraft. Hagar reveals that Miss Wellwood has been harmed by their magic and forces the girls to bury the bottled storm under the front porch steps. She burns their book, How to Be a Groovy Witch. Fern retreats to Rose’s attic room, feeling defeated. Zinnia takes charge, insisting they face Miss Parcae one last time to declare the book lost and that they will solve Holly’s problem themselves. Fern reluctantly agrees, ceding leadership to Zinnia.

Key Events

Hagar smells the “witch work” on the girls and makes Fern admit everything about the bookmobile, the spells, Dr. Vincent, and Miss Wellwood.
Holly erupts, defending their actions against Miss Wellwood’s cruelty, but Hagar dismisses her.
Hagar burns How to Be a Groovy Witch in the kitchen sink, then makes Holly rub its ashes over a Nehi bottle that contains the half-finished storm.
The girls dig a hole exactly one foot deep in front of the porch, bury the bottle, and stomp the dirt eighteen times.
Hagar explains the procedure: bottle a storm in ash, tie it in knots, bury it where feet will press it down, and the trouble will eventually be released as a harmless breeze.
Fern isolates herself in Rose’s room; Zinnia and Holly find her. Zinnia criticizes Fern’s despair and proposes a new plan: they will tell Miss Parcae the book is lost and refuse further contact, then find a real way to prevent Holly from being sent home.
Fern accepts Zinnia’s leadership.

Character Development

Fern – She moves from guilt and hopelessness (“whatever she touched turned to failure”) to a reluctant acceptance that Zinnia can guide them. Her confession to Hagar marks the end of her belief in witchcraft as a solution.
Holly – For a moment she resists Hagar, insisting the witches would have helped her escape, but she quickly deflates. Her anger shows how desperate she is, but she still lacks agency.
Zinnia – Emerges as the strongest and most pragmatic of the three. She calmly reasons that Hagar’s intervention was beneficial, that the book wasn’t a library book (so no real loss), and that they can outsmart Miss Parcae. For the first time, Fern sees her as “in control.”
Hagar – Revealed to be a knowledgeable figure who understands conjure but rejects it as dangerous. She takes responsibility for cleaning up the mess, not out of kindness but duty. Her exhaustion and sadness suggest she has seen this pattern before.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

Containment and burial – The Nehi bottle buried under trafficked dirt symbolizes the suppression of dangerous magic. The chapter emphasizes finishing what you start and the consequences of leaving power half-unleashed.
Burned book – The destruction of How to Be a Groovy Witch represents the end of the girls’ illusory power and their return to mundane reality. Fern’s feeling that Hagar “killed” a book underscores the loss of possibility.
Reversal of authority – Miss Wellwood, the usual authority figure, is absent and possibly dead. Hagar temporarily fills the role of disciplinarian, but Zinnia ultimately assumes leadership among the girls, signaling a shift from supernatural solutions to practical ones.
Failed witchcraft as growing up – The empty feeling Fern experiences—the storm receding—mirrors the deflation of fantasy. She must accept that magic cannot solve their real-world problems of forced pregnancy and institutional control.

Why This Chapter Matters

This chapter closes the book’s central magical plotline. The girls lose their source of power (the book) and face the tangible consequences of their actions (Miss Wellwood’s injury). It also sets up the story’s final conflict: the confrontation with Miss Parcae and the search for a non-magical way to save Holly. Zinnia’s takeover marks Fern’s maturation—she learns to trust a peer instead of a book. The burial ritual reinforces the novel’s theme that some forces, once released, must be carefully contained, and that true agency comes from facing problems directly rather than through shortcuts.

Study Questions and Answers

Why does Hagar burn the book rather than return it to Miss Parcae?
Hagar believes the book is dangerous and that destroying it is the only way to ensure the girls stop practicing magic. She also suspects the book was never truly part of the bookmobile’s collection—it was a gift meant to lure them into harm. Burning it eliminates the temptation and the source of their trouble.
How does Zinnia’s attitude toward the bookmobile change from previous chapters?
Earlier, Zinnia was a willing participant, but now she recognizes Miss Parcae’s manipulation. She argues that because the book had no library stamp, it wasn’t library property, so they can claim it’s lost without penalty. She also insists they face Miss Parcae in person to assert their refusal—showing she has moved from passive follower to determined leader.
What does the burial ritual reveal about Hagar’s own knowledge of witchcraft?
Hagar’s precise instructions (ash from the burned book, brown string knotted with red wax, a bottle buried exactly one foot deep and stomped eighteen times) demonstrate that she has deep, practical knowledge of conjure. However, she uses it only to undo harm, not to gain power, and she warns the girls that nothing good comes of witchery. This positions her as a wise gatekeeper rather than a practitioner.