Chapter Twenty-eight

Sonya enjoys a rare calm, secures a new book-cover job, and works through web tasks while spring snow flurries pass. Hearing a bouncing ball, she sneaks downstairs, glimpses a young boy in knickers playing fetch with Yoda, and later finds the Poole family book opened to John (Jack) Poole, who died at nine of scarlet fever. Trey stops by; over dinner with Cleo they connect Jack to the lineage and discuss Sonya’s completed Doyle website.

They decide to watch The Terminator in the media room. Hester erupts: lights strobe, doors slam, posters fall, floors shake. Trey steadies Sonya and Cleo until the disturbance ends. They deliberately finish the film, rehang the posters, and talk through Hester’s focus on Sonya and the recurring message from spirits to find the seven rings to break the curse.

That night, after intimacy with Trey, distant music plays at 3 a.m. and a woman weeps somewhere in the house. In the morning, Cleo preps for a Ryder yoga shoot arranged by Corrine Doyle while Sonya receives Corrine’s photos of Eddie and Owen for the campaign.

Sonya and Cleo brainstorm a late May/early June open-house event to welcome locals, merchants, and officials, planning food from village restaurants and help from friends and family. Sonya texts Trey to enlist his family’s guidance.

While Cleo paints a mermaid holding a recursive glass sphere, she confronts Hester’s reflection in the bathroom mirror. Scalding water blasts, the door won’t open, and “leave or die” writes itself in steam. Simultaneously, Hester seals Sonya in the darkened library, the fire roaring and doors slamming, until Yoda squeezes through and helps break the spell. Sonya and Cleo reunite, shaken but defiant, take air outside, and resolve to seek Cleo’s grandmother’s protections. Sonya instructs Cleo to follow if she sleepwalks, determined to find answers—and the rings.