Later

Jamie asks Donnie Marsden where the pills are. Like other dead, Marsden answers as if he no longer cares about the things that mattered to him in life. He says that most of the pills are in the bathroom medicine cabinet. Jamie realizes he asked the wrong question. Liz demands to know what Marsden said, and Jamie tells her that he’ll ask the right question this time, but she has to promise not to kill him. Liz promises, but Jamie knows she’s lying.

This time, Jamie asks Marsden where he hid the OxyContin pills that Liz wants. Marsden hesitates, and when he answers, the words that come out don’t match his mouth—the same thing that happened with Therriault. He says he doesn’t want to answer, but Jamie presses, and finally, Marsden replies that the drugs are in the panic room.

Marsden directs Jamie to a secret door in the library and gives him the code to open it. The panic room contains food, a computer, and a zippered bag. Liz opens the bag, and a few pills fall out. Liz, who was expecting a huge stash, is furious.

Meanwhile, Jamie casually opens a folder lying beside the computer and stiffens with shock. The folder contains pictures of Marsden and another man, naked, torturing Marsden’s wife to death. Both men are grinning and obviously enjoying what they’re doing. Liz stops raging about the pills and asks Jamie if he still regrets her killing Marsden. Jamie points out that the pictures aren’t why she killed him.

Liz reverts to the subject of the pills. Jamie says Marsden probably lied about having a stash. At first, Liz refuses to believe she’s been conned and her plans for escape have been ruined. She tells Jamie to ask Marsden where the rest of the pills are hidden, and Jamie suddenly sees a chance to escape without summoning the deadlight. Marsden affirms that there are no more pills.

Jamie tells Liz that Marsden has another stash hidden among the shelves of food. Liz starts pawing through the canned goods, and Jamie waits until she is distracted to sprint for the door. Liz comes after him, and he trips at the top of the stairs. He tries to scramble down the stairs on his hands and knees, but Liz grabs his ankle. Out of options, Jamie screams for the deadlight.

White light pours from a pair of mirrors at the top of the stairs. Liz’s grip loosens, and Jamie skids down the stairs on his stomach. At the bottom, he looks up and sees Liz staring into one of the mirrors and screaming. Jamie is grateful he doesn’t know what she’s seeing. A hand reaches out of the mirror, grabs Liz, and pulls her against the glass. The lights go out.

Liz’s screams change to mad, hysterical laughter. The deadlight lets her go, and she runs down the stairs, staring over her shoulder at the fading light from the mirror. She trips and falls down the stairs, still laughing until the second bounce, which breaks her neck, killing her instantly.

Jamie asks Liz if she’s alright, despite knowing she’s dead. When he turns around, he sees her standing behind him. She raises her arm and points over Jamie’s shoulder.

Jamie turns, already knowing what he’ll see. Therriault’s skin is blackened and cracked, with the deadlight shining through the cracks. The demon grins at Jamie and demands a repeat of the Ritual of Chüd. Part of Jamie wants to turn and run, but he knows he needs to face the demon.

Jamie commands the deadlight to go away forever, but it insists on repeating the ritual. He doubts his ability to beat the demon a second time, and tells it to leave again. For a moment, he thinks it’s going to leap on him, but it doesn’t. Jamie thinks it probably can’t. The deadlight finally retreats, saying it will return when called.

When Jamie has pulled himself together, he finds Liz’s phone in her pocket and calls 911. While waiting for the cops, he calls his mother and tells her everything, but omits the deadlight.

The police arrive and find that all the electrical circuits in the house have burned out. Jamie deletes Liz’s blackmail against him and his mother from her phone.

Jamie is admitted to the nearest emergency clinic. Tia arrives, and the county attorney and police question Jamie. Tia tells the cops about her relationship with Liz. Jamie tells his side of the story, omitting his talking to dead people; when the cops ask why Liz took Jamie, he lies that he doesn’t know.

That night, in a hotel room, Jamie dreams that he is walking on a lonely country road with a sickle moon overhead, whistling “Let It Be.” He suddenly hears footsteps behind him. Adult Jamie has had this dream a few times, and is terrified that he’ll wake to the deadlight someday.

The police eventually come to the same conclusion Tia suggested to Jamie (as a cover-up)—that Liz kidnapped Jamie because she wanted a child, or because she thought a woman and child traveling together would be less conspicuous than traveling alone. When the newspapers report the pictures that were found in Marsden’s panic room, Liz is somewhat considered a hero.

Liz’s story fades out of the news, and Jamie’s life goes back to normal. Jamie is 17 when his mother calls on her way to Uncle Harry’s nursing home; Uncle Harry has died. She assures Jamie that he doesn’t have to come, but he insists. Arriving at the nursing home, he sees his mother seated on a bench under a tree, with Uncle Harry standing nearby.

When Tia goes inside, Jamie greets Uncle Harry. His uncle doesn’t reply, but looks at him. Jamie asks if he still has Alzheimer’s, but he replies “no.” Then, Jamie asks if Uncle Harry knows who his father is, and Uncle Harry replies, “I am.”

Jamie doesn’t ask Uncle Harry how his birth happened, as he doesn’t want to know. He put together a story in his head, based on the facts he does know. In his story, it happened when Harry and Tia’s grandparents died, and Harry came back from New York for the funeral. At some point, Harry and his sister, who was several years younger, drank too much and were consoling each other when things went too far. A few months later, Tia joined her brother’s literary agency.

Adult Jamie insists that most children born of incest are healthy, aside from some medical problems. One of the most common issues is fused fingers or toes, and Jamie has scars between two of his fingers where a doctor had to separate them when he was an infant. He speculates that his supernatural ability is the result of incest. He also wonders about Uncle Harry’s early onset Alzheimer’s, and plans to take a test for it later.

Looking back at his story, Adult Jamie realizes that his writing has improved over the course of it. He hopes to get stronger in other ways as well, as he believes he’ll face the deadlight again someday.