51 pages • 1 hour read
Something Wilder
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Chapters 19-27Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 19 Summary
As Lily and Leo make their way further down the Maze, Lily hears Duke’s voice in her head. Finally they reach the Green River. Leo wants to take it slowly but Lily is nervous about getting to the cabin. Determined to cross, she removes her jeans and shirt to keep them dry. They begin moving through the water but Lily’s foot gets caught and she can’t move. The only way to free herself is to drop her pack in the water. Leo encourages her and she finally releases her foot. She tries to focus on the mission and not to lose hope but the current is strong. Momentarily convinced she’s going to get swept away, she tells herself she hopes that Leo never gets over her. However, she makes it across and she and Leo throw themselves onto the shore, relieved. Lily finds herself “remembering the first time [they] made love” and wonders if Leo remembers it too (220). Leo tells her he wasn’t going to let her drown because he couldn’t bear to lose her again.
Chapter 20 Summary
On the bank, Lily tries to calm down while processing Leo’s words. He offers her a change of clothes and his sleeping bag. He removes his wet pants, too, and starts a fire. They sit together trying to get warm and talking about their day. Lily tells herself not to fall for Leo again. She needs to focus on the mission as their futures depend on the money. However, Leo once again brings up their kiss from the night before. Lily dismisses him but they end up climbing into the sleeping bag together, as Lily’s pack is still wet. They lie close together and Lily falls into a half sleep where she dreams that Leo tells her he still loves her.
Chapter 21 Summary
Lily and Leo are both awake at midnight. They lie in the bag talking about their past relationships. Leo admits he’s dated a bit but that he doesn’t easily “fall in and out of love” (237). Lily tells herself not to start anything with Leo but finds herself pulling him closer. Leo reminds her he won’t do anything she doesn’t want to do. They kiss and have sex, during which Lily wonders if she still loves him. Afterward, she feels wide awake but Leo falls asleep.
Chapter 22 Summary
Leo and Lily wake up late the next morning, They race to get their things together and return to the trail. While packing, Leo remembers the night before and thinks of all the things he didn’t say. He wonders what his future holds and wishes he could move to be with Lily. However, he doesn’t know if that’s what she wants.
It’s already hot when they start back out on the trail. While winding through a tricky part of the Maze, Lily asks Leo about the night before. He pulls them aside and insists they stop to finish the conversation. Leo professes his love to Lily and Lily admits she might feel the same. He promises he’ll do anything to be with her again. Lily argues that she can’t base her life around him, as she’s been doing that for too long. Leo understands and insists they focus on finding the money so she can make the life she wants. Afterward, they return to the trail. They arrive at the cabin just as it starts hailing.
Chapter 23 Summary
Lily and Leo race inside. They study the tiny, dilapidated space, wondering if Duke would’ve hid the money here. Lily explains how Duke built the cabin for her mom but that her mom quickly grew tired of Duke’s adventuring and absences and left. Leo agrees it must’ve been hard for her mom but also argues that she shouldn’t have abandoned Lily. His dad did the same thing when he was young.
Lily and Leo wait out the storm in the cabin. They kiss and have sex. Leo is overwhelmed by affection for Lily throughout the encounter.
Chapter 24 Summary
After sex, Lily and Leo lie awake talking about their lives. Lily realizes she wants to be with Leo and is glad they have a little more time together. Finally, they get up and go outside to find the stump. Something doesn’t feel right and they aren’t sure they’re in the right place. They use Terry’s satellite phone to find a map and are shocked when several messages pop up on the screen. They’re part of a texting thread with three other people who are contacting Terry about his trip. Lily and Leo realize he was telling his friends in the messages about the treasure hunt. They’re now anxious that Terry hasn’t been responding and think he’s taking the money for himself.
Chapter 25 Summary
Realizing Terry’s friends are following them, Lily and Leo race through the brush in search of the stump. Lily’s mind races, overwhelmed that Terry was working with others to get the journal and treasure. Finally they find the stump. Duke burned a cipher into the surface. They realize it’s braille and is sending them to a different spot on the river. Their excitement fizzles when they hear footsteps and a cocking gun behind them.
Chapter 26 Summary
Two men Lily and Leo assume are Terry’s friends emerge from the brush. They introduce themselves as Jay and Kevin and thank Lily and Leo for solving the stump puzzle. Then they zip-tie Lily and Leo’s hands and feet together at gunpoint and leave to finish their hunt.
Lily and Leo sit in the sun unsure what to do. Lily remembers she has a knife in her boot and they work together to unbind themselves.
Chapter 27 Summary
Lily and Leo set back out on the trail. When they stop for a snack, Leo worries about what comes next. He knows the treasure is important to Lily but is also worried about Terry’s friends. He can’t decide what the future holds for him either. Finally, he tells Lily that he wants to come up with a way for them to be together. He suggests she come to New York with him but Lily doesn’t want to leave Nicole or depend on Leo. Although discouraged, Leo assures her they’ll come up with something.
Lily finds a ledge where she gets service on the satellite phone. She contacts Nicole and updates her on what happened with Terry’s friends. Then she makes plans for Nicole to pick them up the next day. Afterward, Leo has a revelation about Duke’s photo. It’s a mirror image with a different message than they thought. Lily realizes they were looking at the wrong tree and insists they return to the cabin. She texts Bradley and Walter telling them about the image and asking them to wait to pick them up.
Chapters 19-27 Analysis
Lily and Leo’s adventures through Overlook Maze usher them toward Love, Trust, and Forgiveness and facilitate The Journey Toward Self-Discovery. On the surface, Lily and Leo’s trip to Duke’s cabin and search for Duke’s tree is meant to lead them to Duke’s treasure. However, because Lily and Leo have a history together, their trip compels them to communicate in new ways and to learn about and from each other. They must support and encourage each other so that they don’t “die in the Green River” (212); they must make compromises for their comfort and safety; and they must decipher Duke’s codes together. Although Lily worries that they’re endangering themselves “chasing her father’s lunatic dream” (212), the adventure grants Lily and Leo unexpected opportunities to make amends for the past and to reinvent their former relationship. They not only become sexually intimate again, but they also start to share more details about their recent experiences and imagine what a future together might look like now. These facets of their dynamic capture Lily and Leo’s growth as individuals and as romantic partners.
The Canyonlands National Park setting and landscape provide further insight into the characters’ inner worlds. The setting is also a narrative device used to challenge Lily and Leo physically, emotionally, and relationally. For example, the scene where the two protagonists cross the Green River is particularly significant in this regard. The way that the narrator describes Lily’s regard for the experience is symbolic of how she sees and moves through life:
If either of them stumbled, the weight of their giant packs could flip them over, pull them under. The bags could snag on an obstacle and trap them. Yes […] Lily could easily lose everything in there […] but considering the alternative, she’d take it. She’d crossed this river before, many times, but never when it was this full or this swift. It was the danger of being deep in a low canyon—rainfall could quickly flood them out. Last night’s storm had been short, but it was a rager. When Lily looked up, she could see a few tiny waterfalls pouring over the edge of the red rock just from where she was standing. It wasn’t going to get easier if they just stood there and watched (215).
The river is a symbol for life itself. The risks and dangers that Lily considers about her river-crossing reveal her concerns about her future. She knows that she needs to confront her fears and to try overcoming them if she wants to survive and fulfill her desires. The image of Lily getting her foot trapped in the river later in the scene symbolizes Lily’s fear of making a decision. She feels trapped by her current life in Utah but is also unsure if she should embrace a future with Leo. Her experiences throughout her Canyonlands journey therefore mirror Lily’s internal experience and reveal her intimate feelings about herself and her life.
Meanwhile, Lily’s contemplative state of mind inspires Leo to reconsider his life and future, too. While Lily’s character is depicted in near constant motion, Leo’s character often encourages the two to stop and rest or to pause their trek in order to have difficult conversations. One such moment appears in Chapter 27 after they free themselves from the zip ties. In this scene, Leo realizes that since Cora’s graduation, he has had “no idea what it [will] even look like to live his life for himself” (290). His and Lily’s treasure hunt momentarily convinces him that they could find the money and make a new life together. However, their conflict with Terry’s friends halts this hopeful plan and challenges Leo to reconsider who he is and where he wants to be in the future. These questions feel particularly pressing because Lily and Leo are renewing their old intimacy. This illustrates the ongoing process of finding oneself and claiming one’s autonomy as an adult, an important part of The Journey Toward Self-Discovery. These dynamics also imply that Love, Trust, and Forgiveness in intimate relationships create opportunities for renewal and change.
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By Christina Lauren
