Summary

Chapter 8 is titled “A Dining Room, Empty Except for the Light.” The dining room in the Costello's home has never been used. Adam says the room was “waiting for the perfect evening that never happened” (Location 204). Mrs. Costello rents out the downstairs of the family home to the Marsh family in an effort to make ends meet. When the Marshes move in, Mrs. Costello insists they share a family meal in the dining room. Adam has a 12-year-old sister named Nattie. He and Nattie have a conversation about the dining room with Nattie saying the room “has a dark, broken soul. It would be like eating in an Egyptian tomb” (Location 225). When Adam says their mother insists, Nattie says that an “infinite vortex” (Location 226) will swallow them.

The meal is awkward. From the first moment, Chloe's brother, Hunter, is interested only in the...