Summary

Abby arrives home from work at the start of chapter 26 to a “large centerpiece on the porch” from Irena expressing condolences for Laura’s death (197). Abby gets back in the car and sets out for the psychic whose business card Ralph was given at the hospital. When she arrives, a young woman opens the door and immediately remembers who Abby is. She brings Abby upstairs, where she sees the psychic, “Opal-eye,” who was also in the hospital that night (200). The psychic begins to work, and “abruptly spits onto the black tablecloth” before starting to “mutter” (201). The young woman translates, and says that both Laura and Ralph had tried to kill themselves before. She also says that something has “attached to [Abby]” and they are “not alone” (202). Abby thinks about when Ralph proclaimed that he is “dead” as the young woman (Annie) and Opal-eye...