Summary

In Part 2, "July," Chapter 3, September insists she and July paint the sitting room. They work all day. September does not notice the bandage on July's arm. As they work, "time does an odd thing, goes backward and forward" (142). The room is hardly painted, then completely finished. July watches September through a crack in the bathroom door, seemingly for days. When she comes out, September is gone. July finds a soft spot in the wall, and sticks her hand into it. Something like wings moves behind it. Then ants spew from the hole, sticking to the paint. A beak emerges afterwards. Then it is late, and July wakes with September pinning her down. July thinks she is dreaming. In the morning, the hole in the wall is missing.

In Chapter 4, the restless days and night continue. It has only been two weeks; July...