Summary

Denise Crawford stands beneath the tree house and calls out the name that hurts her so much to say. Although logic tells her that her son is dead, some stronger force pulls at her and compels her hands to climb the ladder and press his body into hers, “so tightly it made her draw in her breath and lean back against the bark, so real and rough and hard against her spine” (271). She hugs the boy, compelled to open her arms for him after looking into his lost eyes. With one glance, Noah confirms himself as one of the lost and “one of [Denise’s] own” (271).

In Chapter 34, Paul Clifford awakens on a forest floor to the sound of men’s voices on walkie-talkies, as they search the forest for Noah. The similarities of the details to the day Tommy...