60 pages • 2 hours read
Leigh BardugoA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
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Alex regrets her choice to leave Turner during the interrogation and realizes her mistake in the basement of Black Elm. She encounters the Grays of Darlington’s parents, who reveal their son killed them and left behind the drained husk of another person as a warning. With no way to call for help, Alex guides the trapped Grays out of the basement despite the risks. They make their way upstairs.
While attempting to leave the house, Alex encounters Anselm, who informs her of the Lethe board’s punishment. Their argument is interrupted by loud booms from upstairs, and the ceiling collapses.
The ballroom floor collapses, sending Alex, Anselm, and Darlington tumbling. Darlington transforms into a menacing form and mentions an incomprehensible name. Fearing for Anselm’s safety, Alex tells him to run, and she summons her salt snakes. Anselm pleads with Alex to stop Darlington, offering a way to return her to Lethe, but he calls her by her last name, “Stern.” Only Darlington had referred to Alex by that moniker. Alex realizes that Anselm is Golgarot, the demon who came with Darlington from hell. Anselm/Golgarot reveals he has manipulated events to prevent Darlington’s return. Anselm/Golgarot confesses to killing Darlington’s parents and the real Anselm, who is the husk in the basement.
As the battle continues, Alex overpowers Anselm/Golgarot temporarily and Darlington tells her that her abilities as a Wheelwalker allow her to cross the border to hell without the Gauntlet. Using the remnants of the protective circle upstairs as a portal, Alex crosses back into hell. Before she can get Darlington’s soul, Anselm/Golgarot arrives in the form of a demonic white rabbit and destroys the keepsake box. He demands to know how she crossed the circle—he realizes she must be a “Wheelwalker,” an exceptionally powerful sorceress who can control supernatural forces. Alex takes Darlington’s soul into herself, gaining the strength to escape Anselm/Golgarot and return to Black Elm. In the mortal world, she restores Darlington’s soul to his body. Golgarot arrives in the mortal realm as himself, and Darlington tears him apart. Darlington regains his humanity and casually mentions the need for new clothes.
Chapter 37 shifts to Darlington’s perspective following his return from hell. Haunted by his experiences, he questions if he is still a monster. Darlington grapples with the fact that his parents are dead. He also reflects on the house, which once held significance for him but now seems foreign.
As he descends the stairs, he encounters Alex in the kitchen. They share a tense moment of recognition and mutual understanding, even though they remain uncertain about each other’s true intentions. Despite their past conflicts, they form an uneasy alliance.
Returning to Il Bastone, Alex and Darlington reunite with Dawes, Turner, and Mercy. Outside, demons await them, with one taking on the guise of Alex’s grandmother. Darlington, unseen by Alex, transforms into his demon form to protect her. Alex overcomes the demons and controls the flames she encounters as she sends the demons to hell. Darlington returns to his human façade before Alex sees him, and he and Alex retreat into the house and discuss their situation. Tripp is missing, and they fear his demon may have consumed him.
Darlington reveals that Golgarot, a demon prince, manipulated their lives. When Darlington entered the demon realm, he split into human and demon halves, with the demon torturing the human. After Dawes and Alex’s first failed ritual to save him, Golgarot used his body to pass into the mortal realm; Darlington had to stay within the circle of protection to prevent himself as Golgarot from fully entering society. Golgarot then used Darlington’s body to lure Anselm to Black Elm and killed him, using Anselm, a weaker host than Darlington, to walk the earth. The group decides to use the Gauntlet to return the rest of their demons to hell, employing an artifact named Pierre the Weaver to lure them into a trap.
The characters prepare for their final return to hell, settling in various rooms of Il Bastone. Darlington is in the Virgil bedroom, Dawes sleeps on the parlor couch, Turner rests on the armory floor, and Alex and Mercy share the Dante bedroom. Alex tries to contact Tripp through text but decides it is too risky to search for him that night.
In a conversation with Mercy, Alex admits to her history of killing Len and the drug dealer without remorse, which concerns her. However, Mercy reassures her and expresses her gratitude for having Alex on their side.
Later, Alex visits Darlington in the Virgil bedroom, and they discuss his feelings about returning to hell. Alex asks him about the newfound connection between his post-demon form and her fire. Darlington reveals that the marks on his newly transformed body, larger and more muscular after being saved from hell, signify his binding in service to Alex.
Chapter 40 changes back to Darlington’s perspective. They reflect on the news and engage in light banter. However, Alex becomes serious, expressing her discomfort with the growing number of mysteries surrounding their situation. Darlington admits his uncertainty as well. He grapples with his newfound desires and the challenge of readjusting to human behavior. He also reflects on how the group has grown stronger and come together in his absence, leaving him feeling like a stranger among them.
They then discuss Alex’s identity as a Wheelwalker and her ability to control supernatural forces. Darlington warns her that hell will demand a price for taking Darlington when they return. When she asks how he knows, he reveals that he is now a demon. Alex’s reaction surprises him, as she does not respond with shock or horror. The conversation leaves them both contemplating their uncertain future as Alex leaves to speak with Turner and make some calls.
In Alex’s perspective, she reflects on the shifting roles and power dynamics between her and Darlington. Dawes informs her of the Praetor Walsh-Whiteley’s imminent arrival, prompting Alex to quickly get ready. They attempt to contact Darlington to delay his return to Il Bastone, but he arrives before receiving the message. They scramble to create a cover story for his unexpected return.
During lunch, Darlington and Alex find it challenging to eat due to their fasting requirement for the upcoming descent into the underworld. They discuss past events, including Dean Sandow’s death and Darlington’s disappearance from the previous year. Walsh-Whiteley’s comments about Darlington’s return raise suspicions about his knowledge.
After Walsh-Whiteley departs, Alex makes phone calls to her mother, Turner, Tripp, and Eitan. She threatens to expose Eitan’s organization to Reiter. Darlington questions her intentions, but Alex insists that he must trust her.
This section begins Part 2: “So Below.” The narrative finally catches up to the book’s in medias res opening at Black Elm. It reveals the true culprit of the manipulations and murder, setting the stage for the narrative’s conclusion. Bardugo revisits Alex in the basement with the Grays, but this time, she provides context: Alex is there because she thinks Darlington is behind everything, which is supported by the bodies she finds: his parents. However, this assumption is dashed by Anselm’s arrival at the house. While at first, she is concerned with getting him out before he becomes a victim as well, his use of the name “Stern” when referring to her triggers a realization. Darlington used that name for her, not Anselm. Therefore, Anselm must be the same demon who had been taking on Darlington’s appearance. Like the other demons, he has taken on aspects of the person he is hunting: Darlington. This explains many cryptic comments and odd instances of symbolism Alex noticed in her dreams. He had hoped to fool Alex into thinking that Darlington was responsible for everything, pushing her to kill him: “I wanted to watch you torment yourself over the murder of your beloved mentor for a while” (376). It would have both dealt with Darlington for good and further tormented Alex. However, the plan failed because Alex was too aware of Darlington’s mannerisms and noticed their duplication in Golgarot-as-Anselm.
Early in Part 1, Bardugo utilizes flashback chapters. In Part 2, she reintroduces Darlington’s perspective to the narrative. These chapters shed light on his transformation and inner turmoil. He returned from hell partway between a demon and a man and must grapple with his recent experiences of being both tortured and a torturer. The conflicting emotions, desires, and memories within him contribute to his profound internal turmoil. This transformation is a central focus of this section. He is uncertain if he is still the same person he once was or if his time in hell has irrevocably changed him. The narrative also draws attention to the bloody footprints he leaves behind in Black Elm. These footprints symbolize the violence, destruction, and sacrifice his disappearance and return created. Darlington’s realization that his parents are dead and his part in their death weighs heavily on him. Despite everything they did to him, such as trying to freeze him out of Black Elm so they could sell it, he feels guilt and regret at what happened, and he struggles to process these overwhelming emotions.
This section is the first time Alex and Darlington work as a team on the page and further fleshes out their bond. Alex uses her abilities as a Wheelwalker to cross from the mortal world to hell for Darlington’s soul at the last possible moment. While the porcelain box breaks, she realizes she does not need it to succeed. Instead, she draws his soul into herself, takes it back out of hell with her, and returns it to his body. Darlington hinted at all these points through the comments he gave her throughout the rest of the novel. However, doing so has an unintended side effect. While they still connect through mutual understanding, the book reveals that Alex and Darlington now have a literal connection to each other through magic. As revealed during the fight with the demons on the street outside Il Bastone, their powers are intertwined. When Darlington triggers his demonic form, the hellfire Alex used previously also flares. Darlington reveals that he is now bound in service to Alex because she saved him from hell. His willingness to serve her becomes a focal point in their relationship at this point. Darlington reflects on the ever-shifting positions of power between them with, “He had lost track of who was Dante, Virgil, Beatrice. Was he Orpheus or Eurydice?” (416) Both Alex and Darlington acknowledge the compromises they have made for survival. Their shared understanding of the dark choices they have had to make solidifies their strange partnership.
By Leigh Bardugo
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