The Lying Game

Kate shouts at them to get out of the Tide Mill: The Mill is on fire due to a broken lamp. Isa rushes upstairs for Freya, but the smoke is already thick, and burning drops of paraffin fall through the floorboards onto her arms. Luc stops her from going farther. Isa shouts that Freya is in Luc’s room and tries to push past him. Behind Luc, the hallway fills with flames. Luc shoves Isa down to the bottom of the stairs, telling her to go outside and stand under the window. Luc runs down the fiery hallway to Freya’s room while Isa watches. Isa hears Freya cry, and Luc shouts again to get to the window. Isa realizes that Luc plans to drop Freya out the window into the Reach. 

Isa rushes into the water and Kate wades out to help. Thea, Fatima, and Shadow are safe on shore. Isa sees Luc silhouetted against the flames and hears Freya screaming. Luc opens the window and drops Freya. The baby lands in Isa’s arms and they tumble into the water. Kate drags them upright and Isa stumbles to the bank. Freya is fine. Kate yells for Luc to jump. Luc shakes his head. He apologizes “for everything” (347) and stays inside. Kate screams his name, thrashes through the water to the front door, and rushes inside. The three women see “two figures, dark against the red-gold of the inferno” (348) in Luc’s room. The Mill implodes in flames. Isa protects Freya from the flying debris. There is nothing left of the Mill but a burning shell.

In the hospital, Isa fells that she truly understands Ambrose’s final letter. They reached the wrong conclusion about Kate: The story Kate told them is exactly how Luc—not Kate—poisoned Ambrose. Ambrose was going to send Luc away. Isa debates whether Luc meant to kill Ambrose or just wanted to humiliate him. Luc also sent the pictures to the school. Isa knows Ambrose wanted Kate to protect Luc. For years, Kate does, by lying for him, but she does not forgive him. Isa knows that Kate could have waited until both she and Luc were 16 before reporting Ambrose’s disappearance. Instead, Kate punishes Luc by letting authorities return him to France.

This chapter begins the final section of the novel, “Rule Five: Know When to Stop Lying.” Isa tells her friends that Mary Wren is the blackmailer and sheep-killer. The day they found the sheep, Luc was in jail on his drunk and disorderly charge. Thea feels hurt that Kate broke the rules of their game, and that Kate did not trust them, even though Kate was protecting both Luc and her friends. Isa explains that Kate did it because Mary Wren blackmailed her. Mary also sent them the envelopes of pictures. Thea urges them to get their story straight and keep lying: They need to make the police believe Ambrose committed suicide because it was what he and Kate wanted. Isa has the suicide note, which they can provide as evidence. Isa thinks the note’s advice to keep living and be happy now applies to all of them.

The women go to Salten to make their police statement. Isa observes the ocean and feels it is washing away their lies and mistakes. Isa has been thinking about guilt. After 17 years of living in fear and guilt, of believing what happened with Ambrose was their fault, Isa finally understands that his death really was not about them. It was not about the pictures, and it was not their fault. Fatima agrees that they have nothing to be ashamed about. Mary Wren approaches them. Now that Isa knows the truth, she is free of guilt and fear, and able to look Mary in the eye. The girls brush past Mary without a word, and the sun comes out. 

Isa imagines the story she will tell Freya someday about an accident, a fire, a man who saved her life and the woman who loved him. This is what the women tell the police: While the previous story is true, it is “also a lie” (366). Later, as Isa and Freya take the train to visit Isa’s father, Isa considers the lies she has told and the people they hurt. She wonders if it is time to stop lying, but she rejects that idea. Isa has thought a lot about Owen. She knows that Owen would “walk through fire” (367) for Freya. When he texts her, Isa replies to his text, saying she loves him. Isa knows she is lying, but she does it for Freya. Possibly someday she can make her lie true, and she will love Owen.