Cover of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue

by V. E. Schwab


Genre
Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Romance
Year
2020
Pages
489
Contents

Part Three: Three Hundred Years—and Three Words — Chapter V

Overview

Addie brings Henry to the Fourth Rail, a secret nightclub hidden in abandoned subway tunnels—one she helped bring into existence—and they lose themselves in music, drink, and the relief of being together. After a sudden storm, the night turns intimate as they race back to Henry’s apartment and sleep together, with Addie savoring that he can speak and remember her name.

Even in the afterglow, Addie’s fear resurfaces: she asks Henry not to forget her, underscoring how fragile this new exception to her curse feels and how desperately she wants it to last.

Summary

Addie leads Henry through a nondescript steel door and down into a hidden, abandoned subway tunnel turned secret club called the Fourth Rail. Henry is wary and disoriented by the descent, but Addie is exhilarated by the city’s concealed spaces and by having found this one herself.

Inside, the club is a vibrating crush of bodies, strobe lights, and twin electric guitars. At the bar, Addie orders vodka shots for both of them. As they drink, the bartender silently pours a third shot for free and watches them go, leaving Addie with a fleeting, unsettled sense of being seen before the feeling is blurred by noise and alcohol.

Addie and Henry push into the crowd and dance as the music reverberates through the tunnel. A teenage singer takes the spotlight with a feral, spellbinding voice, and Addie briefly thinks of Luc and forces herself to stop searching for him in the dark. She focuses instead on Henry—catching an instant of profound sadness in his face before he smiles at her again—and loses herself in the rush of being with someone real who stays.

When the heat and crush become too much, Addie finds a side exit and they climb to the surface, laughing into the cool March night. A sudden downpour soaks them immediately, and instead of running for cover, they embrace the storm. Seeing Henry drenched and vividly alive makes Addie realize how unlike Luc he is, and she kisses Henry, then pulls him toward the train.

Back at Henry’s apartment, they tumble inside and have sex, urgent and joyful, with Addie repeatedly asking Henry to say her name and reveling that he can. Afterward, as Henry drifts to sleep, Addie quietly begs him not to forget her, and when he murmurs in confusion, she whispers the truth into the dark: “Me.”

Who Appears

  • Addie LaRue
    Leads Henry to a secret club, revels in being remembered, and anxiously begs him not to forget.
  • Henry Strauss
    Follows Addie into the hidden club, bonds with her, and sleeps with her, speaking her name.
  • Luc
    Addie’s supernatural pursuer; only present in Addie’s comparisons and intrusive thoughts.
  • Bartender at the Fourth Rail
    Pours Addie and Henry drinks, gives a free shot, and watches them with notable attention.
  • Doorman (addressed as “Jupiter”)
    Guards the steel door and lets Addie and Henry into the Fourth Rail.
  • Teenage singer
    Fronts the band with a raw, captivating voice that heightens the club’s feral energy.
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