20 Winter
Contains spoilersOverview
In the aftermath of Darlington’s disappearance, Alex reflected on the lies she had planned to tell and her guilt over freezing as darkness consumed him. Back in the fight at Tara Hutchins’s apartment, Alex let the ghost of Daniel Arlington North enter her, used his strength to battle the intruder, and survived until Detective Abel Turner arrived. The attacker, identified as Lance Gressang, repeatedly slipped through walls and finally escaped, and North departed to track Tara using her retainer. Turner then revealed Gressang was his current murder suspect and was supposed to be in jail less than an hour earlier.
Summary
Alex remembered the night Darlington vanished and the unspoken plan to frame her past violence as possession so he could help her “fix” it. She acknowledged she never had to tell those lies because the entity in Rosenfeld Hall’s basement consumed Darlington, a moment she relived with his unfinished warning—“It’s a muh—”—and her paralysis as darkness took him. She questioned whether fear or choice made her freeze and admitted the appeal of a world in which she did not have to be one of the good guys.
The scene returned to Tara Hutchins’s ransacked apartment, where the muscular mechanic in coveralls pinned Alex by the throat. With no other option, Alex chose to open herself to possession again, this time by the ghost of the Bridegroom, Daniel North, despite his resistance and fear of being trapped. His presence filled her with agile, coiled strength, different from Hellie’s overpowering wave, and Alex armed herself with a putter.
Alex smashed the attacker’s hand and brought him down by targeting his knee, demanding his identity and who sent him. He refused to answer and abruptly vanished through the floorboards. He reappeared half inside the wall, struck Alex, and used the walls to phase around the room, landing punishing blows. Even with North’s strength, Alex was knocked down and kicked in her broken ribs.
Detective Abel Turner burst in with his gun drawn and ordered the attacker to submit. The intruder flipped him off and melted into the mantel, escaping. North flooded out of Alex, re-forming with a look of resentment and pain, as if she had harmed him, but Alex pressed him to find Tara, reminding him he had her retainer as a link. North gave her a final look and slipped through the wall to pursue Tara’s trail.
As North departed, Alex felt the full force of her injuries return. Turner, rattled, searched the mantel and hearth, protesting that what he had seen was impossible. When Alex called it portal magic, Turner revealed the attacker’s identity as Lance Gressang—his murder suspect—who, according to Turner, had been sitting in a jail cell less than an hour earlier.
Who Appears
- Alex Stern
Let the ghost of Daniel North possess her to fight the attacker; reflected on guilt over Darlington’s disappearance.
- Daniel Arlington (the Bridegroom/North)
Ghost ally; resisted possession but empowered Alex; then departed through the wall to track Tara via her retainer.
- Lance Gressang
new; muscular attacker in mechanic’s coveralls; phased through walls/floor; escaped despite being Turner’s jailed suspect.
- Detective Abel Turner
Arrived mid-fight, attempted to apprehend the attacker; revealed the attacker was his suspect supposedly still in custody.
- Darlington (Daniel Arlington)
Discussed in flashback; vanished into darkness in Rosenfeld Hall basement after saying, “It’s a muh—”.
- Tara Hutchins
Missing murder victim; her retainer serves as a link for North to track her.
- Hellie
Mentioned in Alex’s reflections as a prior spirit who once possessed Alex.