That night, Mallory invites Adrian to the cottage and shows him all nine drawings: the three left on her porch, the three pinned to her refrigerator, and the three taken from Teddy’s bedroom. Adrian studies them seriously instead of dismissing Mallory’s story, which reassures her. When Mallory explains the baby monitor experiment and Teddy’s trance-like drawing with his non-dominant hand, Adrian accepts that something unnatural may be involved.

As they examine the pages, Adrian notices the drawings smell like decay, not urine, and compares the odor to a rotting deer he once had to remove from a work site. That detail deepens Mallory’s fear that something is badly wrong around Teddy. Adrian asks whether Mallory has told Teddy’s parents, but Mallory explains that Caroline and Ted already reacted badly when she raised her suspicions, and she believes she needs stronger proof before speaking to them again.

Mallory also admits she feels watched inside the cottage and cannot wait for Adrian’s mother to finish searching library archives. Wanting to protect her, Adrian offers Mallory a place to sleep at his parents’ garage apartment, and when Mallory refuses to leave Teddy, Adrian offers to stay overnight in the cottage instead. Mallory is tempted because she likes Adrian and fears being alone, but she cannot accept because she is hiding the truth about her past and feels unworthy of his trust.

As Adrian begins to make his feelings clear, Caroline unexpectedly steps onto the Maxwell patio and interrupts the moment. Walking Adrian to the driveway, Mallory hears his calmer interpretation of the haunting: since Anya has never visibly attacked her or violently disturbed the cottage, Adrian thinks the spirit is trying to communicate through the drawings rather than trying to harm anyone. Mallory does not know whether he is right, but his confidence steadies her.

After Adrian leaves, Caroline teasingly asks about him, approves of his looks, and encourages Mallory to see him again. Their conversation turns briefly to books, then Caroline goes inside. Returning alone to the cottage, Mallory hears noises from Hayden’s Glen but no longer feels as frightened. Influenced by Adrian’s theory, Mallory decides that Anya is not trying to scare her and resolves to stop treating the ghost as a threat and instead seek a direct message from her.