In the morning, Mallory joins Teddy in a pretend restaurant game while Caroline rushes to get ready for work. A call from Spring Brook Elementary reveals that Teddy has a new principal who is eager to meet him, signaling that his return to school is moving forward. Later, while playing in the woods, Mallory tries to question Teddy about the new drawings left on her porch, but Teddy insists he did not make them and asks to stop talking about it.

After lunch, Teddy goes upstairs for Quiet Time, and Mallory listens outside his bedroom door. She hears the unmistakable sound of pencil on paper, which deepens her suspicion that something important is happening during Teddy's private drawing sessions. Even so, when Russell invites her to dinner that evening, Mallory decides not to bring Teddy's drawings with her because she wants Russell to see her as stable and successful in recovery.

At dinner, Russell first makes ordinary conversation, but then reveals that Caroline called him because she is worried about Mallory's recent behavior. Russell questions Mallory about digging through the trash, talking about ghosts, and spending time with Mitzi, all of which makes clear that Caroline now sees Mallory as unstable rather than helpful. Mallory denies using drugs and avoids telling Russell about Annie Barrett and the drawings because she knows how implausible her fears sound and does not want to lose his respect.

When Russell drives Mallory back to the Maxwells' property, he notices that she is shaking and offers to drug-test her. Mallory agrees immediately, both to prove that she is sober and because she is afraid to walk to the cottage alone. Inside the cottage, she gives a urine sample, Russell tests it, and the result is negative, confirming that Mallory's distress is not caused by a relapse.

After Russell leaves, Mallory discovers the fresh drawings she has been dreading, not on her porch but attached with magnets to her refrigerator inside the locked cottage. Terrified, she secures the windows, checks the nailed-shut floor hatch, and barricades the door with her bed. Mallory considers three explanations: the Maxwells planted the drawings, Teddy somehow made and delivered them, or Anya is using Teddy to create them. Although she knows the supernatural theory sounds irrational, the evidence pushes her toward it, and by the end of the chapter she decides she has found a way to prove whether Anya is real.