Gallant

Olivia wakes from a dream of her mother to find that she’s in the piano room with Matthew. Matthew apologizes for not having told her about the wall sooner; he thought ignorance would keep her safe. He goes on to explain that “everything in the world casts a shadow” (249), but the shadow that Gallant casts is more alive—and more dangerous—than most. Gallant existed before the Priors, but the Priors have always been attracted to the house. The Priors, recognizing that the wall was a threshold keeping their Gallant separate from its shadow-counterpart. They built the iron door and sealed it with their own blood in order to keep the master at bay. Matthew has realized that because Prior blood is the key to opening/sealing the door, the master needs Priors to be kept alive until he’s able to convince or trick a Prior into using their blood to willingly free him. Matthew believes that the master, years ago, tricked his brother, Thomas, into crossing the wall and killed Thomas when he realized that he needed Thomas to willingly give blood. Olivia explains that she saw a boy on the other side of the wall and, from looking at family portraits, she confirms that it was Thomas.

Olivia agrees to cross the wall to try to save Thomas. In preparation, Matthew shows her all of Gallant’s secret passages, which should be present in the shadow-Gallant since the houses are mirrors of one another. At dusk, she heads out to the wall.

Matthew’s plan is for Olivia to cross the wall and save Thomas. When she returns, she’ll knock at the door three times, he’ll let her through, and then he’ll seal it with his blood. Edgar and Hannah will stay in Gallant to defend the house—and themselves—if the master manages to escape. At dusk, Olivia crosses the wall with a knife Matthew has given her. She goes to the fountain first and finds that Thomas isn’t there. Steeling herself, she enters the shadow-Gallant.

Olivia sneaks through the house, eventually entering the study. She looks to see if her mother’s journal is where she dropped it, but the only evidence that it was there is a single, torn-out page in the corner of the room. Hearing footsteps overhead, Olivia heads to the piano room and uses a secret passage Matthew showed her to go upstairs. She enters Matthew’s bedroom and sees that there is a body under a sheet in the bed. Before she can decide whether or not to see if it’s Thomas, one of the master’s shadows emerges from beneath the sheet and Olivia turns to find that the master has followed her through the passage, blocking her exit. Olivia tries to fight them and tries to summon ghouls to help her, but the master and his shadow overpower Olivia and render her unconscious.

Olivia wakes to find herself on a couch with her hands tied. The master reads to her from her mother’s journal, mocking her mother’s assertion that the shadows can’t hurt her. The master is taken with Olivia’s ability to bring life back to dead things in this realm; he gives her a bone which she resuscitates into a crow. Olivia wills the crow to attack the master, which gives her an opening to try to escape. She stops when she gets to the door, though, because the master begins to recite the letter that Arthur sent. The master explains that he sent the letter by manipulating Matthew while Matthew slept to write the letter and send it to the addresses Hannah had written out on the note Olivia found in the study. He has been trying to get Olivia to return to him because, since she is born of a shadow and the master created the shadows, she is also a part of him. At this point, Olivia tries to run and makes it as far as the room with the dancers. The master finds her easily and, as she watches, he uses bits of bone to create the likenesses of her two parents. The master says he’s going to tell her a story.

The master explains that her father was the first of the shadows he created; as shadows grow older, they become more self-aware, and her father made the choice to leave the master’s realm for Grace. He was unable to survive outside of the master’s realm, though, and eventually perished. The master explains that because Olivia is born of a being from this realm, and because she has the ability to give life to things that are dead, she could stay in this realm forever and resuscitate her parents—the master will allow this in exchange for her helping him to escape. Olivia is tempted, but decides to find Thomas instead. She uses her power to give life to one of the master’s shadows; she wills the shadow to attack the master and makes her escape during the ensuing scuffle. Olivia finds Thomas in the cellar.