The White Darkness Chapter 19

"Between You and Me, Things Aren't Quite as Rosy as They Might Be." –Oates

• Sym and Victor have been walking for a while and are in rough shape.
• Sym's talking to Titus about Sigurd. He tells her that people are weird.
• Victor and Sym put up their tent. Things are so bad that Sym's back to imagining herself as her alter ego, Florence Chambers.
• Meanwhile, Uncle Victor has planned a birthday party for Sym down in the inner spheres of hollow earth. Sym gets a load of this and quickly retreats to her fantasy world.
• Sym's having a hard time breathing, and Victor stole her snow glasses.
• Sym's brooding on Manfred and Sigurd's deception—it makes her think of Maxine. Instead of wishing her ill, though, Sym finds herself hoping Maxine's boyfriend treats her well.
• She wonders if Maxine might even be lying about her Internet boyfriend. What if he's imaginary, like Titus?
• Victor's talking a lot; Sym's sleeping a lot; their journey doesn't seem to be going particularly well.
• Deep in a fantasy starring herself as Florence Chambers, Sym is rudely awakened by Victor. In a flurry of activity, the tent blows away and Victor blames it on her.
• Sym's trying to be positive for a change, trying to rally herself into believe Victor may be right about Symmes's Hole. There is no chance she actually believes this, by the way.
• Titus tries to force Sym to face the fact of his death. Over and over again, he asks her what happened, but she can't bring herself to say it.
• Okay, now she'll say it: Titus died. He died. And also there is no Symmes's Hole. Sym has finally admitted to herself that Victor is crazy.
• Titus says he's going to help Sym find her way out of this mess.