Marked by Fire Chapter 29 Summary

Tuesday Night
February 2, 1971

  • As they say, it takes a village, and the men of Ponca City are doing a bit of remodeling work on Lily Norene's parents' house to make room for Lily's kids. In the meantime, Abby is crashing at Lily's house with her daughters.
  • Hearing an owl, Abby heads outside—she also heard an owl right before Lily died, and this hooter hasn't stopped hooting ever since. So Abby's curious (and we talk about owls over in the "Symbols" section).
  • Outside, Abby hears a greyhound chasing a rabbit, and when she turns on the porch light, something moves away from the glow.
  • Abby falls asleep and dreams she is part rabbit, part greyhound, and that she runs into a meadow that's on fire.
  • An owl comes through the flames and Abby hears the cries of children; then she dreams of Trembling Sally.
  • Suddenly, Mother Barker whispers Abby's name, then calls it, and then screams it, waking her from her strange sleep. Sure enough, Abby smells fire—and sees Trembling Sally setting the house aflame.
  • Abby runs for Lily's kids, managing to save them just in time and then watching Trembling Sally get consumed by the flames she set.