How It All Goes Down
- Lou tells us that she can remember "the exact day [she] stopped being fearless" (12.1).
- It's seven years ago during a particularly hot July, just a month after the death of her grandmother. She wouldn't meet Patrick for several months.
- Lou was a lot more conventional back then, especially in her manner of dress. She also was a lot more interested in exploring the world outside her small town.
- As Rebecca Black would so eloquently say, it's Friday. Lou is partying with friends at a small fair on the grounds of the castle. Partying, partying, yeah.
- Lou ends up partaking in some illicit drugs in the center of the castle's hedge maze with the other kids. Before she knows what's happening, all of the other girls are gone.
- We jump forward in time to several hours later, when Treena finds Lou "silent and shivering" at the center of the maze (12.9). This is really weird, but it's not quite clear what happened…
- Back in the present, Lou is telling Will how she joined the library. The two of them talk about music, and Will tells her about his friend who plays lead violin in the orchestra.
- As she does with anything fancy, Lou shows utter disinterest. Still, Will wants her to go to one of his concerts, but Lou only agrees when he promises to join her.
- Lou ends up wearing a red dress to the concert, to which Nathan responds to with an earnest "Ka-Pow" (12.85). We think that's positive. Will is quite taken, too.
- Lou is blown away by the music—it's a borderline religious experience. Will, on the other hand, just seems to be blown away by Lou.
- We hop back to the flashback that opened the chapter.
- Lou never tells Treena what happened that night. She also alludes to having to "find [her] clothes" before they left the maze, which has some rather horrifying implications (12.154).
- Immediately after this event, Lou cuts her hair and starts dressing in her idiosyncratic fashion. She also never returns to the maze.