Dear Reader

The next morning, Ashley and Heath share an intimate moment, but they are interrupted by Royce, who reveals that Heath’s Ducati has been smeared with human feces. Later, Carter attempts to explain his behavior after Paris, but Ashley refuses to hear him out. 

Moments later, she receives two new messages from Abigail Monstera’s disconnected number, warning her that Bart’s death was accidental, and she was the intended target at the retreat. The revelation triggers a panic attack, and Nate helps her regain control. The group quickly decides that she should return to campus, where they can watch over her more closely. Ashley realizes Heath and Royce are firmly on her side, while Carter silently shows that he intends to protect her despite the unresolved tension between them.

Back on campus, the week passes quietly as Royce resumes guarding Ashley. She and Heath agree to slow things down while he focuses on therapy for his nightmares. After attending classes together, Carter pulls Ashley into an empty room. 

He insists on explaining himself. He admits that his mother intervened during their Paris trip, forcing distance because of her plans for an arranged match. He also tells her that the man who attacked Ashley and whom Carter assaulted later died, and the event was covered up by a family fixer. He apologizes, confessing that he mishandled everything. Despite her anger, they end up having sex on the classroom desk. Their moment is abruptly cut short when a scream echoes through the corridor.

Outside, Ashley, Carter, Royce, and Nate find Morrison Butler tied naked to the campus flagpole. Hearing this reminds Ashley of an incident described in Abigail’s diary. Ashley finally reveals she read Abigail’s written account of the Society’s past actions, and the diary later disappeared. 

Later, at the campus health clinic, Morrison panics and falsely accuses Heath of being involved, claiming he recognized him in a Society robe. Carly confirms Heath was in a long therapy session at the time. Under pressure from Nate and Carter, Morrison retracts his allegation. After the group leaves the clinic, Nate turns his anger on Ashley for keeping the diary secret. He drags her toward his truck and insists they all go to the apartment so that she can explain everything privately.

Back at the apartment, Heath confirms his alibi with Dr. Fox. Ashley finally explains the contents of Abigail’s diary, including the past hazing incident and how the diary helped her escape the forest. The group is frustrated that she kept the diary secret, especially once they realize someone may have taken it from her room. The tension escalates into personal accusations: Nate confronts Royce about Paige, and Royce retaliates by exposing Ashley and Carter’s recent encounter. The argument spirals until Nate cruelly blames Ashley for the chaos and for disrupting their lives, prompting her to flee the apartment in tears. Carly follows to comfort her.

Ashley spends the afternoon with Carly, who supports her despite the fallout with the boys. Once Carly leaves for Thanksgiving, Royce resumes sleeping on Ashley’s floor. With the group still fractured, Ashley avoids everyone until Nate finds her in the communal showers and insists she come home for Thanksgiving so that Royce can visit his father. Their argument escalates until Nate admits he ordered Royce to key her car. He apologizes, grudgingly, before begging her to come home. Ashley agrees only on the condition that he apologizes properly to her and her mother. When he accepts, she retaliates by turning the shower on him.

At Max and Carina’s house, Ashley keeps her distance from Nate until he delivers the promised apology to her mother. Carly and Heath unexpectedly arrive after leaving tense family gatherings, and Ashley and Heath reconcile. Carter soon joins them, having walked out on his own strained holiday, and he pulls Ashley into a private embrace to apologize. 

As the evening unfolds, Ashley sends polite holiday messages to Carter and Royce, but only Carter replies. Just as dinner is served, Royce appears at the door, visibly upset and smelling of whiskey. He explains that his father left early and asks if he can stay with her. Ashley hugs him tightly, relieved he came, and the group settles into a surprisingly comforting Thanksgiving together.

Back on campus, Heath sleeps for barely an hour at a time, growing hollow-eyed and volatile. Nate tells Ashley they are all worried and begs her to intervene. She finds Heath in the library, curled on the floor and barely coherent, his notes scattered. Shocked, she takes him to her room. She lies about Royce being gone and gets him into bed. As she massages him with lavender oil, Heath finally admits that he’s terrified of his own mind, but his therapist brushed it off as stress. He drifts to sleep for the first time in days, and Ashley keeps watch, knowing that he needed her long before he ever asked.

Ashley tries to stay awake beside Heath. She drifts off and is jolted awake when he thrashes through a nightmare, crying out that he doesn’t want to hurt her. She manages to wake and calm him, and the moment quickly shifts into intense sexual tension. They have sex, and afterward, they fall asleep curled together, the first real rest Heath has had in days. Just before dawn, he suddenly sits up, dresses without speaking, and slips out of her room; Ashley dozes off again but wakes to realize he still hasn’t returned.

Ashley searches the dorm and campus for Heath. She is unable to reach any of the boys. Following instinct, she heads to the drama building and then the library, where a faint ringtone leads her across the lawn. There she spots three DBS figures carrying gas cans. She recognizes Heath by his bare feet. He walks past her in a trance, unresponsive even when she grabs and unmasks him, before disappearing into the old science hall with the others. As Ashley prepares to run after him, Nate appears and hauls her away from the building. He forces her back to her dorm. Once inside, visibly shaken, he sinks to the floor, still wearing a Devil’s Backbone robe.

Ashley confronts Nate about the Devil’s Backbone robe, and he reveals that he woke on the south lawn already dressed in it. He has no memory of getting there, and Carter, Royce, and Heath were also there, all unresponsive and moving like they were in a trance. Smoke rises outside as the old science hall goes up in flames, and Ashley forces Nate to go with her to search for the boys. They rush to the boys’ apartment, where Royce appears confused, and Carter reeks of smoke and gasoline. A noise from Heath’s room sends Ashley running, and she opens the door to find Heath hanging from a noose tied to his ceiling fan.