Diavola

The next day, the family heads to a local market. Mia and Waverley talk about wanting to play with some Italian children they’ve befriended, and no one knows whom they mean. Nicole is agitated and lashes out at Anna when she realizes that she has gotten the schedule wrong and that there is no market today.

Irritated by the family squabbling, Anna wanders into a local church. She is struck by the painting of the Annunciation (a traditional scene from Christian iconography depicting Mary learning that she will give birth to Jesus). She also notices that there are multiple gravestones for individuals with the surname de Felicibus, all of whom died in 1505. The gravestones feature an engraving of a jackdaw (a type of bird similar to a crow), which is also the emblem of the villa and appears on the tower key (“taccola” is the Italian word for the bird species). Anna thinks that the family might have lived in the villa and possibly died during an outbreak of plague.

Back at the villa, there is a swarm of flies in the kitchen, attracted by leftover breakfast dishes; Anna’s mother rebukes her for not helping to remedy the situation. Justin shows surprising empathy, commenting on how Benny is not held to the same standards as Anna and reflecting on the privilege that comes with Anna and her family having wealthy parents. Anna briefly feels attracted to him. She distracts herself with sketching the woman depicted as Mary in the Annunciation painting.

Later, Anna’s mother retrieves several of Anna’s sketches, which she has simply been throwing out after completion, and rebukes her in front of the entire family: “[Y]ou have a gift […] and you are wasting it and I have no idea why” (84). Christopher asks Anna about her career, questioning whether she works at a “top” agency. Nicole explains that the couples (she and Justin, Benny and Christopher, and Anna’s parents) are going to dinner the next evening and asks Anna to babysit the children. Anna feigns outrage but then says she’ll gladly spend time with Waverly and Mia. Meanwhile, Benny wonders aloud why Anna drew dead grapevines in her sketches of the villa; she can’t explain, but she is relieved he didn’t notice that she had also included the corpse of an elderly woman in the sketch.

That evening, Anna goes for a walk and sees some local men pouring a substance, possibly salt, onto the ground at the edge of the villa property. However, they rush off when she approaches them. Later, she awakens again to strange moaning in the night and finds Benny in the hall, having heard the sound as well. She reassures him, even though she is increasingly afraid.

The family travels into Siena; Anna rides in the car with Benny and Christopher, who becomes angry when he realizes he has driven into a low-congestion zone and will therefore have to pay a fine. As the family has gelato, an elderly woman offers Anna a cornicello (a traditional amulet against evil), which Anna declines. Anna is touched when her father invites her to climb the tower of Siena’s cathedral with him, but when they descend, Anna’s mother needles them for not taking pictures of the view. Nicole subsequently seems annoyed when Waverly mentions wanting to visit Anna in New York.

When the family returns from Siena, Anna is the first to enter the villa and is startled to see that all of the furniture has been turned upside down and that the cabinets and drawers are open. However, the door was locked, there are no signs of forced entry, and nothing has been stolen. Anna mentions the men she saw outside the villa, but her father dismisses their actions, saying they were likely scattering pesticide.

Everyone is confused and unsettled, but they decide to go ahead with their plans for a couples’ dinner. In a private moment, Benny hints that Anna might be responsible for the state of the house, noting that she was the last to leave that morning. Anna reminds him about his dreams and night terrors, but he brushes them off.

Anna is left alone with her nieces while everyone else goes to dinner. She asks about their supposed “friends,” trying to determine if the friends are imaginary or if the two girls have actually been spending time with local Italian children—possibly ghosts. While the trio is grabbing pool supplies in the utility room, Waverly seems drawn to the tower key; without thinking, Anna warns her not to touch it, but Waverly brushes it with her finger.

After they’ve gone to bed, Waverly comes rushing to her, claiming that she saw “Jenny Greentooth,” a folk monster Anna earlier told the girls about. Anna thinks her niece merely had a nightmare but becomes more concerned when Waverly explains that Mia wasn’t in bed when she woke up. Anna and Waverly rush around the house and finally hear Mia crying out from the tower. She’s inside, but the door is inexplicably locked. Anna hastily unlocks the tower door and frees her niece. Mia claims that she simply woke up and was trapped in the tower, with no idea how she got there. As Anna tries to make sense of the situation, the rest of the family arrives home. Anna and the girls quickly decide not to tell Nicole what happened. Later that night, she dreams of the Italian boy, who has blood spilling from his mouth.

The next morning, while Anna is taking a shower, she feels a presence in the room with her and catches a glimpse of a strange woman with yellow hair. She shrugs off the incident in hopes of enjoying the day’s excursion to Florence. However, while touring the Uffizi gallery with her family, Anna glimpses a startling painting: a work called Florentine Woman, painted by Jacopo da Sellaio around 1500. Anna is immediately convinced that the woman depicted in the painting (who has startlingly bright yellow hair) is the same woman depicted in the painting of the Annunciation (which she saw in the church near the villa) and the same woman she saw in the mirror. Anna annoys her family by becoming distracted by the painting and failing to focus on the rest of the tour.

Based on her familiarity with the gallery, Benny deduces that Anna arrived in Florence early and becomes upset, as he’d wanted to travel together. Things remain tense as the family searches for a place to have lunch. As they leave, Anna attempts to ask Nicole about Waverly and Mia’s mental state, but Nicole responds passive-aggressively, commenting on Anna having let the girls stay up late.

Some of the group plan to enter the Duomo, but Anna intends to stay outside. Nicole becomes upset when she realizes that she won’t be able to enter the church because her shoulders are bare. Anna takes charge and enters the church with her sister despite the dress code. Inside, Nicole abruptly shares that Benny told her about Anna’s termination of pregnancy. Nicole becomes emotional, distressed both because Anna didn’t confide in her and because Nicole struggled to conceive her own children. When Benny rejoins the sisters, he immediately realizes that Nicole has revealed his betrayal.