Famous Last Words

The following day at school, Willa confronts Wyatt about his notebook. They meet privately in the library, where Wyatt reveals that the mysterious list came from a psychic named Leyta Fitzgeorge, whose tips he considers unreliable. He explains that “818” refers to a Los Angeles area code.

Wyatt demonstrates his perceptiveness by noting Willa’s body language and suggesting that she is suppressing her emotions. When he presses her, she admits her deep fear that if she expresses her anger, “someone else could die” (94). Before they separate, Wyatt gives her his phone number, establishing a tentative connection between them.

That afternoon, Willa researches Leyta Fitzgeorge online but hesitates to make contact. She argues with her mother, who expresses discomfort about Reed working from their house and concern about Willa’s emotional state and frequent headaches. After the confrontation, Reed and Willa share a moment of mutual attraction.

Willa then begins hearing a persistent dripping sound that Reed cannot perceive. The phantom noise torments her throughout the evening until she finally accepts the supernatural explanation, writing, “IT’S A GHOST” in her journal (101). The dripping immediately ceases, and she resolves to call the psychic for help.

At school, Wyatt begs Willa not to contact Leyta, but she reveals that she has already scheduled an appointment. Willa confesses her belief that a ghost haunts her house and describes her recent near-drowning experience. As Wyatt expresses his skepticism of supernatural explanations, Willa suddenly experiences a powerful vision.

She witnesses the final moments of a captive actress who is bound at a dinner table decorated with roses. The victim understands that she will die but manages to break the rose necklace that her captor gave her, hiding the pieces in her costume as a clue for police to discover later.

Willa collapses after the intense vision, and Wyatt catches her as she falls. She describes what she experienced, and Wyatt reveals crucial information: None of the known Hollywood Killer murders involved a dinner table, roses, or a necklace. This detail shakes them, as it suggests that Willa’s visions may be revealing an undiscovered crime.

Despite her weakened state, Willa remains determined to visit the psychic. Wyatt, now concerned for her safety, regrets his earlier skepticism and insists on driving her to the appointment. During their drive to Leyta’s apartment, they bicker, with Wyatt insisting that he doesn’t believe in supernatural phenomena but wanting to ensure Willa’s safety.

At the apartment, Leyta Fitzgeorge quickly intuits Willa’s supernatural problem. Willa admits that she has been using a spirit contact book by Walter Sawamura along with a moldavite ring for two years to communicate with her deceased father, Paul. Leyta explains that this practice opened a spiritual portal, causing Willa’s headaches and attracting unwanted spirits.

Leyta instructs Willa to bury both the book and the ring to close the portal, though she warns that this action will not banish the ghost that has already attached itself to her. After Wyatt leaves, Leyta privately delivers a message from Willa’s father: “[L]ook for a shepherd” (125). Willa immediately connects this cryptic message to Wyatt Sheppard, recognizing the significance of his surname.

That evening, Willa begins Leyta’s prescribed ritual by placing the ring and book in a shoebox. However, instead of burying the items as instructed, she hesitates and hides the box in her closet. Joanna arranges for Willa to stay with Marnie while she and Jonathan travel to Palm Springs, and the following week passes without supernatural incidents.

Reed invites Willa for a walk, during which they bond over their shared experiences of feeling like outsiders. When they return to her porch, they share a passionate kiss. Reed expresses anxiety about Jonathan discovering their relationship, and they agree to keep their budding romance secret from others.

Marnie invites Willa to attend the premiere of a movie starring Kurt Conrath, a movie star whom Marnie has a crush on. On Friday, Willa goes to Marnie’s house to prepare for the event. Acting as a stylist, Marnie gives Willa a complete makeover, selecting a vintage 1940s cherry-red dress and styling her hair and makeup in matching retro fashion. Looking in the mirror, Willa feels completely transformed into a movie star from another era. For the first time in a long while, she experiences excitement and anticipation for a social event, feeling confident and beautiful in her new appearance.

At the movie premiere, Marnie is thrilled to glimpse Kurt Conrath in the flesh. She walks the red carpet with Willa and lies to reporters, claiming that Willa is a Disney Channel star named “Bernadette Middleton,” cousin of Princess Kate Middleton. This deception creates a paparazzi frenzy around them. After watching the film, they return to Marnie’s house, where Willa mentions her ex-boyfriend Aiden and Marnie shares her negative history with Wyatt. Marnie accuses Wyatt of being an obsessive stalker who read her emails to track her movements, only stopping his behavior after she threatened police involvement. Willa feels conflicted, as Marnie’s portrayal doesn’t align with the Wyatt she knows.

The night after the premiere, Willa awakens to three deliberate knocks on her bedroom door. The door swings open by itself, revealing a trail of red rose petals leading down the hallway toward the spare third bedroom. Frantic knocking begins emanating from behind that closed door. Remembering Leyta’s advice to face the haunting directly, Willa summons her courage and follows the mysterious trail of petals. She approaches the spare bedroom door and resolves to open it and confront whatever supernatural presence awaits inside.

Willa enters the spare room and follows a dripping sound into the attached bathroom, where she discovers the bathtub overflowing with water. After she challenges the ghost aloud, the water suddenly fills with thousands of rose petals. A piece of paper surfaces among the floating petals. As Willa snatches the paper from the water, the bathroom door slams shut behind her. An invisible force shoves her backward, plunging her into the petal-filled tub. She struggles during the supernatural assault, completely immersed in the manifestation.

Willa scrambles out of the bathtub, soaked and covered in rose petals. When she returns to her bedroom, she notices that the trail of petals in the hallway has mysteriously vanished. The only remaining evidence of her supernatural encounter is her wet clothes and the soggy paper she retrieved from the water. She uncrumples the paper and discovers a page from a screenplay. The script features a dinner scene between two characters named Charice and Henry. The final line of dialogue exactly matches the phrase she saw written on the dining room wall: “This is the kind of dream you don’t wake up from, Henry” (161).