If We Were Villains

The badly convulsing Richard drifts towards the friends, and Oliver, seeing his crumpled body, thinks of Hamlet. James tries to jump in the water, but Oliver stops him and drags him away. Alexander wonders if saving Richard is the best option since Richard has been so violent towards all of them recently, including Wren, his own cousin. If he survives, Richard may become even more vicious towards the friends. Alexander suggests they do nothing and let matters take their own course. Reluctantly, everyone agrees. Richard dies grotesquely before their eyes. The friends discuss what to tell the police when they are inevitably questioned. They decide they will say they all found him floating dead in the water. No one knows what exactly happened to Richard: He could have been killed by an outsider or may have suffered an accident in the woods. However, since many of them have an ostensible motive to kill Richard, they will not disclose the fight between James and Richard on Halloween, or the scuffle during the curtain night’s assassination scene, or Oliver and Meredith’s encounter. Oliver steps into the lake to see if Richard is really dead.

The friends are questioned by the police in turns. Oliver tells Detective Colborne he spent the night in the room he shares with James. He mentions Richard hitting the boy with Meredith during the party (as that scene was witnessed by most of the students). He says he and Meredith were talking in her room when a belligerent Richard began to bang on the door, which they had locked out of fear of him. After Richard left, Oliver went to his own room. James told him Richard had gone off to the woods with a bottle of whiskey. Everyone went off to sleep, and the next morning Alexander found Richard’s body in the lake. Oliver stepped in to see if Richard was alive and found him dead.

The fourth-years don’t join the night’s assembly where Dean Holinshed tells the school about Richard’s death. Instead, they are instructed to stay in a suite upstairs. Everyone is on edge and bickers before turning in. Meredith, James, and Oliver decide to sleep in the suite itself. James and Oliver take one room and Meredith the other. Later, Meredith asks Oliver to sleep alongside her as she is scared. Oliver accompanies her to bed and comforts her.

The remaining classes before Thanksgiving break are cancelled. The castle is surrounded by police and other investigators. Richard’s memorial service is to be held at five-thirty on the night the students leave the castle for Thanksgiving break. Before the service, Oliver meets a distraught Filipa and invites her to his home for the break. Filipa thanks him but declines.

Oliver doesn’t like the fact that the service is being held on the beach. After the Halloween fight and Richard’s death, he believes the lakeside is an ill omen. James reassures him this is just his imagination. James tells Oliver that everyone thinks he and Meredith are still sleeping together, which seems incriminating. If Oliver doesn’t keep his distance from Meredith, people will think Oliver was the one who killed Richard. Oliver says that is impossible since the police know Richard fell and hit his head in an accident. James agrees and apologizes to Oliver.

The beach is decorated with candles and flowers for Richard’s memorial. Oliver spots Richard’s father among the attendees and is shocked to see their resemblance. Dean Holinshed addresses the gathering, quoting Shakespeare’s Henry VI to lament Richard’s death:

“Comets, importing change of times and states,

Brandish your crystal tresses in the sky,

And with them scourge the bad revolting stars

That have consented unto Henry's death!” (Henry VI, Part 1, Act I, Scene 1)

This passage argues that the comets should punish those stars—the fate—who have caused Henry’s death.

Wren offers a moving eulogy too; Richard was as close to her as her own brother. Despite his violent behavior and his self-important demeanor, she loved him dearly. James is overcome with emotion by her heartfelt speech. Wren ends on a hopeful, inspiring note, but as she departs the stage and rejoins her family, Oliver notices that she’s shaking.

Before Camilo drives the friends to the airport, they converge for a spontaneous wake at the Bore’s Head. Alexander will be staying with his foster brother in Philadelphia. Meredith will be in Manhattan with her brother Caleb. The friends wonder if Wren will return to Dellecher after the holidays. She may need some time away from Dellecher after Richard’s death.

Oliver returns to Ohio for Thanksgiving dinner with his parents and two sisters. Leah seems interested in Dellecher, but Oliver hates the idea of his sister dressed in skimpy clothes and being ogled by the Dellecher boys. Caroline looks very thin and is quiet. After dinner, Oliver’s parents call him aside and tell him Caroline is not returning to school for the semester: She is dealing with an eating disorder and will be getting professional help at a recovery center. Since Caroline’s treatment is very expensive, Oliver’s parents will not be able to pay his tuition for the rest of the year. Oliver lashes out, and his father tells him Caroline’s health is more important “than [them] paying twenty thousand dollars for [Oliver] to play pretend” (227)!