King Sorrow

Allie warns Donna, who is no longer with Gregg, about the men trying to abduct her. Allie suspects they know about King Sorrow from Van’s book about BA 238.

Colin calls Donna and advises her to destroy her cellphone to avoid being tracked.

A man approaches Donna and shows her a threatening photo of Van in captivity. The man wants to know more about the entity Donna can summon. Believing that Donna can use his real name against him, the man provides Joe Valentine as his alias.

Donna agrees to come with Valentine, but asks for a sedative when she sees that they will transport her in a van.

The novel flashes back to Donna’s childhood.

Donna is the last person to see her childhood best friend, Cady Lewis, before her abduction. Cady and Donna are playing in Donna’s backyard when a man claiming to work with Cady’s father comes by to pick Cady up. Donna nearly enters the man’s van also, but when she wants to wait for her housekeeper to come outside, Cady leaves her behind.

The man is a person of color, but Donna cannot be sure of his ethnicity. She and the housekeeper don’t clear the pickup with Cady’s mother, and only discover that something is wrong when Cady’s mother calls their house that evening.

The novel returns to the present.

Van wakes up in a faux motel room with his hands bound together. The room is built inside an industrial facility. Van uses the phone. The operator tells him to wait for Valentine. The room TV shows security footage of Donna in an identical bedroom.

Valentine introduces himself to Van. Van recognizes Valentine’s companion as a silent spectator who attended the FBI interviews in Greenland. Valentine introduces him as Francis.

Van is belligerent, demanding to know their location. Valentine sidesteps his questions, threatening to abduct Allie. He asks about the entity Van can summon, promising to reward him with steak and Scotch if he cooperates. Van demands Donna’s release. Valentine believes that Donna’s captivity will ensure Van’s cooperation.

Donna tricks Valentine into thinking she will whisper the dragon’s name to him. Instead, she bites off Valentine’s ear.

When Donna figures out how to communicate with Van using their TV footage loop, the security feed is cut.

The facility nurses refuse to answer Donna’s questions. Donna likewise refuses to cooperate.

Van experiences withdrawal from his regular drug and alcohol use. He nearly submits to Valentine to gain access to alcohol, but Valentine is away, leading the effort to abduct Allie. Van later learns that the attempt failed, resulting in the deaths of several of Valentine’s staff members.

On Christmas, Van deduces from the staff’s festive clothing that they are somewhere tropical. He misses Allie and feels repulsed by the staff.

A Black woman introduces herself to Van as Dr. Patrick. Though Van is already three weeks in recovery from his drug addiction, Dr. Patrick teases him with the possibility of relapse. She focuses her questions on Allie, curious to know how she killed Valentine’s men. Van names King Sorrow and cautions Dr. Patrick against letting the dragon learn her real name.

Valentine tortures Donna with a two-hour MRI scan. The scan reveals a wyrm-shaped mass wrapped around Donna’s heart. Knowing that Donna can use her tattoo to summon King Sorrow, Valentine threatens to amputate her hands.

Valentine claims that Van has given him information and offers Donna a deal: If she can verify Van’s story, then Valentine will permit them to interact. If she fails, he will hurt Van. Donna observes that Valentine looks distracted.

It is revealed that Van lied to Valentine, making it necessary for his story to remain broad so that Donna can align her version with his. They keep their friends out of the story, revising it so that they are the only ones involved in dealing with the Nighswanders. Valentine asks about the torments King Sorrow inflicts on his victims before asking if anyone told them his real name. Donna deduces that Valentine has been declared the next sacrifice.

Valentine tortures Van to pressure Donna into naming their collaborators. Donna gives fake names, which Valentine does not believe. He nearly drowns Van, forcing Francis to intervene.

Three days later, the staff reunites Donna and Van outside the facility. Donna learns that the facility is located under a paramilitary base on Cherokee Island, North Carolina.

At a seaside dune, Donna and Van are permitted to have a supervised conversation. After predicting that their captors will kill them before Easter, Van is mesmerized by a sand dollar he finds in the dune. When Donna fails to share his wonder, Van critiques her fear of loving anything since Cady’s abduction.

Van expresses remorse over marrying Allie, believing he made her life worse. Donna urges him to stop his self-pity and reassures him that he has always been there to shield her from the consequences of her temper. She affirms his constant concern for others and urges him not to give up on his life.

The novel flashes back to the twins’ youth.

After Cady’s death, they fall into a pattern. Donna commits transgressions against parties who trigger her trauma over Cady’s abduction. Van then tries to compensate Donna’s victims to shield Donna from consequences. These incidents spur Donna’s racism and paranoia; she relies on Van to quell her fears of the world. Van, meanwhile, starts using drugs and is influenced by the left-leaning politics of the drug dealer he is dating.

The novel returns to the present.

Valentine administers a truth serum to Donna to interrogate her. King Sorrow suddenly possesses Donna, allowing her to call Valentine by his true name, Norman Barclay.

Barclay tries to bargain with King Sorrow, who demands Nebraska as his dominion. Barclay admits that this request is impossible, then begs King Sorrow to spare his life. King Sorrow agrees, promising to whisper the names of five sacrifices he will accept in exchange. When Barclay leans in, King Sorrow reaches through Donna’s throat and tears off his other ear.

King Sorrow orders a guard to kill Barclay. Francis has the guard killed. Afterwards, Barclay’s ear restores itself, revealing that they all experienced a collective hallucination.

Fearing King Sorrow, four facility staff members die by suicide.

Francis tells Donna about his organization, a private security firm called Thermopylae. Francis suspects that someone other than Allie was able to procure the names of the staff members whom King Sorrow is now harassing. Thermopylae is also after Donna’s other friends, primarily Arthur, whom they have failed to abduct because he has gone into hiding.

Donna shifts the topic to Cady. Francis theorizes Donna participates in King Sorrow’s annual sacrifice to make herself feel better for failing to bring Cady’s captors to justice. To console Donna over her complicity in the sacrifices, Francis muses that anyone who puts themselves close to dangerous people like Horation Matthews does so expecting to die.

Reinforcements arrive at the facility. Francis urges Van to give Barclay whatever he asks for to guarantee his survival. Francis hints that he will take over the operation after Barclay dies.

Barclay believes that one of the McBrides can substitute him as a sacrifice. He threatens to kill Donna unless Van offers himself to King Sorrow. Accepting his imminent death, Van declares that his captivity and sobriety have allowed him to confront his guilt over trapping Allie in their marriage.

As he leads Van up a staircase, Barclay compares Van’s predicament to the prisoner’s dilemma, suggesting that Van and Donna are too self-interested to be loyal to one another. Van points out that the comparison only works if both of them can offer themselves as substitutes. He then breaks away from the escort group and throws himself off the stairs, dying by suicide.

On Easter eve, Barclay informs Donna that Van is dead. Donna doesn’t believe him. Barclay laments the waste of his life and the prospect of Donna’s survival. During a power fluctuation, Donna smashes Barclay’s head through her television. As Barclay bleeds out, Donna steals his gun and sends his guard away. The guard confirms Van’s death.

King Sorrow taunts Barclay, prompting the latter to beg for the few hours he has left. Barclay asks Donna if she ever regrets sending King Sorrow to kill. Donna states that the sacrifices deserve their suffering because of the way they lived. Instead of letting King Sorrow kill Barclay, Donna stabs Barclay’s throat with broken glass. Donna then summons King Sorrow to destroy the facility.

Donna frees herself from her room as Thermopylae forces begin their defense against King Sorrow. She learns that Dr. Patrick has died by suicide and finds her way to the staircase exit.

King Sorrow massacres the remaining soldiers on the base.

Outside the perimeter, Donna encounters Colin, who has come to rescue her. They bump into Francis, whose real name is Paul Follett. Colin offers to keep in touch with Follett. Colin demands the return of Van’s corpse so they can bury him properly.

Donna continues to feel Van’s presence after his death. She often sees him when looking at her own reflection.

Donna remembers seeing Van in the broken mirror during the summoning ritual at The Briars. Afterwards, the two played cards, talking about their psychic abilities and Donna’s casual relationship with Colin. During the game, it occurred to Donna that they were speaking telepathically.

In 2001, Gwen works as an EMT in Podomaquassy. One night, a student she is attending to has a vision of people entering a trap to retrieve a sword.

Following the real-world September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States, Colin takes responsibility for his failure to select Osama Bin Laden as a sacrifice, even though they had named him as a candidate for years. Arthur argues that they have failed to make the world better and safer with their annual sacrifices. Donna interjects that she has already given King Sorrow a woman’s name to fulfill a personal vendetta.

Privately, Gwen and Arthur agree that Colin is quietly influencing the sacrifice with his shortlist selections. Arthur reveals an instrument called the Surrealist’s Glass, which enables him to see invisible objects. He plans to use it to locate Svangur the Sly, and then the Sword of Strange Hangings. Arthur nearly kisses Gwen, prompting Gwen to remember that kissing Arthur will kill him, per her agreement with King Sorrow.

Allie tells Gwen that Donna chose a woman named Francine Trout, who amateur investigators suspected was present during Cady Lewis’ death. Francine and her husband regularly abused the children they adopted through the foster system. Earlier that year, Francine, who is incarcerated at Black Cricket, claimed responsibility for Cady’s abduction, though there was no evidence to substantiate her claim.

On Easter, Gwen responds to a massive gas explosion at Black Cricket. Erin is present, offering moral support for the responders. Three days into the search, Gwen hears a woman calling for help under the rubble: Wendy Arthur, who is half-submerged in water. As efforts commence to rescue Wendy, Gwen and Erin keep her company, learning that she has a son she feels guilty about abandoning because of her alcohol addiction and incarceration. Erin reassures her by sharing the experience of her incarceration and her relationship with Arthur.

The excavators use tools that put Wendy’s life at risk. Gwen voices her concerns, but the excavators are intent on rushing the rescue. Just before they reach her, sparks from the tools start a fire that causes the ruin to collapse. Gwen narrowly saves Erin from being killed.

Later that night, Erin tells Gwen about her conviction. Erin and her friends trespassed onto a Navy yard to vandalize a US submarine in protest. They were chased off the property, but not before Erin and a friend were apprehended by a retired police officer. When the officer used excessive force on Erin’s friend, she responded by spray painting him. The officer fired his gun, but the bullet ricocheted, hitting him. Erin’s friend ran, but Erin remained to stabilize the officer, who soon died. Erin refused to name her collaborators, which resulted in her incarceration. Erin now realizes she was desperate to save Wendy because she projected herself onto her. She wonders what it takes get absolution for killing a person. Gwen tries to reassure herself, but is affected by Erin’s reflection.

Gwen rebukes Donna for the collateral damage at Black Cricket, which almost included herself and Erin. Donna maintains her loyalty to King Sorrow, believing that the world is better without criminals. Later that year, a man named Amos Finch is definitively linked to Cady’s abduction. Francine is posthumously exonerated for Cady’s death. Nevertheless, Donna publicly claims that Francine’s complicity in her husband’s child abuse crimes justifies her death.

Meanwhile, Daphne hears about the explosion at Black Cricket and realizes how lucky her transfer was. She sees the ghost of Jayne, who assures that Daphne will soon return to the world outside.