The Last Resort

Eleven-year-old Lila Clement lives in Phoenix, Arizona, and is trying to reinvent herself as "New Lila," someone calm and collected rather than the "drama queen" her friends and family consider her. Her school friends, Lexi and Ava, have been calling her immature, and her parents frequently tell her to "dial it down a notch." When her father, Clifton, announces that his own father, Grandpa Clem, has died, the family must drive to Castle Hill, Ohio, to settle the estate and stay at Grandpa Clem's old inn. To Lila and her ten-year-old brother, Caleb, their grandfather is more urban legend than family: They know he was eccentric and that their father had not spoken to him in years for unexplained reasons. Lila is distraught because summer has just begun and her friendships are already fraying. The three girls once called themselves "the Neapolitans" after their hair colors, but Ava recently declared the name "childish." When Lila FaceTimes them about the trip, Lexi and Ava are already together without her and dismiss her distress.

On the two-day drive, a terrifying incident changes Lila. While crossing the Missouri Ozarks in heavy rain, her father swerves after momentarily hallucinating he is flying a plane, and the car spins. Lila, who had unbuckled her seat belt, is thrown across the back seat. Though no one is seriously hurt, she has a vivid flash of herself lying dead on the car's hood with open, lifeless eyes. At a roadside diner afterward, Lila sees booths full of people who vanish when she looks again. Her family sees no one.

Castle Hill Inn is a large Victorian with a turret and four floors. The only personal photograph inside is of Grandpa Clem's late wife, Nancy. Clifton explains that Nancy died of cancer when he was in high school, and Grandpa Clem bought the inn afterward. Teddy Hamad, an energetic neighbor boy Lila's age, introduces himself. He knew Grandpa Clem well and is deeply familiar with the house, which makes Lila feel like a stranger in her own family. Teddy warns her away from the fourth floor without explaining why. Lila glimpses a little Black girl, about four years old, in a blue dress with pink barrettes, who vanishes moments later. Teddy denies seeing anyone.

Clifton reveals that Grandpa Clem left the inn to him. Blight Howler, Grandpa Clem's business partner from across the street, explains he expected to inherit the property; Clifton offers to transfer ownership. Lila's mother, Meredith, explains the family rift: After Nancy died, Grandpa Clem became consumed with contacting the dead, believing himself a "high channel," someone who can see and speak to ghosts. This obsession drove Clifton away.

That night, Lila encounters a white-haired old man outside her parents' bedroom and recognizes him from photos: Grandpa Clem's ghost. He insists he did not die of natural causes, describing tea that "tasted odd" and something called "Grimsbane." He says the portal did not open for him. Before fading, he tells Lila he was murdered.

The next morning, outside Teddy's house, Lila sees a boy her age in blue pinstriped pajamas sitting on the curb asking about someone named "George." Teddy identifies this figure as Timothy Marlowe, another ghost. At Cuddy Park, their regular meeting spot, Teddy explains that a portal exists on the inn's fourth floor in the form of a large mirror. When someone nearby dies, their spirit passes through; some spirits get stuck due to unfinished business, and Grandpa Clem watched over them. Teddy, active on a paranormal forum called Phantom Hunters, confirms that high channels acquire their ability at birth or through a near-death experience, explaining Lila's new power. When Lila mentions "Grimsbane," Teddy tells her about Grail Grimsbane, known as Pistol Grim, a sharpshooter who performed with his twin sister, the Fire Maiden, in Daniel Redpenny's traveling circus. Around 1868, the circus came to Castle Hill. A dispute erupted; Grimsbane shot Redpenny and set the circus on fire, killing everyone, including himself and his sister.

Supernatural encounters intensify. The ghost girl tells Lila, "Someone put cinnamon in Grandpa Clem's stars," and that the person is "invisible." Lila connects this to a tin of chamomile tea decorated with stars and throws out all the tea. While searching the third floor for a hidden staircase, she encounters a Victorian-era ghost named Mary in the Jasper room, who asks about a fire near Dearborn Street before flickering out. Later, Grimsbane himself appears and lunges at Lila before she escapes. That night, circus ghosts appear on the lawn demanding "Step right up." Caleb, who has the same phrase echoing in a nightmare, finally believes Lila. Meanwhile, nightmares targeting each person's deepest fear spread through the neighborhood.

The three children, whom Teddy dubs "the Trionic," visit Howler for help. He dismisses every concern, insisting ghosts cannot hurt the living. Lila discovers the hidden fourth-floor entrance and ascends, but the portal door is locked. A ghost named Bridget tells her the door was sealed by "the man with the jeweled fingers," clearly Howler. The danger escalates when neighbor Mr. Santiago is found dead, having apparently sleepwalked onto his roof and fallen, the exact manifestation of his nightmare. The Phantoms reveal online that ghosts gain power through fear, eventually growing strong enough to interact with the physical world or even grant immortality.

A mysterious older woman, Miss Medina, appears and claims to see ghosts but insists they cannot return from the afterlife. Lila senses something is off. To retrieve the portal key, Teddy secretly unlocks Howler's back window, and Lila and Caleb search the house while Howler is away. A circus ghost named Malvo gives Lila a keypad combination for a locked drawer. Inside she finds the portal key and two types of stones: mantlestone, which makes the wearer invisible to ghosts, and channelstone, which allows non-channels to see the dead.

In the portal room, a massive ornate mirror hangs with two baby angels at the top, but the angels are upside down: The mirror has been inverted. When Lila and Teddy try to turn it, their fingers lock and they are plunged into visions of their worst fears. At the Castle Hill Library, old circus advertisements confirm that Miss Medina is the Fire Maiden, Grimsbane's sister. Resolved to stop more deaths, Lila and Teddy return. This time, the mirror assaults Lila with her deepest social fear: Lexi and Ava calling her friendless while classmates confirm no one wants her. She fights through by remembering Teddy and repeating "turn, turn, turn" until she blacks out. When she wakes, the mirror is corrected.

Caleb arrives with Miss Medina, who drops her disguise, levitating and igniting flames at her fingertips. Howler appears and, confronted by the Maiden's fire, confesses: She promised him immortality. He wore a mantlestone, poisoned Grandpa Clem's tea, and inverted the mirror to release the siblings. The Maiden throws Howler through the portal. She turns on the children, but Grimsbane intervenes. The circus performers ascend the staircase, still believing they are alive. Pressured by Mr. Wrench, the strongman, Grimsbane confesses: The Maiden argued with Redpenny over pay; Grimsbane shot Redpenny defending her; she ordered him to burn everything, and both siblings died in the blaze. A peaceful light fills the hallway, and one by one, the performers cross over.

Grimsbane flings himself into the mirror. The Maiden cries out, her flames extinguishing for an instant, and Lila shoves her through the portal. Lila's momentum carries her partially through, and she sees a vast white emptiness, but Caleb and Teddy pull her back to safety.

The gentle light returns. Grandpa Clem appears at peace, and beside him stands the ghost girl, holding his hand. Lila realizes the child had been saying "bunny," not "Bonnie," referring to her lost stuffed animal. Caleb had found the worn toy behind Lila's bed, initialed SER for Sara-Elizabeth Robertson, the little niece whom elderly neighbor Flossie Robertson had described losing to pneumonia years ago at the inn. Grandpa Clem asks Lila to tell his son he loves him and is sorry he was not there for him. He and Sara-Elizabeth step into the light and vanish.

Howler's disappearance is attributed to tax fraud, and the Clement family decides to stay in Castle Hill permanently. Lila plans to join the drama club, and Teddy hopes to revive his Phantom Hunters club with the Trionic as founding members. Several ghosts remain, including Bridget, Timothy Marlowe, and Mary, and Lila plans to help them cross over. The novel ends with a cold gust of air across Lila's neck and a flicker in the corner of her eye, suggesting her work as a high channel is far from over.