Hidden Pictures

Mallory talks to Ted and Caroline in the den, along with all the pictures, after Teddy goes to bed. Ted offers her tea as Mallory notices two unfamiliar drawings. The angel in the first drawing is holding an electric wand near an electrical outlet. In the other, the angel is unloading energy into Anya’s chest. Mallory asks if the wand is a Viper like the one Caroline bought for her. She tells them that Anya means “mommy” in Hungarian and then asks why Teddy doesn’t remember being on a plane. Ted says it was an accidental double dose of Benadryl on the flight that had erased Teddy’s memory of the plane. Mallory then asks why they didn’t tell her that Teddy is a girl and reveals that she saw Teddy’s anatomy in the outdoor shower.

Caroline says that after three years of being a girl, Teddy chose Ted’s name and decided to identify as a boy. Mallory realizes they don’t have vaccination records for Teddy, which is why the school must be calling so often. She accuses Ted and Caroline of stealing someone’s daughter and raising her as a boy. When she tries to leave, Ted smashes the wine bottle against her head. Mallory kicks Caroline in the shin when she walks past and thinks, “I know I am stronger than her and Ted combined. I have spent the last twenty months preparing for this moment. I have been running and swimming and eating right. I’ve been doing fifty push-ups every other day while Ted and Caroline sit and drink wine and do nothing” (322). She bites Caroline’s forearm when she falls. As she pulls at Caroline’s shirt, she sees a tattoo of angel wings between her shoulder blades just as Ted comes at her with the Viper.

Mallory wakes in the dark cottage, bound to a chair with her wrists behind her. She is gagged with a cloth, but her legs are not tied. Caroline enters, wearing blue gloves. She shows her a bag of heroin and says that Mallory stole it from Mitzi’s house. Caroline is going to make her overdose. They’re going to pay for everything after her death to make the loss easier on Russell. Mallory accuses Caroline of strangling Anya, and Caroline says it was self-defense.

She admits that Ted was the man in the pictures. Caroline says she rescued the child and that Teddy remembers nothing, so there is no harm done. Mallory argues that Teddy remembers the rabbit, but Caroline says, “These drawings are so unfair! This is her version of what happened. But if you’d seen my side of things? The big picture? You’d understand better” (329). She feels guilt and remorse but claims that she had no choice. Caroline says that when Anya is in her head, it feels like a panic attack.

She and Ted used to live in Manhattan. They couldn’t get pregnant, so they took a one-year sabbatical on Seneca Lake to conceive. However, Caroline got bored. She says, “I have this horrible realization that I am just not a very creative person. Isn’t that an awful thing to discover about yourself?” (330). She liked walking, which is how she met Margit Baroth, a painter with a two-year-old girl named Flora. Margit ignored Flora, and Caroline hated the perceived neglect. They argued about her inattention, even though Margit didn’t speak English.

There was a hot air balloon festival taking place, but Flora just stared at a phone instead of watching. Then, Flora saw a rabbit. When she tried to show her mother, Margit ignored her. She followed the rabbit, and then Caroline followed Flora. When Margit found them in the woods, Caroline stunned her with the Viper, causing a seizure. She then covered the body with leaves and took Flora, and she doesn’t remember what happened next. Ted buried Margit’s body and got rid of the evidence. Soon, the police found the body with dogs.

To evade detection, Caroline cut Flora’s hair and dressed her like a boy. She told everyone in their circle that they had moved to Barcelona, although they actually moved to West Virginia. Teddy wouldn’t speak for six months. After a year, Margit—or her spirit—found them in West Virginia. She started visiting Teddy at naptimes. Caroline could feel her presence but couldn’t see her. Next, they moved to Spring Brook, but Margit followed them. Bringing in a third party—Mallory—was the Maxwells’ attempt to make Anya focus on someone else. She admits that she killed Mitzi and that Ted buried her body. Caroline injects Mallory with heroin and says that maybe she can find her sister again. As the substance enters her blood, Mallory sees the outline of Margit in the cottage and thinks she has already died.

Mallory wonders if this is her punishment for her life. She asks Anya if she can help her. Margit floats to her, and Mallory sees that she is beautiful. She feels Margit’s grief combined with her own: “I should have been paying more attention. I shouldn’t have been so distracted. If I had just been a little more careful, everything would still be okay” (339). She hears Margit telling her to forgive herself.

Ted enters the cottage and sees Mallory crying. He says he switched the heroin for baby powder, before claiming that he has always protected her. Ted says he tried to scare her away by interviewing her so aggressively. He says that now it will work out because they’re going west and Mallory will love it once they are settled. Ted knows they feel the same way about each other. He says he has cashed out his retirement account and will now take Mallory to Whidbey Island because Caroline has lost her mind. They can’t take Teddy because Margit will chase them. After using the bathroom, Mallory hugs him and plays along.

Caroline enters and shoots Ted in the shoulder with Mitzi’s gun before making Mallory sit back down. She says they put a webcam in the cottage. Ted would watch Mallory whenever he could. She makes Mallory get a knife so she can shoot her in self-defense. Ted grabs Caroline’s legs, and Mallory runs outside as she hears another gunshot. She doesn’t know how to help Teddy if she leaves, so she runs into the house, picks him up, and runs into the Enchanted Forest.

Mallory hears sirens approaching. She has Teddy climb into their tree hideout and eludes Caroline’s Viper flashlight. They are eight feet up. Caroline finds them and tells Teddy to come down. Teddy jumps down and stabs Caroline three times in the neck with the arrow they had found earlier while playing in the woods. Mallory senses that Margit has taken control of Teddy’s body and is the one stabbing Caroline. Mallory takes the arrow from Teddy as the police find them in a creek. She takes the blame for the murder, and Margit vanishes as Teddy reawakens.

Mallory writes that she received many media offers for the story but she turned them down. She and Jozsef, Flora’s father, release a statement saying that they are not going to speak about the events publicly but will take their time to heal in private.

Instead, Mallory writes 85,000 words on her own, directly to Flora. Her writing comprises the text of Hidden Pictures. She explains that Ted died of the gunshots, Caroline died half an hour later, and Mallory confessed to killing her in self-defense. When questioned, Mallory doesn’t mention the drawings. When a social worker verifies that Teddy has “the anatomy of a five-year-old girl” (357), it helps Mallory’s story. Teddy matches all the characteristics of the missing girl Flora Baroth. Jozsef—her father—also confirms many details known only to the police, further validating Mallory’s story.

Adrian had found Ted and called 911. When Jozsef arrives at the police station, he holds Mallory’s hand and cries. He then takes Flora back to Seneca Lake. Adrian begins his last year of college as Mallory moves in with Russell. Doctors are surprised that Flora has repressed most memories of the violence that killed Caroline. Mallory tells Jozsef the entire story, including the drawings and Margit’s involvement, but he is the only one.

The doctors give Flora an abbreviated version of the facts and say that she can choose whether she wants to be called Teddy or Flora, whether she wants to dress as a boy or a girl, or whether a combination of both would be better. Within eight weeks, she is going by Flora and wearing her cousin’s dresses.

Mallory’s mother calls, leading to their reconciliation. One year after Caroline’s death, Mallory is 30 months sober, and Flora’s father finally says she can visit. She goes with Adrian. Jozsef welcomes them into his home and shows them many of Margit’s paintings. He says that Flora no longer sees “Anya.” In the background, Mallory hears Flora acting out a scene from The Wizard of Oz with some of her cousins. However, she is shy when Mallory watches her. Flora won’t look at her as she draws, but Mallory gives her a new batch of art supplies and pencils.

She gives Flora a pamphlet containing all of Flora’s favorite recipes that they had cooked together. Flora nods but remains distant. Mallory realizes Flora has been trying to forget her. She is trying to move on, and her example is good for the adults. Flora runs off to play with her cousins, and Adrian and Mallory leave. Before they can leave, however, Flora chases her to the car and hugs her. She gives Mallory a picture of the two of them. When Flora is ready for the story, she will have this book.