Later

Therriault continues to haunt Jamie, popping up when least expected. The stress affects Jamie’s performance at school and on the swim team. He begins to think he will have to tell someone, but dismisses telling his mother.

Gradually, Jamie becomes less frightened by Therriault; his fear is replaced by anger. By the last day of school, Jamie is angry enough that when Therriault appears in the elevator, instead of retreating, he holds the door and asks if his mother has cancer. Furious and reluctant, Therriault is forced to answer that he doesn’t know.

Jamie asks why Therriault said Tia had cancer in the first place. Therriault answers that he hates Jamie, and when Jamie tells him to get lost, he says he will never leave. Jamie reflects that if Therriault is his reward for doing a good deed, he never wants to do another one.

During Jamie and Tia’s monthly visit of Uncle Harry, Uncle Harry becomes agitated. He points over Jamie’s shoulder at Therriault, who has manifested behind him. Therriault says that Uncle Harry’s “condition” is hereditary via the male line, and Jamie will develop it too.

Jamie finally considers telling Tia about his situation, when Professor Burkett falls and strains his hip. Tia asks Jamie if he would be willing to take a casserole to the professor. Jamie realizes Professor Burkett might be the perfect person to help him with his Therriault problem.

As Jamie puts Tia’s casserole in Professor Burkett’s fridge, the professor asks how he’s doing, and Jamie replies that things aren’t so good. Professor Burkett asks if it has something to do with his wife’s rings. Jamie confesses that he can see the dead, and Professor Burkett asks him to tell him everything.

Jamie tells Professor Burkett about the dead bicyclist in Central Park, Regis Thomas, and Therriault. Professor Burkett half-believes Jamie; regardless, he suspects there may be no way for Jamie to get rid of his demon. Jamie is dismayed, but Professor Burkett tells him about the Ritual of Chüd.

Adult Jamie is amazed at how credulous he was at 13, as Professor Burkett wouldn’t have been able to convince his adult self that the Ritual of Chüd would work.

Professor Burkett explains to young Jamie that the Ritual of Chüd was practiced by Buddhist monks in Tibet and Nepal to achieve serenity, and that it can also be used to combat demons—both literal and metaphorical. He explains that the monks used the ritual whenever they encountered a yeti. The idea is that a human and their demon “bite” each other’s tongues, and then engage in a telepathic battle of wills. The first to break loses power over the other.

Jamie is less than enthusiastic about the prospect of tongue-biting, but Professor Burkett assures him that it’s probably symbolic. He goes on to instruct Jamie on what to do.

As Jamie leaves, Professor Burkett asks if his wife shared anything besides her rings’ location. Jamie tells him that Mrs. Burkett predicted that he would pursue a woman named Dolores Magowan. This further convinces the professor of Jamie’s ability, as Mrs. Burkett always imagined he had feelings for Dolores.

That night, Jamie gets an email from Professor Burkett. The professor did some research to verify different parts of Jamie’s story and sends some reviews of Regis Thomas’s final book—each of which praises some element that stands out from Thomas’s previous work, suggesting that Tia’s contributions were improvements.