The Changeling: A Novel

Gayl insists on staying up with Apollo past her bedtime. They go together to the library for the puppet show later that night. Gretta Wheeler arrives right before the show starts. Apollo tries to introduce himself to her, but Gretta is agitated that William has arrived at the island and Cal deflects her attention away from Apollo. Apollo wants to corroborate William’s story about his dead daughter, but this frustrates Gretta, who begins to lose control of her emotions and speaks loudly and angrily, scaring the children as she says that William killed their daughter, Agnes. She also says that even though she does her best to hide from him, he always finds her; he recently found her new address and sent her a book. He defaced the book by scrawling their dead daughter’s name, Agnes, on every page. William had also stolen all of Gretta’s money from her bank account: He had taken $70,000 in total.

Apollo reels from the knowledge that he had aided William in robbing Gretta. He begins to doubt everything he thought he knew about Emma and regrets throwing his wedding ring away.

He takes Gayl to the dining room to eat because the child is hungry, and Gayl tries to take the red string from Apollo’s finger. Apollo uses this as a diversion to feed her. Eventually, Gayl’s mother comes and shares that Emma used to read to her son every night, which she felt was telling of her character. She then gives Apollo back the red string that Gayl had stolen from him.

Apollo watches Cal perform the puppet show from outside the library. Gretta approaches Apollo, though she doesn’t trust him yet. Apollo wants to warn Cal about William’s threat. He tells Gretta that William said he had called for support and that “someone’s coming.” Gretta is shocked to hear this and carries Apollo’s warning to Cal.

Apollo goes to the seclusion rooms where he confronts William about how he had defaced the Mockingbird book. William shares that he hadn’t really known who he was until he found his own community. With them, he stripped himself of his identity as William Wheeler and discovered his “true face.” He then recites a post he had made on Facebook, revealing himself to be Kinder Garten. When Apollo asks him if he is Kinder Garten, William says Kinder Garten is, in fact, “Ten thousand men with one name” (277). Apollo suddenly feels a shift in the air and starts running toward the library just as bombs explode around the island.

Artillery fire rips through the Wise Ones’ camp as they evacuate the children. Apollo enters the library to find Cal with Gretta, who is dead. Cal blames herself for Gretta’s death. Soon, they hear Kinder Garten’s voice, growing louder as he approaches them. Cal silently signals to Apollo to follow her, and they squeeze through a hole in the wall into the courtyard on the other side. The women and children are quietly making their way toward a rescue ship operated by one of the Wise Ones.

The Wise Ones load the children onto the ship. Cal explains that love makes one capable of performing magic. She assists Apollo in reaching a smaller boat so that he can sail back to New York. Cal will stay on the island to hold off Kinder Garten, saying, “The big one can swim” (285).

Cal and Apollo descend toward the creek boat. Kinder Garten intercepts them and directs an unseen force to aim at the Wise Ones’ ship. A tree flies out into the water, nearly sinking the ship. Cal retaliates by shooting at Kinder Garten with a handgun, hitting him once and stopping him.

Cal tells Apollo the Greek myth of Callisto, a nymph who had been transformed into a bear by Hera. When Callisto’s son by Zeus, Arcas, encountered Callisto as a bear, he was prepared to shoot her. Zeus transformed both of them into constellations, which Cal believes is a happy ending.

Cal urges Apollo to go back to New York and visit Brian’s grave so that he can erase whatever doubts he still has about what happened. Afterward, he can search for Emma, who went to seek out Brian in New York City’s only forest. Then, Cal fights off Kinder Garten as Apollo paddles away from the island until he reaches the New York shores.

Apollo rents a car, thinking about what it will take to ram through the gates of Brian’s cemetery. He gets the same car he had driven the day he discovered the Mockingbird book.

After picking up Patrice, Apollo drives over to the cemetery, speeding up to ram the gates down. Patrice is upset after hearing about how William had stolen the money for the book. He discourages Apollo from breaking the gates down, saying they should just park and find a way in.

Sitting in their car outside the cemetery, Patrice and Apollo cautiously watch the same car pass them by several times. Patrice uses his iPad to survey the location and finds an opening in the cemetery fence. Apollo reflects on what he might find when he gets to Brian’s grave.

As Patrice and Apollo search for Brian’s grave, Patrice explains that modern caskets are very strong and that they are often fortified by a layer of concrete that is impossible to break into. Once again, they hear the same, strange car passing by. They locate the maintenance building and check inside for digging tools. Patrice disables the building’s outdated security system with his iPad.

Patrice and Apollo grab digging tools and locate Brian’s grave marker. Patrice gives Apollo an opportunity to back out, but Apollo is committed to his decision. As they start digging, Apollo feels gratitude for his friend, as well as curiosity to understand his reasons for starting the Facebook page. He wonders if Patrice might be Kinder Garten, too.

Apollo confronts Patrice about the Facebook page, but Patrice denies having founded or managed the page at any point. When Apollo brings up the posts that tie him to the user Green Hair Harry, Patrice continues with his denials. He eventually theorizes that William could have hacked into his computer and listened in on Apollo’s plan to locate the island. This makes Patrice nervous for Dana’s safety, considering that William could track them through any of their devices.

Patrice uses a light app he created to illuminate the grave. Apollo continues digging until he reaches the concrete casket vault. They break through the liner, allowing Apollo to pull the casket open. When he sees Brian’s corpse, Apollo immediately feels great tenderness for his son and he is upset that he even considered for a moment that Cal and Emma might have been right. However, he touches his son’s forehead, and this action “broke the spell” (312).

Apollo’s hand catches on thorns. He pulls out Brian’s corpse and discovers that it isn’t Brian, but a mass that resembles a hairy wasp’s nest. Recognizing that he had been tricked by a glamour illusion, Apollo regrets being skeptical of Emma. The mass starts moving in his hands, spilling out insects. Apollo scrambles and attacks the bugs with digging tools. He feels a strange mix of tenderness and revulsion for the mass, which sips at the blood from Apollo’s finger.

Patrice urges Apollo to leave soon, so Apollo returns the mass to the casket and takes Brian’s grave marker. As they leave the cemetery, Apollo thinks that William Wheeler is a “monster.”

The novel flashes back to when Brian West returned to the Kagwa household. He told Apollo, “You’re coming with me” (321). Then, he carried the boy into the bathroom, taking off his clothes.

After he recovers from the dig, Apollo gets his father’s old copy of Outside Over There and reads it. When he looks at the mother in the story, he recognizes the way Emma had been as a mother. He reaches the part where the main character, Ida, learns that a changeling replaced her sister. He then resolves to follow Emma to the forest.

Apollo packs for his journey to the forest, using the suitcase he and Emma planned to use for emergency trips to the hospital. He identifies the neighborhood of Forest Hills as “[t]he only forest in New York City” (325). He brings clothes for Emma and Brian, the mattock from the cemetery, Brian’s grave marker, and his father’s copy of Outside Over There.

Apollo takes the train to Forest Hills, struggling to pull his suitcase against the falling snow. He decides to enter a Starbucks to get some food for the journey. Inside, a belligerent old man antagonizes the barista and then walks away, mumbling lines from Outside Over There. Apollo follows the man outside.

The old man reaches the edge of the forest and bows down, speaking to an unseen presence. He leaves his items from Starbucks at the tree line and then walks away from the forest.

Apollo watches the old man from the sidewalk. Two police officers mistake Apollo for an unhoused person and tell him to vacate his spot. Apollo becomes worried that the police officers may get him in trouble with his parole officer. He looks up at the edge of the forest and sees Emma, who resembles a glowing witch. She takes the old man’s Starbucks bags and returns to the forest.

The officers give Apollo a MetroCard to go home. They insist on giving him a ride to the bus stop, lightly threatening him with consequences if he shows up there again.