Home Before Dark

Ewan and Jessica wait for Maggie to leave her appointment with Dr. Lila Weber, a child psychologist. Ewan recalls that Jessica’s pregnancy with Maggie accidental pregnancy and that Maggie’s birth was difficult: The cord was wrapped around her neck during the delivery.

Weber tells Ewan and Jessica that Maggie has a hard time distinguishing what’s real from what’s imaginary. She believes Maggie truly thought there were ghosts in the room at the sleepover. Ewan knows that doesn’t explain the doors opening and closing or the noise under the bed.

That night they tell Maggie about the Carvers. Maggie says Hannah already told her. When they show her a newspaper article about the tragedy, Maggie points at the picture of Katie Carver and says she’s the girl she sees in her room. She also says that Curtis Carver is Mister Shadow.

Maggie waits with the knife, jumping at every noise. The only way she can think of to escape the reporters is to get a ride with someone. Even though she’s nervous about his prison record, she calls Dane. They meet near the crumbling wall, out of view of the reporters, and he drives her to Weber’s office. When she asks him about his time in prison, he’s honest. He says he was drunk during the fight, regrets what he did, and served his time. He didn’t tell her because he didn’t want to be judged. Maggie says that now they’ll have to be in a strictly boss-and-employee relationship. He lets her out at the office and resigns. When he asks her if she’ll need a ride back, she wants to say yes but declines.

Weber tells her that they only had the one session mentioned in the book. She believes Maggie returned to see if the Book was true. She also thinks it’s relevant that Maggie became a designer: She looks for the stories of other houses. She thinks Maggie’s return to Baneberry Hall is an attempt to rewrite the story. Weber also tells her about their single session when Maggie was a child. She doesn’t believe Ewan made up the ghosts or their names. She says Maggie truly believed in them. Weber says that what Ewan wrote about their session is true.

Jessica starts teaching summer school as Ewan and Maggie go to the farmers’ market. When they get home, a bell rings three times. Ewan is with Maggie, so she obviously isn’t doing it. It’s the bell from the Indigo Room. On his way back to the kitchen, every bell rings. Maggie says Mister Shadow was there and wants to talk to Ewan.

That night, he takes out the Ouija board and tells Jessica they should contact Mister Shadow. He admits he thinks the house is haunted. She’s reluctant but agrees. He asks if a spirit is there, and the answer from the board is YES. The temperature drops. The spirit says, via the board, that it used to live there. Its name was Curtis Carver, and Mister Shadow is what Maggie calls him. He repeats the word CAREFUL three times, and then the planchette moves to GOODBYE.

Maggie screams upstairs. When they enter her room, the armoire is open. She says Mister Shadow was there.