Starling House

Opal dreams of the house again and drives back as quickly as she can. She finds Arthur standing outside the house, bloodied. He is holding the same sword that is depicted in all the Starlings’ portraits. In front of the house, she also sees a beast that she recognizes from The Underland. Arthur tries to tell Opal to go, but instead, she takes the sword from him and vainly attempts to attack the beast. It throws her to the ground, but Opal takes the keys she has stolen from Arthur and punches the beast, which then disintegrates. When Arthur gets to Opal, he kisses her. Overwhelmed by the discovery of her family background, the revelation that magic exists, and her growing feelings for Arthur, Opal tries to act normally as the two head inside.

As she cleans his wounds, Opal forces Arthur to explain everything. Like Bev’s story of Starling House and Calliope’s truth, Arthur tells Opal what he believes to be the precise and factual history of the house. Arthur tells Opal of Eleanor’s obsession with studying what she called the Underland. Eleanor believed that there were cracks in the earth that led to another realm where paranormal beasts lurked.