The Strangers

Emma feels the pressure to decipher her mother’s letter more intensely than ever, concluding that “[i]f this wasn’t life and death, it was really, really close” (232). Despite her frustration and weariness, she refuses to take a break as Natalie suggests. When Natalie’s earbuds are accidentally unplugged from her laptop, the video of Kate Gustano she’s watching plays aloud, and Emma insists on listening to it. Something Gustano says sparks a realization that may be the key to deciphering the coded letter: “You’ll always have each other” (238), which is something their mother says often. Using each letter as a code for another letter, Emma translates the first sentence of the letter: “How much do you know about alternate worlds?” (239).

The letter goes on to say that the Greystones are from a parallel universe, and that Kate had to go back. Natalie, reading from her phone, explains that according to some theorists, a parallel universe may be created each time someone makes a choice. Trying to fathom what this means, Natalie wonders if the two Kates are different versions of the same person, a suggestion that rankles Chess. She continues to speculate about the two possible universes and when they were created. The conversation overwhelms Emma, so Natalie helps to translate more of the letter. In it, their mother claims that the world they came from is ruled by dangerous authoritarians, and that she and their father, Andrew, worked to subvert those in power.

Because of their efforts, Andrew is killed, and Kate and the children escape into their present world. When the “bad people” find their way into the Greystone’s world, they kidnap the Gustano children assuming they are the Greystones. Feeling guilty that innocent children are at risk because of her, Kate Greystone resolves to go back and rescue the Gustanos. The cash she took from the bank the day she disappeared is to hire people to help her. She concludes the letter with a warning: If they are able to decipher the letter, it is likely too late to help her, and they must never try to follow her.  

Finn, who has been asleep during the entire translation, wakes up and is curious to know what’s going on. While Emma tries to explain in the simplest terms possible, Finn recalls a dream of being both in their house and in the abandoned house simultaneously. They realize his dream contains an answer: the two houses are the same but in different worlds, and the panic room is the bridge between them.

They debate whether to go back to the other world to rescue their mother. Emma argues they should, while Chess is more cautious in light of their mother’s warning. Meanwhile, a final portion of the letter remains untranslated, requiring a different key code. Emma begins piecing together the clues in the story of the captured criminal the boy in the other world told them about. They wonder if “the criminal” is their mother, captured by an authoritarian government for her resistance efforts. The boy said she would stand trial on Saturday, the very next day. They decide to go back through the tunnel and search for clues.

The next morning, Chess sneaks into Emma’s room, looking for Kate’s cell phone. Emma fell asleep with it in her hand, and Chess gently slips it from her grip. Back in his room, he checks the phone once again for texts, emails, or past phone calls, but the phone’s history is blank, just like before. When Natalie appears, Chess suggests telling Ms. Morales the whole story. Natalie rejects the idea, saying her mother would never believe it. She then wonders about her own doppelgänger and whether her presence in the other world might change anything. As Natalie talks about rescuing Kate Greystone and the kidnapped Gustano kids, Chess is awed and humbled by her confidence. He feels like a coward by comparison. 

Finn, Emma, and Chess concoct a story about needing to go back to the house. Ms. Morales obliges, although they fear she may be getting suspicious. While Ms. Morales waits in the car, they approach the front door, and Natalie gasps in shock. She had left a piece of tape on the door as a precaution, but the tape is missing. Someone has been inside the house.

Despite Emma’s contention that the missing tape doesn’t prove anything, she enters the house cautiously, looking for possible signs of intruders. They go down to the basement and check the door to the Boring Room, on which Natalie also left tape. That tape is also missing too, and although Emma tries to explain it logically, she cannot. Again, Chess suggests telling Ms. Morales everything, and again, Natalie argues it would do more harm than good. They finally decide to go back through the tunnel, gather evidence about their mother—the boy in the other world claimed that there were signs about “the criminal” on every street corner—and bring it back to show Ms. Morales.

They open the secret door to the panic room and pull the lever. Once again, the room spins. When it stops, they step out into the same foul-smelling abandoned house and ascend the same rickety stairs, trying to do everything the same as before. As they exit the house, Emma notices something strange: “Do you feel like…we’re going through patches of fog?’ Emma asked. ‘Only it’s patches of feelings? Hope, fear, hope, fear…and it goes along with how strong the smell is?’” (284). Finn and Natalie concur. As they near the end of the driveway, they recognize a neighbor walking by, but she doesn’t acknowledge them. They step on to the sidewalk and follow a crowd of people all walking in the same direction and all wearing the same blue and orange colors. The mood is grim. They find a poster of “the criminal,” and it’s a picture of their mother, looking “defiant and ugly” (287). The poster says everyone must attend the trial which begins in 15 minutes. They have no time to go back for help.

Chess tears the poster down and tells Emma and Finn to take it back to Ms. Morales while he and Natalie rescue their mother. They refuse, insisting they must all do this together. Emma realizes that Chess is trying to compensate for losing their father by keeping the younger two siblings safe, and her understanding deflates his argument. They follow the crowd to the “Public Hall” to witness the trial. As they walk through the desolate yet oddly familiar neighborhood, Chess wonders what happened in this world to make everything so gray and depressing. The residential neighborhood eventually opens up into a more urban landscape: steel-and-glass skyscrapers festooned with stiff military-style banners. The crowd files into an ornate building, dragging Natalie and kids along with them and eventually ending up in a large pit-like auditorium.

At the center of the stage is a massive video screen displaying an image of Kate Greystone shackled to a chair. The crowd grows angry, chanting, “Coward! Traitor! Destroy her!” (297). With their mother on full display before a vengeful mob, Chess fears it is too late to save her.