Last time on the Summoning, Chloe tries to chat with one ghost, ends up chatting with another maybe ghost, then gets caught.

THE NEXT MORNING WHEN I was called into a meeting with the doctors, I did my best damage control. I claimed I really had gotten past the I-see-dead-people stage and accepted my condition, but had woken up hearing a voice in the night, calling me to the attic. I’d been confused, sleep drunk, dreaming of seeing ghosts, not really seeing them.

That is seriously her best attempt. The doctors are about as impressed with it as I am, although apparently the stupidity wraps around to the point where they consider that maybe someone who can’t think up a better lie may not be lying.

In the end, I managed to persuade them all that I’d had a minor setback, but it was like the little boy crying wolf. The next time I said I was improving, they’d be a lot slower to believe me. No quick track to release now.

I think a major part of why none of this makes sense is that the book keeps confusing actually having hallucinations and believing they’re real. The fact Chloe was up there trying to talk to ghosts indicates she’s lying about accepting them as hallucinations. If they’re just upset she was hallucinating, then they’re complete dicks. The fact she hallucinated something doesn’t mean she was lying about not seeing them earlier. In fact, since once again she didn’t see anything during the unknown time she spent at the hospital, having a day or two of no hallucinations should be just expected.

“We’re going to need you to provide urine samples for the next week,” Dr. Gill said.
“Oh, that’s ridiculous,” Aunt Lauren said. “How do we know she wasn’t sleepwalking and dreaming? She can’t control her dreams.”

Because it’s an amazing coincidence for her to suddenly develop sleepwalking issues right now, that’s why. Also, the fact she remembers everything fine and was clearly awake when they found her are also points against this.

But the fact she’s seeing ghosts shouldn’t have anything to do with her not taking the medication. There’s been no sign Chloe isn’t compliant about the drugs. And the fact someone’s delusional enough to believe hallucinations are actual ghosts doesn’t automatically mean they’re skipping their meds – the kid in the Sixth Sense would have taken as many horse pills as they could give him if it meant not seeing horrible ghosts, and Chloe’s in there because she was running away screaming from what she saw.

“Dreams are the windows to the soul,” Dr. Gill said.
‘That’s the eyes,” my aunt snapped.
“Anyone versed in psychiatry will tell you it’s the same for dreams.” Dr. Gill’s voice was level, but her look said she was sick of parents and guardians questioning her diagnoses and defending their children. “Even if Chloe is only dreaming she sees ghosts, it suggests that, subconsciously, she hasn’t accepted her condition. We need to monitor her with urine tests.”

This is total bullshit, but not implausible. Being a psychiatrist is not the same thing as being a good one.

That said, if Chloe’s aunt is sane and protective enough to object just to her getting drug tests, this little string of control-freak blaming should be enough to yank Chloe from the place and register a complaint about abusive practices, because jesus christ.

So, naturally, no one says anything because apparently in dumbass no research land dreams actually work this way.

Aunt Lauren pressed her lips into a thin line and started picking lint from her wool skirt. She rarely backed down from an argument, but these doctors held the key to my future.

And apparently in dumbass no research land ABSOLUTELY NO ONE has the right to overrule doctors. We already know Chloe has zero rights, but apparently the same goes for her adult relatives. It seems once she was handed over, they can do whatever they want with her, and contacting her aunt with updates is just a polite formality.

a voice said, “I’m behind you.”
I spun to see Derek.
“I can’t win,” he said. “You’re as skittish as a kitten.”

KITTENS AREN’T SKITTISH

WHY ARE YOU COMPARING HER TO A KITTEN DEREK WHY ARE YOU SO CONDESCENDINGLY CREEPY ALL THE TIME STOP IT

This would be a cute scene except for the damn kitten thing.

Anyway, Derek then says that she can talk to Simon if she wants, she doesn’t need to go behind his back.

“We were just—”
“I know what you were doing. Simon already told me. You want answers. I’ve been trying to give them to you all along. You just have to ask.”

a) Not very hard.
b) Why can’t Simon tell her them?

‘Tonight. Eight. Our room. Tell Mrs. Talbot you’ll be with me for math tutoring.”
“Your side is off-limits. Is she going to let me go up there, alone, with a boy?”

Uh, a better question would be why would they let this happen given the dustup just yesterday about him getting kicked out if he makes any sudden movements around her?

Seriously, it was yesterday. She’s been there four days total.

Anyway, apparently “math tutoring” is a perfect excuse, even though Chloe’s already got a math lesson plan so they’d know she wasn’t having any math issues nor awesome enough to tutor someone else with theirs.

And that’s all for this chapter! Why yes, NOTHING FUCKING HAPPENED again.

Forget zombies, we are going to need some heavy-duty undead to be decent payoff for all this. We are talking lovecraftian shit.