Chapter Sixteen: Kingdom Road. Claudia. Instructions. The Noisemaker. The Monarchs.
Summary
- In the opening scene, the main character "Charlie" and his dog, Radar, pass a man and a boy who warn them to avoid "the haunted city" (Empis). The man speaks in a cruel and cryptic way and the boy is punished for his curiosity.
- Charlie spends time on Kingdom Road contemplating the mysteries of Empis: the strange gray people, the two moons in the sky, and his increasing worry about his father's possible awareness of his disappearance.
- Radar's health worsens and Charlie can do nothing but continue along the road. However, the journey evokes feelings of exhilaration and curiosity in him as well, making him glad to be on this adventure.
- They meet Claudia, a deaf woman on a tricycle who reveals that she had dreamt of Charlie's arrival. She talks about the abandoned trolley car and the tolling of the city's bells. Claudia's home is surrounded by the dead bodies of wolves, which she killed to keep the others away.
- She turns out to be quite hospitable and helps Charlie by dressing his blisters with her homemade liniment and providing a meal.
- Claudia tells Charlie that he will have to stay overnight in a storage shed near the city's gate and insists on him using the name "Leah of the Gallien" to gain entry into the city. She warns him about the possibility of getting lost inside the city if he doesn't find the marks left by "Ade".
- Sensing Charlie’s urgency to help his dying dog, Claudia relents and promises again to tend to Radar.
- Chapter begins with a conversation between the narrator, known as "Sharlie" or "Young Prince Sharlie", and Claudia, a seemingly eccentric woman who communicates in shouts because she is deaf.
- Claudia informs Sharlie of a journey he must undertake to a location signaled by "Adrian's marks". She explains the journey will be through strange, possibly dangerous terrain and he should follow any marks quietly and not be distracted by possible phenomena.
- She explains that the journey will bring Sharlie to a square with a dry fountain and he will then find a large yellow house which is the House of Hana. There, he must hide and wait for two bells before entering the house to a sundial, where he must run it backward and not use it himself.
- Sharlie is advised to return the way he came after working the sundial, taking care to avoid Hana who may be sleeping by this time.
- Claudia explains that he must exit the city of Lilimar before nightfall or face the danger of Night Soldiers. Here, she details the place he must sleep and instructs him to return to her in the morning.
- Claudia shows Sharlie a car battery-powered machine keeping wolves at bay and proposes an agreement. Sharlie will get room and board, and in return, he will bring her a new car battery when the current one dies.
- Sharlie sleeps and wakes to Claudia sharing more about the mission. She shows him a tricycle equipped with quiet rubber wheels that he will use for his journey. Sharlie then witnesses a spectacle of Monarch butterflies flying against the dawn sky, cementing his acceptance of the surreal reality of Empis, Claudia's world.