He stared at the mud for a moment, then faced me. “You know how long you were gone?” “A few minutes. Not long.” “A few seconds. There were no more than ten or fifteen seconds between the time you went and the time you called my name.” “Oh, no …” I shook my head slowly. “All that couldn’t have happened in just seconds.”

At this point in the novel, we don’t know much about the narrator except for the fact that she has a relationship with Kevin. Immediately before this part of the book, Edena , the narrator, just saved Rufus who was not breathing.  Edena goes home to Kevin after saving Rufus’ life and is covered in mud. Kevin is confused by this because Edena was just screaming for Kevin to help her. He asks Edena how if she knew how long she was away and she said that she believed she was gone from a few minutes and at that moment it was clear to Kevin that there was something creepy going on.

This happening so early in the story sets a precedent for the rest of the story. It lets the reader know that this story will involve weird and magical twist throughout. It also relates back to the beginning of the novel when Edena didn’t have any idea what was going on and she was at a loss for words when questioned about what had happened to her arm. Already through the first 50 pages of the story there is the consistent theme of confusion and mystical powers.