Elatsoe: Chapter 17 Summary & Analysis

The next day, as Jay and Ellie prepare to visit Willowbee’s library, they discuss using fake names. Ellie reveals her real name, Elatsoe, which she somehow has not shared with Jay before. She explains that it means “hummingbird” in Lipan, and she shares the name with Six-Great. Jay gets a call from Al. He pauses the conversation to ask Ellie how many vampires were on Dr. Allerton’s lawn, and moments later, Al hangs up. Jay shares that Al is going to ask older and better-connected vampires about what might be going on. Jay then calls Ronnie to make sure she knows that Al is taking this risk. When he hangs up, he tells Ellie that Ronnie wants to talk to her later.

Ellie and Jay reach Willowbee and stop to let parents and their toddler cross the street. The pedestrians all smile and wave, and Ellie wonders if everyone here knows Dr. Allerton’s secret. Ellie brings up Lenore and her fears that Lenore will bring Trevor back to get revenge. Jay recounts a story of a train hitting a bus full of children, killing many of them, and how the children’s ghosts later supposedly saved a car that broke down on the tracks. This suggests, he insists, that not all human ghosts are evil. Ellie, however, is very focused on the lush landscaping dotted with flowers and mushrooms. She notes that young human ghosts are the most common, since having their lives cut short means they’re more eager to return.

As they get out of the car, Ellie laments that as a paranormal investigator, she’ll have to work with a team to handle human ghosts—and she hates working in groups, because there’s always someone like Chloe Alamor. Jay sympathizes, and he asks if he could perhaps work with Ellie. He’s found his research into Dr. Allerton fulfilling, and Ellie confirms that he’s been a big help. With this, they enter the library, and the librarian points them to the entire room dedicated to the exhibit. Quietly, Jay reveals to Ellie that he considered asking the librarian if Willowbee experiences lots of unexplained deaths, and he also shares that lots of people were openly watching them as they drove in.

The exhibit begins with the portrait of Nathaniel Grace. It turns out that he was the real founder of Willowbee, not just an honorary founder. This makes no sense, though, as he was a New England Pilgrim who apparently founded a town in Texas that’s 200 years old. Jay begins perusing books while Ellie studies a scale model of Willowbee that’s shockingly detailed. Dr. Allerton’s clinic is at the intersection of Grace Lane and Sanitas Street, which suggests the clinic is as old as Willowbee. Other exhibits confirm this: the clinic treated injured Confederate soldiers during the Civil War, and the town grew immensely in the years after. Ellie is even more confused about Willowbee’s history after this.

The next display is a 1906 letter from Theodore Roosevelt, thanking the clinic for healing him after a bear almost bit his leg off. Jay insists it has to be a joke, since Roosevelt was never mauled by a bear. Ellie speculates that Dr. Allerton—and all of Willowbee’s previous doctors—have continued to protect whatever secret Nathaniel Grace had. The clinic may seem to work miracles, but Ellie suggests that whatever they’re doing is dark and dangerous.