Chapter 12 opens as Kira wakes “with a sense that something has changed” (128). She’s not certain what that “something” is, and, given the stormy weather outside, decides to focus on her work on the robe instead of going to see Annabella. She takes the robe out and studies its patterns of ruin and rebuilding, noticing “how each time the ruin was worse and the rebuilding more difficult” (131) and that “the sections of serenity were exquisite” (131). She finds herself longing for the color blue, wondering who “yonder” (132) has the materials to make it, and adding this mystery to the questions swirling around in her head about the beasts that Annabella says do not exist. 

Thomas knocks and lets her know that Matt is in his room, having been kicked out of his own home by his mother. Thomas says that he heard the sound of a child crying in the night again and asks Kira to come with him to explore. She agrees just as Matt appears, and they decide to investigate together.