In Chap­ter 199 of “All the Col­ors of the Dark,” Saint fran­ti­cal­ly search­es the town after real­iz­ing Char­lotte is miss­ing. She wakes up Michaels and two aux­il­iaries, plus Sam­my, and heads out to alarm the entire com­mu­ni­ty. The oppres­sive anx­i­ety floods her mind, rem­i­nis­cent of two decades ago, as she races through the streets from St. Raphael’s to Mon­ta Clare High, feel­ing time slip away with day­light. Upon return­ing home, she finds Nor­ma wait­ing on the porch, which fur­ther inten­si­fies her fears about Char­lot­te’s safe­ty.

Deter­mined not to relent, Saint vis­its var­i­ous hous­es to gath­er infor­ma­tion, espe­cial­ly from indi­vid­u­als men­tioned by Char­lotte. She grap­ples with the real­iza­tion that she does­n’t know enough about Char­lot­te’s life, reflect­ing on the dan­ger they all face due to past trau­mas con­nect­ed to fig­ures like Patch and Misty. As she nav­i­gates the woods, she uses a flash­light to search for any signs of Char­lotte amid the grow­ing dark­ness, feel­ing the weight of her gun, a sym­bol of her expe­ri­ence and urgency to pro­tect the girl she con­sid­ers her own.

Even­tu­al­ly, her search leads her to the Mad House, where she finds Char­lotte sit­ting qui­et­ly in her father’s chair, trans­fixed by the tele­vi­sion. The relief is pal­pa­ble, mixed with frus­tra­tion as she con­fronts Char­lotte about her non­cha­lance amidst the chaos. The pro­gram on screen por­trays a poignant moment between Char­lotte and her father from two years pri­or, reveal­ing their past strug­gle. The scene tran­si­tions to a woman from Arling­ton who notices a paint­ing at a gallery, rec­og­niz­ing the girl and deter­min­ing to report her miss­ing.

Saint is shocked to see the face from the painting—a reflec­tion of Char­lotte when she was tak­en. This moment crys­tal­lizes the con­nec­tion between the past and present, ignit­ing a deep­er under­stand­ing of Char­lot­te’s expe­ri­ences. Kneel­ing beside her, Saint rec­og­nizes the girl is begin­ning to show emo­tion. As the con­ver­sa­tion unfolds, it becomes clear that the truths and rev­e­la­tions they share could change every­thing for both of them. The nar­ra­tive cul­mi­nates as Sam­my enters with dread­ful news about Charlotte’s grand­moth­er, leav­ing a feel­ing of help­less­ness in the air. The chap­ter deft­ly inter­twines themes of des­per­a­tion, famil­ial bonds, and the quest for truth in the face of adver­si­ty.