Chap­ter XIX begins in the dim­ming light of March 18, 2014, as Hen­ry and Addie wrap up their day at an art exhib­it in New York City. The final stop in their explo­ration leads them into an extra­or­di­nary space defined by trans­par­ent plex­i­glass walls, a unique exhib­it that feels more like an artis­tic expe­ri­ence than just an art gallery. The space, almost like a library’s book stacks but with­out any books, brings them to a cen­tral con­cept encap­su­lat­ed by the over­head sign: “YOU ARE THE ART.” The atmos­phere is elec­tric, filled with vibrant neon col­ors, while the walls bear the marks and draw­ings left by pre­vi­ous visitors—visible rem­nants of count­less oth­ers’ attempts to make a state­ment. Addie, eager to par­tic­i­pate and leave her own mark on the walls, tries to draw her thoughts and feel­ings, but each of her attempts is swift­ly erased, dis­ap­pear­ing as quick­ly as it’s made. This van­ish­ing act strikes her deeply, reflect­ing the con­tin­u­ous cycle of her life where every­thing she tries to leave behind—whether a mem­o­ry, a con­nec­tion, or even a mark—tends to fade. Her grow­ing frus­tra­tion is clear as she watch­es the marks she’s made dis­ap­pear, yet this fleet­ing expe­ri­ence sparks some­thing in her. In response, Hen­ry, who is wit­ness­ing her strug­gle, offers his help. Togeth­er, they find that their com­bined efforts allow them to cre­ate some­thing per­ma­nent, break­ing the cycle of imper­ma­nence that has defined Addie’s exis­tence for so long.

This real­iza­tion of being able to make an impact that lasts marks a pro­found break­through for Addie. For the first time in her long life, she sees the poten­tial to leave some­thing behind that doesn’t fade away with time. Through Henry’s sup­port, she’s able to pour out her emo­tions and cre­ate images that reflect her joys, sor­rows, and her essence. Each brush­stroke and mark is a man­i­fes­ta­tion of her inter­nal world—a world that’s often invis­i­ble to those around her. The most pow­er­ful of these marks is her name, “Addie LaRue,” writ­ten on the wall with hes­i­tant hope. Unlike her pre­vi­ous attempts, where her pres­ence seemed to dis­solve into noth­ing, this name stays intact, offer­ing Addie a tan­gi­ble sense of per­ma­nence. It is an affir­ma­tion that, even in her oth­er­wise tran­sient exis­tence, there can be moments of last­ing sig­nif­i­cance. This sim­ple yet pro­found act of writ­ing her name ignites a feel­ing she has not known in years: hope. The pos­si­bil­i­ty of per­ma­nence, even if only through Hen­ry’s actions, gives Addie a new sense of agency—something that’s been absent from her life for cen­turies.

The shift with­in Addie is imme­di­ate and pow­er­ful. She feels an over­whelm­ing surge of hope, some­thing that has long been absent in her eter­nal­ly shift­ing world. It dri­ves her to take imme­di­ate action, pro­pelling Hen­ry out of the exhib­it and into the bustling streets of New York City, back toward their shared home in Brook­lyn. The urgency of their steps reflects a new­found sense of con­nec­tion, as if the marks they made on the wall in the exhib­it are now mir­rored in the world they are walk­ing through. Addie’s hand, now stained with green paint from the exhib­it, inter­locks with Henry’s, mark­ing a phys­i­cal and emo­tion­al bond between them. Their rela­tion­ship, once defined by curios­i­ty and mys­tery, now feels more tan­gi­ble, sym­bol­ized by the green paint that lingers on their fin­gers as a sign of their shared expe­ri­ence. As they return to their apart­ment, the ener­gy between them is pal­pa­ble, charged with the unspo­ken under­stand­ing that some­thing fun­da­men­tal has shift­ed in their dynam­ic. Addie, feel­ing empow­ered by this change, reach­es for a note­book and pen from Henry’s col­lec­tion. She urges him to write her name once again—this time on paper, where it won’t dis­ap­pear with the stroke of time. See­ing her name writ­ten and know­ing it will remain gives her a sense of accom­plish­ment she has nev­er felt before. The per­ma­nence of her name on paper, a sim­ple act but a deeply sig­nif­i­cant one, marks a turn­ing point in Addie’s jour­ney. For the first time in cen­turies, she finds a way to leave a mark, not just in a tem­po­rary art exhib­it, but in the very fab­ric of her own exis­tence. As she looks at the words in front of her, the phrase “This is how it starts” rings in her mind, sig­nal­ing the begin­ning of a new chap­ter in her life. This moment, marked by the abil­i­ty to leave a per­ma­nent mark, is more than just a small vic­to­ry for Addie; it rep­re­sents the birth of a new hope, a fresh start, and the pos­si­bil­i­ty that, through her con­nec­tion with Hen­ry, she can carve out some­thing last­ing in her oth­er­wise ephemer­al life.