Chap­ter VII begins on a hot and oppres­sive morn­ing in Venice, Italy, on July 29, 1806, where Addie LaRue finds her­self wak­ing in silk sheets beside Mat­teo. The heat of the Venet­ian sum­mer is unbear­able, yet it feels almost insignif­i­cant in com­par­i­son to the inter­nal cool­ness that defines Addie’s exis­tence. Her life is marked by a curse that ren­ders her invis­i­ble to those she meets, caus­ing her to be for­got­ten as soon as she leaves their pres­ence. This con­di­tion, while offer­ing her a cer­tain free­dom from attach­ment, also leaves her in a state of per­pet­u­al iso­la­tion. As she lies next to Mat­teo, who seems entire­ly unboth­ered by her pres­ence, Addie can’t help but reflect on the para­dox of her situation—the free­dom of being for­got­ten yet also the pro­found lone­li­ness that comes with it. The day unfolds qui­et­ly, a rare moment where she is able to exist in the calm of the moment, with no imme­di­ate need to leave or be remem­bered.

Matteo’s actions con­trast sharply with Addie’s curse. While she will for­ev­er remain a stranger to him, Mat­teo, who is com­plete­ly engrossed in the process, draws her with intent and focus. His char­coal sketch serves as a fleet­ing moment of recog­ni­tion, an attempt to cap­ture her essence on paper, even though he will not remem­ber it or her once the encounter is over. In that moment, Addie watch­es as he care­ful­ly ren­ders her like­ness, and she begins to won­der about the nature of mem­o­ry and imper­ma­nence. His draw­ing doesn’t just cap­ture her phys­i­cal form, but it also becomes a sym­bol of some­thing greater: the idea that there may be some way to leave an impres­sion on the world, even if it is only in a moment’s glimpse. As the artist draws, he unknow­ing­ly cre­ates a mark of per­ma­nence in a world where her very exis­tence is an ever-chang­ing blur to those she encoun­ters.

Addie’s reflec­tions con­tin­ue as she plays along with the illu­sion of being remem­bered by Mat­teo, allow­ing him to believe in the fleet­ing con­nec­tion they share. She thinks about the nature of his draw­ing, about how, despite the curse that eras­es her from the minds of those she meets, this art­work may be a last­ing rep­re­sen­ta­tion of her in some form. Unlike mem­o­ries, which fade from people’s minds once she leaves their pres­ence, an idea—such as the image Mat­teo has captured—can endure beyond her. The real­iza­tion stirs some­thing deep with­in her. Per­haps, in a way, ideas are immune to the ero­sion caused by her curse. Even if Mat­teo will for­get her, the image he has cre­at­ed of her will per­sist, allow­ing her to exist in a tan­gi­ble form in his mem­o­ry, even if his mem­o­ry of her fades. The notion that there may be a way for her to leave a last­ing imprint on the world, through some­thing as sim­ple as a draw­ing, offers Addie a new sense of hope. It sparks a glim­mer of pos­si­bil­i­ty that there is, after all, a way to find per­ma­nence, even if it’s not in the form of mem­o­ries.

As Addie pre­pares to leave, she shares a final, qui­et exchange with Mat­teo, one that under­scores the bit­ter­sweet nature of their brief encounter. Though their con­nec­tion is fleet­ing, the act of him sketch­ing her becomes a metaphor for the tem­po­rary yet mean­ing­ful moments that define human exis­tence. Even in a life that feels like it’s slip­ping through her fin­gers, Addie finds a sub­tle form of per­ma­nence in the art­work, even if it is not of her actu­al self but rather the idea of her. The real­iza­tion set­tles in her heart that while her curse may make her phys­i­cal­ly invis­i­ble to oth­ers, ideas, once plant­ed, can live on in ways that tran­scend time and mem­o­ry. The draw­ing, now in Matteo’s hands, sym­bol­izes a qui­et rebel­lion against the forces of era­sure she has faced for cen­turies. It is a tes­ta­ment to the fact that some­thing can endure, even when its source is for­got­ten. As she leaves the room, Addie looks back at the draw­ing, con­tem­plat­ing the ways in which she might con­tin­ue to leave traces of her­self in the world, even as she remains invis­i­ble to those who would oth­er­wise encounter her. The sun­set over Venice’s canals serves as a per­fect back­drop to this real­iza­tion, cast­ing a warm, gold­en light over the city and mir­ror­ing the fleet­ing yet sig­nif­i­cant con­nec­tion that has sparked some­thing with­in her—a new under­stand­ing of the resilience of ideas over the tran­sience of mem­o­ry.