Ophelia's Gold

In the novel's climax, Ophelia phones Col. Harville during a raging storm, promising to deliver the jade Tara that has driven him mad for decades. As lightning cracks, she contemplates the strange mathematics of captivity and love: "Another hostage would be taken. Another innocence would be lost." Yet her heart feels light at the prospect—for "captivity was the purest, rarest, and possibly most de...

At her grandmother's grave in Righteous City, Ophelia trembles with unwanted visions and fears another fugue state. She questions whether Stanton's "seduction" of her with the treasure hunt reveals love or manipulation—and whether she even cares anymore.

Inside the Cave of Whispers, Ophelia offers to return the jade mandala carvings to whoever wants them—but insists the Tara statue belongs to Stanton's father. Two young LDS missionaries interrupt, revealing that the Yahweh Brethren likely have no connection to the smuggled artifacts. Back at the motel, Stanton reveals he has found Tara.

Col. Harville travels to Cabo San Lucas, following cryptic instructions to "pass under the arches." After a midnight boat trip through crashing surf, he hears the voice of God commanding him to return to the Oasis and wait. Tara's light flickers and dies in his mind's eye; he is now completely God's Hostage.

Captain Harville, now declared MIA, wraps his beloved jade Tara in batik cloth in his bamboo hut. Hallucinations blend with memories—his son's birth, his dying comrade—as Tara's shadow beckons him into madness. He is "truly lost."

Ophelia and her father explore the Blue Cave in Arizona but find no Pink Lady treasure—only fur collars that initially appear to be scalps, and a cache of Victorian postcards depicting Marrakesh. The dreamlike images suggest displacement and longing for impossible elsewheres.

Returning to her father's oil and gas business, Ophelia carries lucky amulets to a high-risk wildcat well in rural Oklahoma. The chapter interweaves petroleum geology, environmental concerns, and memories of Stanton as the drill finally hits a promising zone—offering hope of financial and emotional recovery. black gold

Col. Harville reads about Jean Tinguely's self-destructing sculpture in the Nevada desert while contemplating his own breakdown. At his farm near Righteous City, wild roses and bamboo music cannot mask the kinetic destruction he carries within.

Driving through Nevada with her father, Ophelia confesses that her work in South America put her life at risk. She was mistaken for a spy, beaten, and nearly killed. She pledges to return to treasure hunting and exploration—and perhaps to reconnect with Stanton.

Ophelia accompanies Stanton to a secret airstrip in a mangrove swamp, where he evaluates the crumbling runway for unnamed clients. Small planes land cargo that neither asks about. Their shared willingness to embrace danger becomes erotic, their futures "intertwined."

Stranded in Manaus after missing her flight home from South America, Ophelia reflects on the bruises from a business contact who attacked her, the Pombero incubus of Guarani legend, and the "spiderweb" lace of Paraguay that comes alive when hearts are impure.

Ophelia and Stanton eat breakfast at the Speedie Trip, now operated by the mysterious Yahweh Brethren who dress in homespun clothes and sell organic goods. The LDS missionaries on bicycles seem far more approachable than the compound's secretive inhabitants.

Dad's aura-detecting equipment reveals that Ophelia's personal frequency is "infinitely negative" and "very fragile." His advice—that she attracts the wrong types because of her spectral vulnerability—offers little comfort as she contemplates her pattern of destructive relationships.

lost in the spiderwebs of night

Captain Harville endures an absurd military briefing about Genghis Khan's supply-line tactics while preparing for secret missions in Laos. A plain embassy worker's biting wit catches his attention before he retreats to back alleys, shooting rats with his Walther P38 to purge his rage.

The trunk's contents—a girl's trousseau, jewelry, and that inexplicable jeweled dagger—suggest a young woman planning to elope who never escaped. Ophelia identifies with this unknown girl's thwarted dreams while Marcus spirals deeper into grief over his mother.

Following clues on the old maps, Marcus and Ophelia discover a small digging near a desert spring containing an old tin trunk. Instead of gold, they find women's Victorian clothing, photographs, and a jeweled dagger—suggesting an entirely different story than expected.

Marcus and Ophelia search for Farley Kritzoff's treasure at an abandoned California mine. Marcus hammers rocks with bitter fury while telling the tale of Kritzoff, his treacherous partner Jeremiah, and the beautiful mail-order bride Destella whose death created the legend of the "cursed" gold.

In Palm Springs Regional Hospital, a neurologist rules out brain tumors but suggests Ophelia may have epilepsy—or psychological causes. The paintings on his wall, depicting fragmented figures in motion, perfectly represent her experience of time and consciousness.

The absurd circumstances of Marcus's mother's death—a plaster Michelangelo head falling from her nightstand—give way to deeper mystery when Marcus reveals what she was reaching for: the bundle of treasure maps and a jeweled dagger that would link her to the Farley Kritzoff legend.

map dowsing

Captain Harville's obsession with the jade statue of Tara reaches fever pitch as he returns repeatedly to the hidden temple, driven by desire that he perceives as purifying love. The statue's iridescent green-pink jade becomes his only hope for salvation from the horrors of war.

Marcus and Ophelia, both teenagers, share their first kiss beside his family's pool on the night his mother died. He gives her the "cursed" treasure maps, and she promises to help uncover their secrets—a vow that will shape decades of her life.

In a flashback to his Vietnam service, young Captain Harville navigates a blood-dark Laotian river to a vine-covered Buddhist stupa where a diminutive monk warns him about becoming one of the temple's "Keepers." He awakens with no memory of his return—but a dragon tattoo seared into his palm.

Ophelia and Stanton meet in South Beach, Miami, their dangerous professions hinted at through references to death squads, surveillance, and an "Ambassador" who assigns questionnaires. Their mutual darkness creates an instant, violent attraction as they discuss what it means to be "God's Hostage."