The Girl in the Green Silk Gown

Official cover

**The Girl in the Green Silk Gown** is the second novel in the Ghost Roads series by Seanan McGuire. It features Rose Marshall.

## Synopsis

**The second book in the Ghost Roads series returns to the highways of America, where hitchhiking ghost Rose Marshall continues her battle with her killer--the immortal Bobby Cross.**

*Once and twice and thrice around,
Put your heart into the ground.
Four and five and six tears shed,
Give your love unto the dead.
Seven shadows on the wall,
Eight have come to watch your fall
One’s for the gargoyle, one’s for the grave,*
*And the last is for the one you’ll never save.*

For Rose Marshall, death has long since become the only life she really knows.  She’s been sweet sixteen for more than sixty years, hitchhiking her way along the highways and byways of America, sometimes seen as an avenging angel, sometimes seen as a killer in her own right, but always Rose, the Phantom Prom Date, the Girl in the Green Silk Gown.

The man who killed her is still out there, thanks to a crossroads bargain that won’t let him die, and he’s looking for the one who got away.  When Bobby Cross comes back into the picture, there’s going to be hell to pay—possibly literally.

Rose has worked for decades to make a place for herself in the twilight.  Can she defend it, when Bobby Cross comes to take her down?  Can she find a way to navigate the worlds of the living and the dead, and make it home before her hitchhiker’s luck runs out?

There’s only one way to know for sure.

*Nine will let you count the cost
All you had and all you lost.
Ten is more than time can tell,*
*Cut the cord and ring the bell.
Count eleven, twelve, and then,
Thirteen takes you home again.
One’s for the shadow, one’s for the tree,
And the last is for the blessing of Persephone.*

## Plot

**Chapter 1: A Girl and Her Car**: Newly reunited in death with her boyfriend Gary, Rose visits Emma at the Last Dance Diner. She takes her food out to the parking lot to eat with Gary (who as a car can't go inside), but is suddenly summoned by an unknown force. She finds herself trapped in a summoning circle by a young routewitch and Bobby Cross.

**Chapter 2: Diamond Bobby, King of the Silver Screen**: Bobby convinces the routewitch to slit her own throat, spraying blood onto Rose. He leaves, and eventually the blood breaks the circle, freeing Rose. She exits the building to find herself in an endless cornfield. Rose meets the owner, a homestead named Corletta, and convinces her to show the way out, in return for a promise to send some ever-lasters for her to play with. She makes it to a ghostroad and is picked up by Tommy, who gives her a ride back to the Last Dance.

**Chapter 3: The Neon Lights of Home**: At the Last Dance, Rose learns that she's been missing for three months. She asks Emma to look at her back, and finds out that the blood has partially obscured her tattoo of protection from Persephone. Rose and Gary go to the Ocean Lady to ask Apple for help. Apple explains that to cancel out Dana (the routewitch)'s death, another sacrifice will need to be made.

**Chapter 4: Bad Moon Rising**: Rose allows herself to be incarnated on Halloween, along with several other ghosts, many of whom don't know the rules of the holiday. They awaken on a farm owned by the Barrowman family of ambulomancers, who clothe and feed them before telling them the rules: They will be hunted by living people. If they're killed, they won't go back to the twilight, they'll simply cease to exist. The living do this to gain another year of life. If the dead manage to kill one of the living, *they* win a year of life, but have to do the same next year, or they'll end permanently. Rose runs as fast as she can, followed by two ghosts, Salem and Jimmy. Jimmy betrays them and calls to his living brother Anton, who kills Salem. Jimmy tries to kill Rose, but the Barrowmans appear and tell him and Anton to leave. They then knock Rose out. She awakens with only a few seconds left on the jack-o-lantern candle next to her, but when it goes out, she remains incarnated and tied up and can't return to the twilight.

**Chapter 5: Candles and Consequences**: Rose realizes the Barrowmans have betrayed her to Bobby, likely because he took their daughter hostage. She talks Violet into letting her go and flees through the cornfields. She wonders who she can ask for help, and realizes the only person she knows among the living whose contact information is available (unlike the Prices) is Laura Moorhead. She makes her way to a road and gets a ride from a trucker.

**Chapter 6: Collect Calls from the Dead**: Rose collect calls Laura from a truck stop in Big Springs, Nebraska, and convinces her it's really her by telling her about the time Laura trapped Rose ("True Love Dies Like Everything Else"). She begs her to come pick her up, just as Bobby arrives in the doorway. She hides in the women's bathroom, and a truck stop employee named Molly covers for her, thinking Bobby is her abusive ex. She waits for Laura in the truck stop diner, and when she arrives explains her situation to her in the bathroom.

**Chapter 7: Unlikely Bedfellows**: In Laura's car, Rose has a panic attack when she realizes she now has no way of sensing Bobby. Laura helps her calm down, and they head back to Boulder. On the way, Bobby finds them and starts following. Laura calls the highway patrol and they scare him off long enough for her and Rose to get away. Rose explains about routewitches and Laura realizes they'll need to fly to Maine.

**Chapter 8: Small Rooms Filled With Memories**: At Laura's apartment, she takes photos of Rose for a fake ID, and the next day picks it up along with some clothes from Target. They go to the airport and Rose passes through TSA to get on her first ever plane ride.

**Chapter 9: Beware the Ocean Lady**: In Maine, Laura rents a car and drives until they reach the turnoff for the old Atlantic Highway. They find an old abandoned diner, and Laura casts a spell to make it appear alive again, and get the attention of the Ocean Lady and the routewitches.

**Chapter 10: Forbidden Fruit**: Apple shows up to investigate the suddenly-alive diner, and Rose explains her situation and introduces her and Laura. Laura figures out that the Barrowmans blocked Rose from the roads through ritual salt cooked into the pancakes she ate. Rose drinks a lot of water, and eventually flushes out all the cursed salt. Suddenly, she's connected to all the roads again, and they're all vying for dominance inside her head. Rose insists on bringing Laura with them to the Ocean Lady, so the three of them set off for the Queen's court.

**Chapter 11: The World's Greatest Graveyard**: The accumulated power of sixty years of hitchhiking across the continent has made Rose the most powerful routewitch alive, and she can see auras and lights all around her. Laura marvels at the extinct creatures living along the Ocean Lady, while Apple discusses the nature of the goddess with Rose. After much walking, the three of them arrive at the mother of all rest stops.

**Chapter 12: A Rose By Any Other Flame**: While Rose and Laura are waiting for Apple to read the cards in her trailer, Gary and Emma burst into the rest stop, and Gary embraces Rose. Now that she's alive, she feels his touch as cold and clammy like the grave. Siobhan comes into the room with a message from Apple, but is terrified when she sees Emma. Apple tells Rose the situation, and Emma comes into the trailer to offer a suggestion.

**Chapter 13: Sing Me a Song to Move the Stones**: Apple and Emma tell Rose that their plan is based on the myth of Orpheus. Gary is overwhelmed and walks out to the parking lot, where Rose follows him. She explains the story of Orpheus, and that they're going to try to return her to the dead by doing what Orpheus did, but deliberately looking back. Apple comes out and says Laura is the only person who can be Rose's Orpheus. Bobby arrives and offers to partner with her and make her queen of the routewitches. Rose refuses, and Apple warps the Ocean Lady to drive him away.

**Chapter 14: There Isn't That Much Distance**: Apple draws some of Rose's distance away to replenish the power she expended against Bobby. Rose goes inside and talks to Laura, who notes that she and Tommy are like the inverse of Rose and Gary.

**Chapter 15: All Ideas Are, to Someone, Terrible Ideas**: They discuss where to find the gate to the Underworld, and settle on the British Museum in London. Apple explains the situation to Gary, and tells Rose that if she didn't plan on returning to being dead, Apple would have to either make her an apprentice or kill her. She warns Rose against making promises on the trip other than to Persephone, and hugs her goodbye.

**Chapter 16: My Spindrift Sou**l: Laura and Rose drive from Maine to JFK International Airport, where Laura leaves her while she returns the rental car. Rose meets Carl, Apple's contact at the TSA, who gives her passports and tickets to the British Museum.

**Chapter 17: My Driftglass Heart**: Rose and Laura arrive in London, where they meet their British guide, Pippa the dullahan. She takes them to the British Museum.

**Chapter 18: The Spoils of Thievery**: Pippa leaves them at the start of the path to the underworld. They encounter a membrane that shows them illusions of what might have been; for Rose, it shows her the prom she never got. Passing through, they reach a gate guarded by Cerberus.

**Chapter 19: All Dogs Are Good Dogs**: Rose pays the toll to pass Cerberus with scratches behind the ears and belly rubs.

**Chapter 20: Everything Changes**: Laura and Rose meet Persephone and Hades and explain their situation. Hades agrees to let them recreate the journey of Orpheus and Eurydice, but if Laura looks back before she's in the lands of the living, she will die and Rose will remain alive. They start walking, and Rose punches a specter that tries to trick Laura into turning around. Five more attack her, as Laura continues walking.

**Chapter 21: Leave Your Body at the Door**: Rose fights off the shades, and catches up to Laura. As she exits the cave, Laura refuses to turn around forcing Rose to follow her, and reveals that she's been working with Bobby the whole time. She almost turns around, before Bobby hits her with his car. He tries to drag Rose into the living world, but Laura looks directly at Rose and lets her die.

**Chapter 22: Down Among the Dead Men**: Rose drives off Bobby and stays with Laura as she dies. She serves as psychopomp and takes Laura's ghost down to the ghostroads. She sticks out her thumb and summons Tommy, who is overjoyed to finally be reunited with Laura, and he gives Rose a ride to the Ocean Lady.

**Chapter 23: The Girl in the Green Silk Gown**: Rose walks on the Ocean Lady, towards the rest stop where Apple, Emma, and Gary are waiting for her.

## Characters

### Major

* Rose Marshall: A hitchhiking ghost and psychopomp who travels across the continental United States, helping those who are destined to die on the road.
* Tommy: A Phantom Rider who Rose was not able to save. They are friends in the ghost world.
* Laura Moorhead: Tommy's human girlfriend, Laura made it her life's work to track down the Phantom Prom Date.
* Gary Daniels: Rose's high school boyfriend, who continued loving her his entire life and managed to follow her into the ghost world.
* Emma: A Beán Sidhe with no family, Emma is Rose's friend and runs the Last Dance Diner.
* Bobby Cross: The man who killed Rose, and continues to hunt her in her afterlife.
* Apple: Queen of the Routewitches, ally to Rose.

### Minor

* Corletta
* Paul (routewitch)
* Siobhan Kavanagh
* Pippa
* Matthew Barrowman
* Violet Barrowman
* Holly Barrowman, their young daughter
* Salem, a terrified ghost
* Anton, Jimmy's living brother
* Molly, a kind waitress
* Counterfeit ID maker
* Hades
* Persephone
* Carl - TSA agent
* Cerberus
* Ocean Lady

### Mentioned

* Lonely John
* Robert Marshall
* Bethany
* June Harty - resident of Buckley
* Saint Celia
* Danny, God of Highways
* Odin
* Daedalus and Icarus
* Mary Dunlavy
* Price Family
* Orpheus and Eurydice, Apollo, Calliope
* Michael - ambulomancer
* Thomas Price
* Katherine Lewis
* Anubis
* Ammit

## Field Guide

* Homecomer
* Phantom Rider
* Routewitch
* Ambulomancer
* Dullahan
* Beán Sidhe
* Bogeyman (possibly)
* Cerberus

**Mentioned**

* Coachman
* Ever-laster
* Muses
* Crossroads
* Ammit
* Maggy Dhu

## Locations

* Twilight
	+ Last Dance Diner
	+ Old Atlantic Highway
* Daylight
	+ Calais, Maine
	+ Barrowman Family Farm
	+ Big Springs, Nebraska
	+ Boulder, Colorado
	+ London, England
		- Heathrow Airport
		- The Underground
		- British Museum
* Underworld
	+ River Styx

**Mentioned**

* Daylight
	+ Buckley Township, Michigan
		- Sparrow Hill Senior Center
		- Sparrow Hill Road
			* Dead Man's Curve
	+ Manzanar, California
	+ Medford, New Jersey
		- Hurry Up and Dine Diner
	+ Manhattan, New York City
		- Metropolitan Museum of Art
		- JFK International Airport
* Midnight

## Objects

* Persephone's Blessing
	+ Katabasis, white asphodel
* Salt Circle

**Mentioned**

* Spirit Jar
* Persephone's Cross
* Feast of Saint Celia
* Seal of Solomon

**In-Universe Literature**

* *On the Trail of the Phantom Prom Date* by Laura Moorhead
* *American Ghosts* by Michael Hayes
* *Diamond Bobby: The Rise and Fall of an American Icon* by Hannah Wells
* Online forums about hitchhiking ghosts, and particularly the Phantom Prom Date

## Trivia

* Deleted scene accessible to Patreon subscribers
* The NSA knows about ghosts. They just choose to ignore that knowledge.
* Almond trees are bitter.
* There are routewitches of the seas as well as land, and both have truces with their counterparts in the air. Like road ghosts, there are the drowned men, ghosts of those who died at sea.

## Quotes

* Emma, to Gary: "She"--she points to Apple-- "is the anointed queen of a society of witches, chosen for the role by the ghost-goddess of a dead highway. She--" she points to me-- "is an urban legend without the sense God gave the little green apples. "--" she points to herself-- "am a bean sidhe, and the less you know of me, the better. And the existence of the Muses is where you can't keep up anymore? Boyo, you should have dropped out of this conversation a lifetime ago if this is what you couldn't handle." (Ch. 13)
* "I feel like James Bond. Is your name a terrible sex pun? I bet it's a terrible sex pun. That's why you went with attack instead of an introduction. You're embarrassed. Well, you shouldn't be. None of us can help what our parents do." -Rose, Ch. 17

## Pop Culture

* Elysian fields, Ray Bradbury, Ghostbusters, HBO, Starbucks, Grease, James Dean, Barbie, Mercurochrome, Urban Decay makeup, Disney World, British Bake-Off (not named), James Bond, Kardashians, Angelina Jolie, David Bowie, Morticia Addams
* "Route 66" song, Danger Zone, "You Belong to Me" (1950s song)
* Snow White, Neverland, Daedalus and Icarus, Hercules
* A Midsummer Night's Dream (quote, not named)
* Jabberwocky (quote, not named)

## Playlist

Spotify

YouTube

## References

1. ↑ Rose was in Bobby's clutches for three months, and then immediately attends rites for Halloween 2016.