Civil War Shadows Linger

Dr. Lucas Lamia, a Union Army surgeon, flees the horrors of the Civil War to settle in northern Michigan with his wife, Lilith. Though the land and Torch Lake seem idyllic, Lamia cannot escape the trauma and guilt of the battlefield. He is haunted by memories of amputations, death, and the question of whether a soul can be severed like a limb. The local Native American rituals and the mysterious, torch-lit lake at night stir his curiosity and fear. He witnesses a funeral pyre on the water and a monstrous creature beneath the surface, sensing that the land and its waters are alive with ancient, dark power. Lamia's attempts to find peace are undermined by the sense that he has brought the war—and something else—north with him.

Campfire Tales and Fears

In the present, Sharon Murphy begins her job as a counselor at Camp WaakWing on Torch Lake. The camp director, Paxton, tells the children a chilling legend about the lake's origins, the torch-bearing Anishinabek, and the monstrous Mishipeshu, a creature that punishes those who disrespect the lake. Sharon comforts a frightened camper, Dylan, who is terrified by the story. The campfire tale is more than a warning; it's a living myth that shapes the children's—and Sharon's—relationship to the lake. The story's power lingers, blurring the line between folklore and reality, and Sharon senses that the lake's darkness is not just a story to keep kids in line, but a force that demands respect and sacrifice.

The Well's Whispered Bargain

Lamia's new life is interrupted when a feverish stranger arrives, begging for help. Lamia's medical skills are tested as he uses leeches and morphine to treat the man, but the stranger's delirium is contagious. The well near Lamia's home becomes a locus of supernatural power, whispering to him in the night. In desperation, Lamia bargains with the well's voice, promising to return blood and flesh in exchange for healing. The well's demands grow: it wants not just blood, but limbs, and perhaps even souls. Lamia's faith and reason are eroded as he is drawn into a cycle of debt and sacrifice, his family's safety hanging on his willingness to pay the well's price.

Nighttime Vanishings and Guilt

At camp, Dylan vanishes during the night, sending Sharon and fellow counselor Kai into a panic. They find him safe by the lake, paralyzed by fear of the monster in the water. Sharon and Kai bond over their shared responsibility and trauma, but the incident plants seeds of guilt and self-doubt in Sharon. She is haunted by her own family history of loss and the sense that she is unfit to protect others. The camp's rituals and stories become a crucible for Sharon's anxieties, as she struggles to distinguish between real dangers and the monsters conjured by fear and legend.

Blood, Leeches, and Promises

Lamia's son, Benjamin, falls gravely ill, infected by the stranger's disease. Lamia's medical knowledge fails him, and he turns again to the well, which demands a greater sacrifice: a limb from his own child. Torn between love and horror, Lamia promises to amputate Benjamin's leg if the boy recovers. The well's magic—leeches and whispered bargains—saves Benjamin, but Lamia hesitates to fulfill his end of the deal. The consequences are immediate and devastating: Benjamin is consumed by a supernatural fire, his ashes all that remain. Lilith, Lamia's wife, exacts her own revenge, injecting Lamia with their son's ashes, binding his soul to an eternal hunger for the dead.

Drowning, Rescues, and Debts

At camp, Dylan disappears again, this time during a swim. The counselors' frantic search ends in apparent tragedy, but Sharon, wracked with guilt and desperate to avoid causing another mother's grief, flees to the old well. There, she bargains with the voice within, offering her own future child's life in exchange for Dylan's return. Dylan is reborn from the well's depths, covered in primordial muck, but Sharon's relief is shadowed by the knowledge that a debt has been incurred—a life for a life. The well's bargains are binding, and Sharon's fate, and that of her future child, is now entwined with the lake's dark magic.

Bargains Paid in Limbs

Lamia, cursed by the well and haunted by the loss of his son, becomes a wanderer, seeking relief from his supernatural hunger by injecting himself with the ashes of the dead. He discovers that only the souls of those who die untimely or violently remain in their ashes, and he becomes a predator, preying on grieving families. The well's curse is relentless: Lamia must continue to feed, or suffer unbearable agony. His wife, Lilith, is transformed into a creature of the lake, bound to its waters and separated from her son, who now lives on inside Lamia's veins. The family is shattered, each member trapped in a different form of suffering.

The Lake's Hungry Depths

Years pass. Sharon and Kai, now a couple, have a daughter, Jewel, conceived in the lake's waters. The family is happy, but the shadow of the well's bargain looms. Jewel is marked by the lake—she sees things others cannot, and is eventually touched by the same supernatural forces that claimed Dylan. When Jewel falls ill with a mysterious, terminal cancer, Sharon realizes the debt is coming due. The lake, the well, and the bargains made cannot be escaped. The family's attempts to move on, to leave the lake, are thwarted by fate and by their own emotional ties to the place that both gave and took life.

Ashes, Grief, and Addiction

After Jewel's death, Sharon and Kai are consumed by grief. Sharon is drawn into the orbit of Lucas Lamia, now a grief counselor and secret predator, who preys on bereaved parents by convincing them to inject their children's ashes, promising reunion but delivering madness. The support group he leads is a front for his supernatural addiction. Sharon is torn between the urge to scatter Jewel's ashes in the lake and the seductive promise of Lamia's rituals. The ashes become a battleground for memory, love, and the hunger of the cursed.

The Curse of Eternal Ache

Lamia's curse is revealed in full: he is driven to consume the souls of the dead, trapped in their ashes, to quiet the agony of his own lost son. His predations leave a trail of madness and death, but he is also a victim, tormented by the well's demands and his own guilt. The cycle of grief, addiction, and supernatural hunger is unbreakable—unless a greater sacrifice is made. Lamia's story is a dark mirror of the families he preys upon, a warning about the dangers of refusing to let go, and the price of trying to cheat death.

The Well's Price

As Sharon and Kai prepare to scatter Jewel's ashes, Lamia returns to claim his due. He attacks Sharon, amputating her arm and leg to fulfill the well's demand for flesh, and steals the remaining ashes. Kai, overcome by grief, attempts suicide in the lake, seeking reunion with his daughter. The supernatural forces of the lake and the well converge: Lilith, now a lake creature, exacts vengeance on Lamia, dragging him into the water to be destroyed. Sharon, maimed but alive, makes a final, desperate attempt to destroy the well and end the cycle of sacrifice.

The Child Returned, The Debt Owed

In the lake's depths, the souls of the lost children—including Jewel and Benjamin—are reunited with their mothers. Sharon, transformed by her ordeal, becomes a guardian spirit of the lake, a new Charon ferrying souls and protecting the children who dwell in its waters. The well's power is diminished, but not destroyed; its bargains echo through generations. The cycle of loss and redemption is not ended, but transformed, as the lake becomes both a grave and a sanctuary for those willing to drown.

The Family Fractures

Sharon and Kai's relationship, already strained by grief, is shattered by the violence and loss they endure. Each is left to confront their own guilt and longing: Sharon for the bargains she made, Kai for his inability to save his daughter. Their love is both a source of strength and a reminder of what has been lost. The lake, once a place of joy and family, is now a site of memory and mourning, its beauty inseparable from its darkness.

The Lake Claims Its Own

The souls of the dead, scattered in the lake's waters, become part of its living essence. Jewel, now a spirit of the lake, is reunited with her mother and father in a new, aquatic afterlife. The lake is revealed as a liminal space, a place where the boundaries between life and death, grief and healing, are porous. The living and the dead are joined in an eternal dance, watched over by the spirits of those who have sacrificed and suffered.

The Mother's Sacrifice

Sharon, having lost her child, her partner, and her own body, is reborn as a guardian of the lake. She becomes the new Charon, ferrying souls and protecting the children who dwell in the water's depths. Her sacrifice is both punishment and redemption, a transformation that allows her to find meaning in loss. The well's bargains continue, but Sharon's presence offers hope and protection to those who come after.

The Final Descent

The well, though wounded, remains a source of power and danger. Its bargains are whispered to new generations, its hunger never fully sated. The cycle of sacrifice and resurrection continues, as the living are drawn to the lake's beauty and its darkness. The story ends with a new child making a wish at the well, the ancient voice answering, and the promise that the lake's secrets will endure as long as there are those willing to drown.

The Lake of Souls

The lake is both a grave and a cradle, a place where the dead are never truly lost and the living are never truly free. The souls of the drowned, the sacrificed, and the mourned become part of its depths, their stories echoing in the water and the well. The cycle of grief, love, and sacrifice is unending, but within it is the possibility of redemption, reunion, and peace for those willing to face the darkness and let go.

Characters

Lucas Lamia

Lucas Lamia is a Civil War surgeon whose trauma and guilt drive him to northern Michigan, where he becomes ensnared by the supernatural power of Torch Lake and its ancient well. His rational mind is eroded by grief, addiction, and the seductive bargains of the well. Lamia's love for his family is twisted by desperation, leading him to make terrible sacrifices—first of strangers, then of his own son. Cursed to eternal hunger for souls, he becomes a predatory figure, preying on the grief of others while seeking relief from his own. Lamia's journey is one of tragic transformation: from healer to destroyer, from victim to monster, his humanity eroded by the very forces he sought to escape.

Lilith Lamia

Lilith is Lucas's wife, a strong and nurturing presence who becomes a victim of her husband's bargains with the well. After the loss of her son and the betrayal of Lucas, she is transformed into a supernatural creature, bound to the waters of Torch Lake. Lilith's love for her child and her rage at Lucas's actions define her existence; she becomes both a guardian and an avenger, protecting the souls of lost children and exacting vengeance on those who harm them. Her transformation is both punishment and liberation, allowing her to find purpose in her suffering and to become a new kind of mother to the lake's dead.

Sharon Murphy

Sharon is a camp counselor whose life is shaped by loss, guilt, and the bargains she makes with the supernatural. Haunted by her inability to save those she loves, Sharon is drawn into the web of the well's bargains, sacrificing her own future child to save another. Her journey is one of transformation through suffering: she loses her daughter, her partner, and her own body, but is ultimately reborn as a guardian spirit of the lake. Sharon's psychological arc is defined by her struggle to accept her own limitations, to forgive herself, and to find meaning in sacrifice. Her love, guilt, and resilience make her both a tragic and redemptive figure.

Kai Jordan

Kai is Sharon's partner and fellow counselor, a man deeply connected to Torch Lake and its rhythms. His love for Sharon and their daughter, Jewel, is steadfast, but he is ultimately powerless to protect them from the supernatural forces at work. Kai's grief and guilt drive him to seek reunion with his daughter in death, and he becomes another victim of the lake's hunger. His psychological journey is one of acceptance and surrender, as he learns that love cannot always save, and that letting go is sometimes the only way to find peace.

Jewel Jordan

Jewel is the daughter of Sharon and Kai, conceived in the lake's waters and marked by its magic. Sensitive, imaginative, and attuned to the supernatural, Jewel becomes the focus of the well's bargain and is ultimately claimed by the lake through illness and death. In the afterlife, she is reunited with her parents and becomes a spirit of the lake, embodying both the tragedy and the hope of the story. Jewel's perspective offers a child's-eye view of loss, transformation, and the possibility of reunion beyond death.

Dylan Mattison

Dylan is a camper at WaakWing whose life is saved by Sharon's bargain with the well. His near-drowning and miraculous return set the cycle of sacrifice in motion, and his continued existence is a living reminder of the debt owed. Dylan's trauma and transformation echo through the story, and he ultimately returns to the lake as a counselor, carrying forward the legends and the lessons of the past.

The Well / The Woman of the Well

The well is both a physical place and a supernatural entity, the source of the bargains and curses that drive the story. Its voice is seductive, demanding, and implacable, offering miracles in exchange for sacrifice. The well's psychological role is that of the trickster and the judge, exposing the characters' deepest desires and fears, and exacting a price for every wish granted. It is a symbol of the inescapable cycles of grief, guilt, and the human longing to cheat death.

Mishipeshu (Mishi)

Mishi is the legendary creature of Torch Lake, a being of myth and terror who enforces the lake's rules and punishes those who break them. Both feared and revered, Mishi is a force of nature, embodying the lake's dual capacity for beauty and destruction. Psychologically, Mishi represents the inhuman, the unknowable, and the inevitability of death—a reminder that some forces cannot be bargained with or tamed.

Paxton Transou

Paxton is the camp director and storyteller, a figure who bridges the gap between myth and reality. His tales shape the children's understanding of the lake and its dangers, and his wisdom offers guidance to Sharon and Kai. Paxton's role is that of the mentor and the witness, preserving the memory of the past and warning of the dangers that lie beneath the surface.

Kacy Baker

Kacy is a member of Lamia's support group, a mother driven mad by grief and by Lamia's predations. Her story is a cautionary tale about the dangers of refusing to let go, and the vulnerability of those who seek solace in the supernatural. Kacy's fate is a mirror of Sharon's potential path, a warning of what can happen when grief is exploited and the dead are not allowed to rest.

Plot Devices

Intergenerational Trauma and Folklore

The novel weaves together multiple timelines—Civil War-era Michigan and the present day—using the recurring motif of Torch Lake's legends and the well's bargains. The trauma of war, loss, and guilt is passed down through generations, mirrored in the supernatural events that repeat and echo. Folklore is not just background, but an active force shaping the characters' fates, blurring the line between story and reality.

The Well as Bargain and Curse

The well functions as a classic "deal with the devil" device, offering miracles in exchange for escalating sacrifices. Each bargain made—whether for healing, resurrection, or relief from grief—comes with a hidden cost, often greater than the one paid before. The well's demands grow from blood to limbs to souls, ensnaring the characters in a cycle of debt that can only be broken by ultimate sacrifice.

Ashes and the Persistence of the Soul

The motif of ashes—cremains—serves as both a literal and symbolic link between the living and the dead. The souls of those who die untimely or violently remain in their ashes, vulnerable to exploitation by Lamia and others. The act of injecting ashes becomes a perverse form of communion, offering the illusion of reunion but delivering madness and further loss. The struggle over what to do with the ashes—scatter, keep, consume—mirrors the characters' struggle to let go or hold on.

The Lake as Liminal Space

Torch Lake is more than a setting; it is a character, a liminal space where the boundaries between worlds are thin. The lake is both a place of beauty and a site of horror, a cradle and a grave. Its depths are inhabited by spirits, monsters, and the memories of the dead. The lake's rules—no swimming at night, no noise after dark—are both practical and mystical, enforced by the monstrous Mishi and the bargains of the well.

Foreshadowing and Cyclical Structure

The novel's structure is cyclical, with events in the past foreshadowing those in the present and future. The bargains made by Lamia are echoed in Sharon's choices; the loss of Benjamin is mirrored in the loss of Jewel. The campfire stories, the rituals of the well, and the recurring motifs of water, fire, and ash all serve to reinforce the sense of inevitability and return. The story ends as it began: with a wish made at the well, and the promise that the cycle will continue.

Analysis

"To Those Willing to Drown" is a haunting meditation on grief, generational trauma, and the seductive danger of refusing to let go. Mark Matthews fuses horror, folklore, and psychological realism to explore how the wounds of the past—personal and historical—echo through families and communities. The novel's supernatural elements are not mere fantasy, but metaphors for the real, inescapable pain of loss and the human longing to bargain with fate. The well and the lake are both literal and symbolic: sources of life, death, and transformation, demanding sacrifice for every miracle. The story warns against the temptation to cheat death or to hold on to the dead at any cost, showing how such bargains only perpetuate suffering. Yet, within the darkness, there is also the possibility of redemption: through acceptance, sacrifice, and the willingness to face the depths of one's own pain. The lake, in the end, is both a grave and a sanctuary—a place where the dead are never truly lost, and the living can find peace if they are willing to let go, to drown, and to be reborn.

Last updated: January 4, 2026