“Silas felt…different. He felt…strong, somehow. Not in a physical sense but a metaphysical one. His magic…His magic felt like a thousand brilliant candles within him. Like it had…grown?”

The jagged style of this passage reflects Silas’s extreme emotion as he has his first experience of power, a reaction to his father’s abuse. The Prologue shows this insight into Silas’s youth to provide a backstory for his later actions and set up the rules of magic that govern this fictional world.

“A nonwizard moving into an enchanted house was a delicate situation.”

This line summarizes the premise or plot device of the book: Merritt, who does not yet know that he has magical talent, moves into a house that is enchanted, and he needs Hulda to help him navigate the house’s peculiarities. This line also captures the light understatement that is characteristic of Hulda’s tone in the chapters told from her point of view.

“Augury did that from time to time, divining without her wishing it to. Behind her eyes, she saw the shadow of a great animal, as though lit by moonlight. A dog, maybe a wolf.”

This passage introduces Hulda’s magic, which is augury, and provides a hint at her backstory, which will prove to involve Silas Hogwood. The threatening, predatory image of a wolf foreshadows Silas’s appearance.