Summary

Simon arrives home drunk on a rainy night, and Martina scolds him for joining the Virginia Cavaliers rebel group, which she had previously forbidden him to do. Simon blames his father’s death on Martina, accusing her for “nagging about going North” (128). Martina tells her daughters everything about Benjamin’s accident and the night they left their home in Mississippi. The next day, Marcus and Sarat go to an island across the lake, and Sarat reflects on being his “protector, his confidante” (130). They come across some wooden crates that belong to the rebels. Sarat opens one and thinks that she set off a bomb. They quickly run away, and laugh hysterically when nothing explodes. They climb up a tree, from which they can see the Blue and Red territory around them.

Sarat tells Marcus that she has been seeing a teacher, who teaches her...