Summary

In Chapter 23, Rowan wants to jump out of the tree and fight, but knows she would immediately be captured. She has the opportunity to sneak away and goes in search of Ash. She hears Greenshirts talking. They did not kill any of the second children, but believe they have captured them all. The Greenshirts make it clear they believe second children are “a pack of idiots” consisting of “criminals” and “outcasts” (228). Rowan knows they are being manipulated through their lenses. They burn the tree, believing it is fake. Rowan knows they have been programmed to see it that way.

The children who were hiding under the tree emerge. Rainbow shows Rowan through a series of caverns to a room she calls “the boom room” (230). Rowan realizes it is rigged with explosives. They cannot exit in that direction and Rainbow believes she knows of...