Summary

Chapter 9 opens with King running home after school to check on Sandy in the tent in his yard, only to find the tent is empty. Sandy calls out to King from the bushes nearby, explaining that he is hiding from King’s dad, who came home early and heard Sandy rummaging through cabinets for food, initiating a chase. King concludes that his father likely did not see that the intruder was Sandy, but it is clear the boy needs a new hiding spot. King decides to take Sandy to an abandoned cabin in the bayou which Khalid once described in his sleep and which he made King swear to stay away from, for an unknown reason. The boys run off to the cabin, which is furnished and, though shabby, secluded enough to feel safe. King agrees to sleep at the cabin overnight with...