Patch is in the hospital for several days; Nix, Misty, and Saint keep vigil beside his bed until he recovers. The police decide Aaron died in the fire and find no leads on his life. They assume that his name is an alias and he must have stumbled upon the abandoned property and used it to kidnap girls.

Patch returns home but feels ill at ease in his childhood bedroom. He continues to pester Nix to look for Grace, but everyone believes she was a figment of his imagination that he invented to cope with the trauma.

Patch ignores Saint and skips school. She receives an award for her courage from the police and gives the money to the Macauleys, stuffing it in their mailbox. Determined to rekindle her friendship with Patch, she follows him to the public library where he is searching for missing girls in the records. He stole a neighbor’s car to arrive there, and she arranges for the keys to be found in the street, hoping no one will realize Patch did it.

Patch finds several past-due bills and realizes that they are out of money. He begins to work his mother’s night custodian job.