By the time Larkin is 18, she is desperate to get away from her adopted parents. She finds a job as a nanny that includes room and board and plans to save up her salary and hopefully open a small business someday. However, it was not considered acceptable in the Christian American faith for a woman to live apart from her family without being married. Larkin is gradually shunned and stops going to church, even though she loves singing and misses the services. When Larkin is 19, she hears that the famous preacher Marcus Duran will be in Seattle and decides to go and see him.

After the service, Larkin is stunned to be invited to come and meet with Marcus. When she does, he explains that he is her uncle and that her biological parents are dead. Marcus does not tell her anything about Earthseed or how her parents died. He makes Larkin feel welcome, accepted, and safe, and she bonds with him, explaining that “I loved him, believed in him, trusted him completely” (374).

The narrative shifts back to Lauren, who is continuing on her journey with Len. Lauren tells Len more and more about her vision for Earthseed and her hope that Len will help her share the faith.