The Council, who has a spy inside the schools, tells Frenchie’s group about Minerva. Minerva’s “strange” attitude unnerves the Recruiters who are processing her to the point that one says he’s “never encountered someone so ‘spooky’” (170). As Minerva is hooked up to the machine, “[t]hat’s when she called on her blood memory, her teachings, her ancestors. That’s when she brought the whole thing down” (172). Minerva’s song blows up the entire school building, killing the people inside. The Council’s spy comes to the scene and finds Indigenous campers using the smoke from the explosion for purifying rituals.

Jean invites Frenchie to stay with him; Frenchie declines, choosing instead to help his group. Tree and Zheegwon are surprised to see Frenchie, thinking he would choose to stay with Jean and saying, “It’s just that you have a real family now” (177). After Frenchie declares they need a plan, his group is surprised to find Miig agreeable. Frenchie observes: “It was like he had faded, somehow” (177). Rose invites Frenchie to her tent and tells him that everyone, including Miig, is worried because Frenchie has changed.