Summary

Chapter 1 keeps readers with Cora and Ruth on their long journey. They have stopped in a sad, small town with a huge sinkhole and an abandoned school. Cora thinks she sees a scary looking man with a cane on the edge of the sinkhole but he disappears. Cora discovers a book in Ruth’s backpack titled The Book of Ether. There are verses inside that read like a religious text. As they are getting ready to depart, the man with the cane reappears outside of the school, hitting the fencing like he knows they are inside. It is at this moment when Cora feels like Ruth is not taking her somewhere but is running away from something dangerous.

Chapter 2 brings readers back to a time when Nat and Ruth are preparing for a meeting with their new manager, Mr. Bell. He has asked to...