Risa believes her experience in the crate was the same as everyone else’s: “It’s comforting to know there are others in the same situations, but troubling to think her own life is just one of a thousand pirate copies” (176). When the crates are opened, they ask where they are. Someone tells them, “the graveyard” (177). Risa finds out that one crate of kids was not as lucky as the rest—they suffocated. She worries for Connor.

Risa exits the plane and learns that unwinds are shipped away in decommissioned planes, suggesting they won’t be tracked. Finally, she spots Connor. “She wants to go to him, but remembers that they’ve officially ended their fake romance” (180). All the new kids are introduced to the Admiral. Risa notices that his uniform is from the war, but she can’t remember which side fought in his colors. She also realizes it doesn’t matter, because “Both sides lost” (181).

Risa feels hope return.

Even with the money Lev got from the pawnshop, “Their journey has gotten no easier” (183). Although CyFi still pretends to be the leader, Lev understands he is now in charge. Lev explains to CyFi that he is staying around because he needs to witness CyFi’s journey. CyFi agrees. He calls himself Cy-Ty, for the boy inside his head.

Cy-Ty/CyFi worries that the wall between his identity and the Unwind’s is going to crash soon, because “There is no peace in CyFi’s head. […] [[the unwind] doesn’t know he’s part of someone else now. He keeps looking for things in Cyrus’s head that just aren’t there” (185). CyFi and Lev wander the streets of Joplin, waiting for something to seem familiar. Soon, CyFi is on the track toward “home” and “Cyrus can feel the change inside him” (187). He hurries down different streets, Lev following behind. At a house he recognizes, a couple stands outside, along with some cops. Upon seeing them, “The part of Cy that isn’t Cy knows this middle-aged couple so well, he’s hit by a lightning bolt of emotions so violent he feels like he’ll incinerate” (189). The couple asks him if he is Tyler. He demands they give him a shovel. He goes to the side of the yard and digs. He pulls open a suitcase full of all the jewelry he stole. Tyler begs forgiveness from his parents and asks them to do anything except unwind him.

Lev demands that Tyler’s parents tell CyFi what he needs to hear. They look at him, confused. “TELL HIM YOU WON’T UNWIND HIM, OR I SWEAR I’LL BASH YOUR WORTHLESS HEADS IN” (192), Lev yells. They tell Tyler they won’t unwind him. Lev realizes he must run before anyone pays too much attention to him. The cops will know he doesn’t belong.

He runs, overwhelmed with new feelings: “He knows he’s been changed by this moment, transformed in some deep and frightening way. Wherever his journey now takes him, it doesn’t matter, because he has already arrived there in his heart” (193).

The Admiral has 10 rules for the Unwinds working under his wing, which are: “You arrived here by necessity, you stay here by choice”; “Surviving has earned you the right to be respected”; “My way is the only way”; “Your life is my gift to you. Treat it like one”; “You are better than those who would unwind you. Rise to the occasion”; “Everyone in the graveyard contributes. No exceptions”; “Teenage rebellion is for suburban schoolchildren. Get over it”; “Hormones will not rule my desert”; “At eighteen you cease to be my concern”; and “Make something of yourself. This is an order” (197-99).

At the graveyard, Risa goes before three seventeen-year-old Unwinds who evaluate her skills. She tells them she can play the piano, but they need practical skills, so they award her a dishwashing position. However, before she can leave, a boy with a bloody nose comes in. She jumps into action and helps him stop the bleeding. “She’s immediately promoted from dishwasher to medic” (201). Risa is happy to find purpose and silently thanks the Admiral. “He’d given her back her right to exist” (202).