- Since there's an awful lot of stuff going on here, Taylor backs up a little and gives us the history of the territory wars, or at least what she knows of it.
- No one really knows who started the war. The Townies say it was the Cadets, who are apparently the same group of guys that just made an appearance in Hannah's book, while the Jellicoe School faction blames the Townies.
- Regardless, the whole thing started sixteen years ago. Taylor knows this because the purple book she received at her leader inauguration contains the year, as well as all the rules of engagement for the war.
- Raffaela is technically a Townie because her parents teach at Jellicoe High School—she only goes to the school to avoid the politics of having Mom and Dad hovering around. As a result, she goes home on the weekends, and Taylor takes this opportunity to have her send word to the Townies that they're ready to talk.
- Meanwhile, Taylor's life as a house leader gets hectic when all kinds of teenage girl drama starts breaking out and Hannah is nowhere to be found. When one of the girls gets her period and loses it, Taylor finally decides it's time to demand that Hannah show her face.
- Except she doesn't—the door to her office is locked, and when Taylor bikes to her house, she's nowhere to be found.
- To make matters worse, things get really creepy and horror-movie like when Taylor can feel someone following her and hear him, her, or it behind her. The first thing she thinks of is that it's Hannah's old, decrepit cat… but the cat is nowhere to be seen either. Gulp.
- And it gets worse. When she gets back to where she parked her bike, she finds that someone stole it. She runs as fast as she can back to her house, ducks inside the door, and locks it.
- The next day, Taylor goes to a luncheon for house leaders, where Richard and another house leader are whispering like they're up to something.
- She knows she has to make a move quick before they revolt against her, so she tells Ben to make contact with the Cadets and tell them she's ready to negotiate.
- Raffaela tells Taylor that she's heard from the Townies and they want to set a meeting that night.
- We'll spare you the dirty details of the somewhat hostile negotiations between Taylor and the Townies' leader, Chaz Santangelo, who apparently has some kind of history with Raffaela.
- Here's the short version: The key objects of discussion are the Prayer Tree, which Raffaela is demanding access to, and the Club House, which actually belongs to the Cadets, but they might give the Townies access to it if Taylor lets them use the path that runs along the boundaries of the school. So basically, we're dealing with the world's most bizarre, real-life game of Risk.
- Santangelo then drops a couple of game-changing bits of information. First, his dad was the cop who took Taylor back to Jellicoe after she ran away looking for her mom—that means Santangelo likely has dirt on her.
- Second, the Cadet Taylor made contact with when she ran away is now the leader of the Cadets and is apparently a pretty hardcore dude. His name is Jonah Griggs, and based on the fact that Taylor is trying to appear indifferent, more went down on her brief trip away from Jellicoe than what she's told us so far.