Caught in the Act
- Sticky gets caught cheating, although the Executives who catch him signaling answers with his hands aren't sure who he was helping. But it doesn't matter—they're taking him to the Waiting Room.
- Constance, Reynie, and Kate gather in the rock garden that afternoon, worried about Sticky and wondering what to do.
- They climb the hill and look at the Institute, where they notice the usual crowd of kids gathered outside the gym waiting to get in.
- Constance wonders aloud what the Executives do in the gym, which Reynie thinks is a really good question.
- He'd always assumed they just got private gym time before the other students were allowed in, but now he's wondering if they could be up to something else.
- Reynie and Kate leave Constance to be their lookout while they sneak around to the back of the gym. They block the back exit of the gym with a large, petrified tree limb so that no one can come out and surprise them, and then Kate boosts Reynie up on her shoulders so he can look through the window.
- He sees the Executives running the Recruiters (the shock-watch guys) through a series of drills, which are obviously some kind of preparation for the Improvement.
- Jackson calls an end to the session, and Reynie realizes that since he's never seen the Recruiters leaving the gym, they must exit through the back door, which is only semi-blocked by the tree limb.
- In their rush to depart, Reynie is spotted through the window by S.Q., though Reynie's not sure how good of a look S.Q. gets. Either way, eek.
- Reynie and Kate run up the hill, with Kate dragging Reynie, who is much slower than she is (isn't everyone?) behind her.
- Reynie says they have to split up. If S.Q. spotted him, he'll be headed to the Waiting Room too, but he doesn't want anyone to put it together that Kate was his accomplice.
- They split up, and Kate and Constance head for the cafeteria with Reynie taking a roundabout route to ensure that he arrives later and from a different direction.
- By the time Reynie gets to the cafeteria, Kate has good news. S.Q.'s description of the boy he saw? "He was average-looking."
- Phew—another bullet dodged.