- Tina and Captain Cream have had the contraptions put in their brain. Sybil hasn't yet.
- But Sybil is mad at Connie, because Connie has been a goodie two-shoes, volunteering to do everything around the ward.
- Connie's trying to wait for her moment to strike.
- She still wants to figure out how to escape.
- Connie and Sybil chat and reconcile. Sybil wants to get out too.
- Dolly comes in; she says that Connie might be able to visit.
- Connie begs to go home on Thanksgiving.
- Dolly vacillates.
- So Connie tries calling Luis himself.
- She promises to help make the Thanksgiving dinner; basically she's promising to be his servant if he'll let her out.
- The doctors take her off for more testing. She fantasizes about escape.
- She's having trouble contacting Luciente. It's not clear why. Did Luciente die in the war?
- Time passes. Captain Cream has had more operations and now is completely messed up.
- Connie calls Luis again. He enjoys seeing her beg. He's a pretty horrible person.
- Then he says, "maybe" he'll let her come back. He likes having her uncertain.
- But he does in fact agree to have her come home.
- Connie says goodbye to Sybil; Sybil tells her to run, if she can. Sounds like good advice.
- Connie goes home to Luis.
- You might think this would be a relief after the asylum. In fact, though, it's kind of the most depressing part of the book.
- Nobody can make you miserable like family.
- She's thrilled with the space and with being able to eat pie… but she also has to listen to Luis talk about himself. A lot.
- She hopes to escape from her room at night, but Luis locks her in.
- The next day she helps Adele make dinner. Adele bullies her; she doesn't treat Connie as any more of a human than the doctors did.
- They have an unpleasant Thanksgiving where Luis bullies everyone, including his son and Dolly (whom he says is fat even though she's gotten thinner and thinner from taking speed).
- Adele seems to be on drugs of some sort too.
- Connie has to clean up afterwards.
- She steals a bread knife, hoping to open the bedroom door with it in the night, but it doesn't work.
- The next day, Luis takes her out to his greenhouse to get plants for a party at his house. The supervisor doesn't have time to deal with it, so he tells Connie to do it herself.
- That gives her the chance to get a really nasty poison.
- It's not clear what she's going to do with it.
- Though when she gets back to the house, she thinks about putting it in Luis's coffee.
- But she decides not to, because he reminds her of Martín and because she used to love him when they were young and he was her much-admired older brother.
- The drive to get ahead has made Luis awful, but she used to care for him.
- Also, he once bought her a scarf.
- So, if you've got a little sister (or brother) get them a scarf. It may save your life.
- She puts the poison in a shampoo bottle to take back with her as a weapon.
- She worries that Luciente is dead, though she thinks that she herself is the one who is dead and has ceased to be receptive.