Joe and Hadad escort Luke Ellis and George Iles to room C-11, where Zeke, looking hungover, fits them with rubber electrode caps. Dr. Evans supervises as Zeke calls out numbers while Luke and George take turns on a driving simulator, initially causing virtual crashes and traffic violations but improving quickly. The exercise feels oddly enjoyable to Luke, marking a rare moment of levity within the Institute.

When the test ends, Dr. Richardson arrives, dressed formally, and asks Luke to rate his pain; he replies with low pain but a high desire to leave. She treats his quip lightly and departs after addressing Dr. Evans as Jim. George presses Dr. Evans about who “won,” but Dr. Evans insists it is not a competitive test, adding that both boys were fast, as expected for TK subjects. Joe and Hadad return the boys upstairs, joking at George’s dark humor about pretending a pedestrian was Zeke.

In the elevator area, Luke and George compare earlier tests. Luke notes that after dots and card tests (telepathy), the staff has never explicitly tested either of them for telekinesis in straightforward tasks like switching on a lamp or knocking dominoes. George assumes the Institute already knows their capabilities, but Luke points out the oddity that the staff does not seem to care about defining their limits.

At midday, most kids eat in the cafeteria, but Kalisha Benson and Avery Dixon sit against the playground fence, silently communicating. Recognizing their telepathic exchange is beyond his understanding, Luke respects Kalisha’s wave to leave and goes to lunch without them.

Later, after taking a pain pill and napping heavily, Luke walks toward the lounge and playground and pauses at Kalisha’s open door. He finds her room stripped of personal items, including a pink bedspread and a framed photo of Martin Luther King, confirming she has been moved. Luke reasons that he would have heard a struggle like Nicky Wilholm’s if she had resisted, concluding she likely went without open defiance.

The chapter closes with Luke returning to his room and burying his face in his pillow, grieving Kalisha’s removal to Back Half and the accelerating losses among the children.