The chapter surveys the Traveling Symphony’s constant frictions: petty grudges, romantic jealousy, and exhaustion compounded by living together year-round. Despite the bickering, the Symphony persists because in Year Twenty most towns distrust outsiders, and the troupe’s music and performances make it their only real home.

After rehearsal in the Walmart parking lot, Kirsten—head aching and increasingly rattled by St. Deborah by the Water’s quiet—walks alone to look for Charlie and the missing sixth guitar, Jeremy. She notices boarded-up buildings marked with a strange silver symbol, fewer children than before, an armed guard at the gas station, and a general sense that something has changed in town.

Kirsten goes to the Wendy’s where Charlie once lived, but an unfamiliar, sickly-looking young woman named Alissa answers. Inside, Kirsten finds Maria the midwife, who remembers the Symphony and confirms Charlie had a healthy baby girl, Annabel, but says Charlie and Jeremy left over a year ago. When Kirsten presses, Maria privately warns that Charlie “rejected the prophet’s advances,” had to flee, and Kirsten should stop asking questions and get the Symphony out quickly.

As Kirsten leaves, a neglected-looking girl watches and then follows her at a distance. Dieter intercepts Kirsten and leads her to the expanded graveyard, where three new white markers bear the names Charlie Harrison, Jeremy Leung, and Annabel (infant), all dated July 20, Year 19. Dieter points out the ground beneath those markers is undisturbed—some “graves” are only markers—deepening the mystery. The girl admits in a whisper that Charlie and Jeremy “left,” then panics and runs.

Back at camp, the tuba reports an epidemic killed about thirty people (including the mayor), followed by a “change in management,” after which many families left town, including Charlie, Jeremy, and their baby; locals refuse to say where they went. Kirsten insists a prophet is involved and repeats Maria’s warning, but Sayid—angered because Jeremy is his close friend—snaps at her. The conductor decides they cannot leave yet and will perform A Midsummer Night’s Dream and ask questions afterward, even as Kirsten and August speculate that Charlie may have gone south along the lakeshore.