Saint dresses for church after Norma comments on how thin and worn down she looks. In church, Saint feels detached from the service and angry at the priest's reassurance that God is not vengeful, because Patch is still missing. She notices the uneasy atmosphere around Ivy Macauley, ignores Jimmy Walters's attempt to smile at her, and rejects Norma's suggestion that she should have more than one friend.

When the congregation prays for the missing child, Saint finally commits herself fully to prayer. She kneels and bargains inwardly for Patch's safe return, offering promises she does not yet understand if God will send her friend back alive. The prayer shows how desperate and powerless she has become as the search drags on.

After the service, Saint sits outside with Misty Meyer. Misty speaks with unsettling calm about how the attack feels even worse because it happened in a place everyone thought was safe and beautiful. She admits that her parents will not discuss Patch, the masked man, or what nearly happened to her, and she tells Saint that she still cannot help Chief Nix much because the attacker wore a mask.

Misty also reveals her guilt. She wonders whether the attack would have happened if she had gone straight to school instead of cutting through the woods, and she says the experience has made her suspicious of everyone around her. Saint tries to answer awkwardly and then presses Misty on the real reason she skipped that morning, because Saint knows Misty did not avoid school over a math test.

At first Misty hesitates, but Saint keeps asking. Misty finally admits that she saw someone and wanted to help him, which is why she went that way. The chapter ends with the important revelation that the person Misty saw was Dr. Tooms, introducing a potentially crucial new lead in what happened before Patch disappeared.