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This chapter begins with Jeb continuing his tour for Wanderer with Jamie, Ian, and Doc in tow. Wanderer is surprised, but glad “no one attacked [her] from behind” as they ramble through the caves, down dark tunnels, and into different living areas such as the “rec room.” Wanderer is still “paranoid” (according to Melanie) because she believes that, Even the doctor’s and Ian’s casual chatter seemed like a cover for some nefarious move.
The last spot on the tour is Doc’s “office” and both Wanderer and Melanie freak the hell out because they believe that this tour has been a simple ruse to get them here. Doc seems surprised that Wanderer would think such a thing, but Ian seems glad: “That wasn’t a bad plan. I’m surprised I didn’t think of it.”
Doc asks Wanderer about the souls medicines and healing techniques, but she’s not able to answer because she’s not a Healer and only Healers know that kind of stuff. Jeb comments that he’s surprised that the souls didn’t really change much of what the humans left behind once they took over. Wanderer explains that this is because “We come to experience, not to change.”
The tour’s over so Jeb dismisses Ian and Doc, puts Wanderer in her new dorm and asks Jamie if he’s up to guarding her for awhile. Jamie is sweet as ever and swells with pride over being chosen. Jeb gives Jamie the rifle and Wanderer/Melanie LOSE IT. They start yelling for the first time in what seems like… ever. “What are you thinking? Giving the weapon to a child? He could kill himself!” Wanderer loses the argument with Jeb, so Jamie keeps the gun, but Wanderer and Melanie agree that if anyone comes to hurt them that they will sacrifice themselves before they let Jamie even get involved.
Finally after a few hours of silence, Jamie gets curious and starts asking Wanderer about the other planets she’s lived on. Jamie seems to be the only person Wanderer feels comfortable talking to, so she answers honestly and without hesitation. She tells him about the See Weeds, the Bats on the Singing World, and how the souls used their Spider selves in the beginning to “get things started” before moving to other worlds.
Wanderer begins to tell Jamie about the invasion of Earth when she sees a tear roll down his cheek. Wanderer is torn asunder inside that she would hurt Jamie so. She finally wipes the tear off his face and cradles his cheek until he folds into her. He curled into my side, his cheek against the hollow of my shoulder, where it had once fit better, and sobbed. Wanderer begins to cry too.
“I’m sorry,” I said again and again. I apologized for everything in those two words. That we’d ever found this place. That we’d chosen it. That I’d been the one to take his sister. That I’d brought her back here and hurt him again. That I’d made him cry today with my insensitive stories.
Through this act, Wanderer finally understands “the mysterious bond of mother and child.” Now I knew why a mother would give her life for her child, and this knowledge would forever shape the way I saw the universe.
Jeb walks in with Jamie and Wanderer still holding each other tightly and gently chides Jamie for hugging the prisoner he was supposed to be guarding. Jeb is especially chatty and this is when he devises the named “Wanda” for Wanderer. Jeb says: “It makes me feel like we’re old friends.” To her surprise, Wanderer agrees: He was supposed to be my enemy. He was probably insane. And he was my friend. Not that he wouldn’t kill me if things turned out that way, but he wouldn’t like doing it. With humans, what more could you ask for in a friend?
