seven days after
- The Colonel tells Miles that the Eagle ate with him in the cafeteria and wondered if they set off the fireworks the night Alaska died. But the Colonel assures Miles that he didn't snitch.
- At lunch, the Eagle also gave the Colonel fair warning that Alaska's aunt is coming to clean out her room, hinting that Miles and the Colonel should go clean it. Pretty decent of the Eagle, right?
- Miles looks in the usual places she hides contraband items, but doesn't find much—he wants to find The General in His Labyrinth, so that he can take it with him.
- As Miles flips through the book, he sees that because of the flood in her room, all Alaska's notes in the margins are blurred.
- But there is "another ink, this one a crisp blue, post flood, and an arrow led from "How will I ever get out of this labyrinth!" to a margin note written in her loop-heavy cursive: Straight & Fast" (7after.22).
- Miles and the Colonel discuss why that is weird, especially given the circumstances under which Alaska died.
- Because of his knowledge of her and this clue, the Colonel thinks she committed suicide; Miles is more hesitant to believe this because of how he feels about Alaska.
- The Colonel keeps trying to figure out the phone call and the mystery, but Miles is just stuck in how guilty he feels.