- Deborah starts to meet with Miss Coral whenever they are both mentally available and not closed off from the world.
- Deborah smells herself burning—like, she actually smells charred flesh. She can only see a single strip of the world, and it's gray—no colors.
- Deborah eats up all the knowledge Miss Coral offers of Latin and Greek. She has so many strips of paper that she has a hard time keeping up with them. She asks the ward doctor for permission to have a notebook, but she's dismissed with a "we'll see" (15.18). So she steals a notebook from one of the student nurses.
- Deborah gets frustrated that she's learned so much Latin and Greek, but it's still "so dark" (14.21).
- Carla tells Deborah that learning new languages might mean her brain is functioning when it comes to that, but it won't bring her any closer to understanding or curing herself.
- When Deborah realizes the truth of Carla's point, she keeps to herself in her bed for three months, only getting up for the bathroom and for Dr. Fried's sessions.
- Carla comes to visit Deborah in her room, and Deborah is grateful for the visits.
- One night, a fellow ward patient, Della, comes into Deborah's room, and instead of just dealing with the noise and with Della hitting her, Deborah sticks up for herself and tells Della to leave.
- Later, Helene comes in, and Deborah again sticks up for herself and tells her to leave and stop trying to intimidate her. She says her own craziness is far worse than anything Helene could say or do to her.
- Deborah and Carla talk about Doris Rivera living in the real word and wonder how she does it.
- Carla mentions that her doctor says being crazy is kind of a choice.
- Deborah remembers giving up on fitting into the real world because it made her tired.
- In a therapy session, Dr. Fried continues to try to convince Deborah to tap into her inner strength and strive toward mental health. Dr. Fried knows this will be a leap of faith for Deborah, since she can barely remember what being mentally healthy feels like.
- Back in the ward, Deborah realizes for the first time that Miss Coral and Carla are happy to see her. She has friendships that are real, and this stuns her.
- Then Carla tells Deborah she'll be moving back to B ward, and Yr closes in on Deborah, making her feel awful for trusting that Carla was her friend. Deborah realizes that there is a part of her that can feel for another person and miss that person. The Censor and Anterrabae laugh and tease her about it.
- Deborah tells Carla she will miss her, and she says it out loud. She sees it as a way to make herself suffer instead of a normal part of friendship.
- With Yr's help, Deborah gets rid of the feelings of loss and friendship.
- Carla is now like Doris Rivera, on her way to getting better and living in the real world.
- In Yr, Deborah watches Lactamaeon flying as a bird. When Deborah asks to join him, the Censor intervenes, and Lactamaeon flies out of sight, leaving Deborah alone.
- Later that evening, Miss Coral approaches Deborah and tells her that she's found a tutor who can teach her even more Greek: it's Ellis.
- Just the thought of talking to Ellis again makes Deborah dizzy.