Jellicoe Road Chapter 9 Summary

  • Taylor is on a bike ride when she sees something move in a nearby tree. Thinking of her dream of the boy in the tree, she stops to check it out and realizes it's Hannah's cat.
  • Thinking that the cat was perhaps the last living thing to see Hannah, Taylor attempts to climb the tree and get him. The cat, though, wants nothing to do with her and hisses and paws at her, almost knocking her out of the tree.
  • To make things even more awkward, the Brigadier is standing under the tree and catches the cat. Taylor jumps down from the tree and asks him to give her the cat back, but the Brigadier just continues staring at her the way he did in jail, the way he did when he showed up to get them after they ran away. Taylor wonders if he's after her.
  • The next day, Raffaela, Ben, and Taylor do an inventory of everything the Townies and Cadets own on Jellicoe School property. Raffaela raises the importance of getting back the Prayer Tree again, and Taylor decides they need to go out there to see what the big deal is.
  • As it turns out, the Prayer Tree is kind of a big deal. It's an enormous tree with a tree house in it, with names and sayings carved into the trunk.
  • Taylor is reading over the messages when she lands on one that makes her blood run cold: "Do you remember nothing stopped us on the field in our day?" It's the line from the song the boy in the tree sings to her.
  • Then another message catches her attention: "Matthew 10:26." Whoa. Hold on. Where have we heard about that verse being carved into a tree before?
  • Raffaela takes them up into the tree house, where she shows them the other practical benefit of gaining back the Prayer Tree: It has the most comprehensive view of all the territory available anywhere.
  • She tells them that the Townies want to meet again tomorrow night to discuss the Club House; the Cadets have also agreed to join.
  • In the middle of the night, a noise wakes Taylor up and she goes to check things out. Everything seems to be in order except for one thing: Her bike that was stolen at Hannah's is back.
  • Unable to sleep, she finds a Bible and looks up Matthew 10:26: "Whatever is now covered up will be uncovered and every secret will be made known."
  • When she finally goes back to sleep, Taylor dreams of the boy in the tree—his mouth is moving, but she can't hear what he's saying and tries to say it back to him to understand the meaning.
  • Raffaela wakes her up and tells Taylor she was talking in her sleep, saying, "Your mother wants to come home."