Chapter 33

Plot
With Ray's shipment set for tomorrow, Mama indulges in some thought. Izabella appears at ease, as Don and Gilda don't seem to have been able to accomplish anything much. However, just as she's about to begin her nightly rounds, Emma's scream rings out. She rushes to the dining hall, only to find it engulfed in flames. Emma rushes to Isabella's side and pleads with her to help Ray. Witnessing Emma's extraordinary distress, and above all the fact that a transmitter is emitting a signal from within the blaze, gives Isabella the conviction that this is Ray's attempt at retaliation. On her way to retrieve a fire extinguisher to rescue Ray, Isabella comes across Gilda. She leaves the evacuation of the kids to Gilda and attempts to put out the fire with the fire extinguisher. However, the flames are fierce, and the sprinklers, broken by Ray, are no help. At this point, Isabella notices that Emma, who had been by her side, has vanished. She checks the tracking device. Following its response, she heads to another room, and there she finds nothing but Emma's ear. And at last, Isabella now recalls that Gilda had already had her shoes on when they happened to meet earlier, and realizes that this is a breakout. Emma meets up with everyone in the forest. Ray, too, is missing an ear but is otherwise unharmed. He seems to have an expression that says he has no idea what in the hell is going on. Flashback to 20 minutes ago. Emma catches in mid-air the match that Ray had dropped, and relays to him a message from Norman. "You can die anywhere else. I'll show you something good, so shut up and come with us." Norman had predicted that Ray would try to kill himself. The kids arrive at Emma and Ray's location, bringing tools for escape and a change of clothes. "We'll explain later. Everything is going as Norman planned. Escape, Ray."

Research Elements
In this chapter we have the following Research Elements: