All about Larkin. The final chapter. She’s living in New York. Reconnected with uncle Marc, and the church. She knows her mother’s identity, with mixed awareness. Some of her childhood dreams have come true. And yet. Meanwhile, Lauren is gathering her people, with seduction and a chance at a purpose. And still, always, hunting for her daughter....

Larkin meets her uncle Mark. Her smooth, beautiful, lying uncle Mark. Mark lies about Lauren, her path, her life, a lie of her death. Meanwhile, Lauren is on the move, reenergized. Finally, with a travel companion and collaborator in Earthseed. Earthseed rising....

Larkin’s childhood, young adulthood. Her dream-mapping, her world-building bloom and are punished. Meanwhile, Lauren searches, to exhaustion. Allie tries to plant the seed that her daughter may never return. But Lauren’s search continues, with a new young ally....

A chapter heavy with Marcus. Octavia revisits the politics of attractiveness. Lauren asks Marcus for help finding Larkin. He can’t hear her, he won’t hear her. Lauren gets a vital clue, but at a deep cost....

Once again, we travel with Lauren and with Larkin. Larkin searches to understand her mother. Lauren searches for Larkin, alone despite herself. The children of Acorn are still missing, almost all of them. Lauren braves a Christian America shelter, navigating her terror and trauma. And she sees a familiar, unwelcome, hypocritical face....

After the storm. We gain insight into Larkin’s childhood in the Christian America children’s homes, in their vicious brutality. Lauren and her band find a lost friend, as they rebuild and survive. The first post-Acorn formation shifts, dissipates, reconfigures. A rich, dense, textured chapter....

TW: Mention of rape, childhood sexual abuse...

A dense, bruising, painful chapter....

Trigger warnings: sexual violence, rape....