- Cassia wakes up to a noise that sounds like screaming—the Officials are tearing down all the maple trees in Mapletree Borough because apparently the leaves get too messy. Cassia's mom thinks it's a warning for her, though. For what?
- Dream sequence time: Ky is getting captured by the Officials with a red sun in the background.
- And it's hiking time again. Cassia tells Ky the Officials know about them, but Ky's already aware since they talked to him too. He doesn't seem perturbed by this, and tells Cassia he got her a late birthday present—a new poem (not one of the Hundred, of course). It's by Thomas, who wrote the "Do Not Go Gentle" poem.
- Cassia asks how, but Ky doesn't really answer and instead just says, "'I could only afford part of a stanza'" (23.51). Afford? Where is he getting this stuff?
- Ky and Cassia kiss for the first time, but it's only a cheek kiss, so that's what, halfway to first base? Looks like Cassia's abandoned that whole idea of keeping him safe.