Chap­ter XIII delves fur­ther into Mibs’ emo­tion­al tur­moil, as she strug­gles with the after­math of her father’s acci­dent while aboard Lester Swan’s bus. Over­come with guilt and despair, Mibs wres­tles with feel­ings of inad­e­qua­cy, cry­ing out in her tur­moil while reflect­ing on how she believes she must change her­self in order to find any reas­sur­ance about her father’s health. The atmos­phere inside the bus becomes increas­ing­ly tense as passengers—particularly Rhon­da and Carlene—express their dis­sat­is­fac­tion with Lester, who has tak­en charge of their jour­ney. Mibs, feel­ing both over­whelmed and help­less, is caught in the grip of their crit­i­cism and is deeply affect­ed by the increas­ing sense of dan­ger that per­vades the sit­u­a­tion. Despite the ris­ing ten­sion in the bus, Mibs finds solace in her broth­er, Sam­son, who qui­et­ly offers her a moment of calm. His silent sup­port brings Mibs some relief, help­ing her stay ground­ed amid the chaos around her.

As the bus moves along, the sit­u­a­tion grows more intense when Mibs notices Lester strug­gling to secure the bro­ken win­dows. The sight of Lester grap­pling with the dam­age brings Mibs into the role of care­tak­er, even though she feels entire­ly unpre­pared. She is forced to step into the respon­si­bil­i­ty of tend­ing to the injuries of the oth­er pas­sen­gers, some­thing she does reluc­tant­ly but with­out ques­tion. Bobbi’s sharp remarks and the dis­com­fort of the oth­er pas­sen­gers only add weight to Mibs’ shoul­ders, mak­ing the ten­sion pal­pa­ble. Despite her doubts, Mibs push­es for­ward, deter­mined to help not just out of duty but also in an attempt to redeem her­self in her own eyes. She is dri­ven by a need to prove that she can be of val­ue in this time of cri­sis. How­ev­er, the more Mibs tries to help, the more her inter­nal strug­gle grows. The grow­ing dis­com­fort and judg­ment from the peo­ple around her make her feel like a mis­fit, but she stays focused, push­ing through her fear and doubts for the sake of the oth­ers.

As Mibs attempts to tend to Will Junior’s injuries, she finds her­self fac­ing deep­er ques­tions about her iden­ti­ty. The con­stant ques­tion­ing by Will about her family’s unusu­al abil­i­ties caus­es Mibs to con­front the deep­er com­plex­i­ties of being a Beau­mont. Her pow­ers, which once seemed like a source of pride, now feel like an over­whelm­ing bur­den. As she grap­ples with the real­i­ty that these abil­i­ties make her dif­fer­ent from oth­ers, Mibs begins to won­der whether she will ever find a way to live a nor­mal life. Will’s prob­ing ques­tions make her feel exposed, forc­ing her to reflect on how oth­ers per­ceive her and whether she will ever be able to fit in. Mibs’ pow­ers, which are inher­ent­ly a part of her, now feel like they hold her back from con­nect­ing with oth­ers, and this only inten­si­fies her inter­nal strug­gle. She is torn between the desire to embrace her gifts and the wish to live like a reg­u­lar per­son, free from the pres­sures of her extra­or­di­nary abil­i­ties.

Mibs is over­whelmed with feel­ings of con­fu­sion, guilt, and self-doubt, unsure of how to rec­on­cile her iden­ti­ty with the expec­ta­tions placed on her. The con­stant push and pull between what she feels she should be and who she real­ly is cre­ates a pow­er­ful emo­tion­al con­flict. Will’s per­sis­tent ques­tion­ing brings her to the point of emo­tion­al exhaus­tion, forc­ing her to con­front the com­plex­i­ty of being a Beau­mont child. Her inter­nal bat­tle inten­si­fies as she tries to under­stand whether her pow­ers are a bless­ing or a curse, and whether they will always make her dif­fer­ent. The chap­ter cap­tures Mibs’ jour­ney of self-dis­cov­ery, as she seeks not only to under­stand her own abil­i­ties but also to nav­i­gate the shift­ing rela­tion­ships she has with those around her. The pres­sure to live up to the Beau­mont lega­cy weighs heav­i­ly on her, leav­ing her to grap­ple with the com­plex­i­ties of fam­i­ly, iden­ti­ty, and self-accep­tance. Mibs’ strug­gle to find her place among her fam­i­ly and the world around her is an ongo­ing theme in this chap­ter, high­light­ing the chal­lenges of grow­ing up when you are bur­dened with extra­or­di­nary gifts. The inter­nal con­flict of want­i­ng to be seen for who she tru­ly is, while also want­i­ng to escape the expec­ta­tions tied to her pow­ers, makes this chap­ter one of pro­found emo­tion­al growth and explo­ration.