Chap­ter XVIII begins with Mibs strug­gling deeply after an emo­tion­al­ly unset­tling encounter, her mind heavy with con­fu­sion and anx­i­ety. Feel­ing lost and vul­ner­a­ble, she leans on her friend Will, who tries to offer her some com­fort by sug­gest­ing they take a trip to the Emer­ald Truck Stop Din­er and Lounge. The atmos­phere inside the din­er, how­ev­er, doesn’t pro­vide the escape she hoped for; as soon as they enter, Mibs is bom­bard­ed with the over­whelm­ing noise of count­less thoughts from the peo­ple around her. The loud, clut­tered envi­ron­ment, filled with bik­ers and truck­ers, only adds to her sense of dis­com­fort. Her dizzi­ness inten­si­fies as she strug­gles to con­trol the intru­sive voic­es echo­ing in her mind, and Fish, notic­ing her dis­tress, quick­ly rush­es to steady her. Despite his con­cern, Mibs is still trapped in her own mind, unable to escape the del­uge of thoughts that keep com­ing at her. Mean­while, Lill, although deal­ing with her own set of prob­lems, offers assis­tance but is momen­tar­i­ly dis­tract­ed by a dif­fi­cult wait­ress.

Seek­ing a moment of solace, Mibs is led to the back of the din­er, into a cramped store­room that smells of ketchup and pick­les, evok­ing a strange mix of nos­tal­gia and dis­com­fort. The scent trans­ports her back to her old life in Mis­sis­sip­pi, remind­ing her of sim­pler times, but it offers no real peace as her mind con­tin­ues to race. Lill encour­ages Mibs to rest on a small sofa in the store­room while Lill attends to her din­er respon­si­bil­i­ties, leav­ing Fish to watch over her. Despite the rel­a­tive qui­et, Mibs remains dis­tract­ed by the noisy thoughts in her head, strug­gling with feel­ings of fail­ure. Her spe­cial abil­i­ty, her “savvy,” seems more like a bur­den than a gift at the moment. Mibs won­ders if this new­found pow­er can ever tru­ly help her bring Pop­pa home or if it will only com­pli­cate her already com­pli­cat­ed life fur­ther. The weight of this uncer­tain­ty adds to the emo­tion­al strain she’s feel­ing, cloud­ing her thoughts and fur­ther iso­lat­ing her from those around her.

Fish, con­cerned for his sis­ter, gen­tly press­es her to explain her pow­ers, sens­ing her grow­ing frus­tra­tion. Reluc­tant­ly, Mibs admits that her abil­i­ty is con­nect­ed to ink on skin—she can read minds, a tal­ent that feels both empow­er­ing and inva­sive. This rev­e­la­tion only deep­ens Mibs’ emo­tion­al tur­moil, as she is no longer sure if she wants such an extra­or­di­nary gift. Her long­ing for nor­mal­cy clash­es with her grow­ing aware­ness of her abil­i­ties and the way they shape her life. Want­i­ng to demon­strate her abil­i­ties, Mibs asks Fish to think of a num­ber and uses the sil­ver pen Will Junior had giv­en her to draw a sym­bol on his palm. With­out need­ing any ver­bal cues, she tran­scribes Fish’s thoughts, con­firm­ing that her pow­er is very much real, but also fright­en­ing in its reach.

Just as she begins to process this over­whelm­ing truth, Bob­bi inter­rupts, play­ful­ly teas­ing Mibs with the ques­tion, “So, you read minds, do you?” The ques­tion, though light­heart­ed, leaves Mibs feel­ing exposed and vul­ner­a­ble. This moment of inter­rup­tion forces Mibs to face not only the real­i­ty of her pow­er but also the com­plex­i­ties of how it affects her rela­tion­ships. Her friends, once unaware of her abil­i­ty, now have a glimpse into the bur­den she car­ries, and Mibs strug­gles to rec­on­cile her sense of nor­mal­cy with her excep­tion­al abil­i­ties. As the chap­ter clos­es, Mibs is left con­tem­plat­ing the future and how her pow­er will shape her iden­ti­ty mov­ing for­ward. The rev­e­la­tions are only the begin­ning, and Mibs’ jour­ney of self-dis­cov­ery is far from over, with more chal­lenges await­ing her as she grap­ples with both the gifts and the bur­dens that come with her abil­i­ties. This chap­ter cap­tures her grow­ing inter­nal con­flict and sets the stage for deep­er explo­ration of her emo­tions, rela­tion­ships, and the world she must nav­i­gate with her unique gift.