Chap­ter XXIII delves deeply into the intri­ca­cies of decep­tion and the com­plex dynam­ics of fam­i­ly rela­tion­ships. The cen­tral chal­lenge of this chap­ter revolves around a plan to con­vince Lill that the group has made a suc­cess­ful call home, when in fact, they have not. The nar­ra­tor reflects on past events when Bob­bi had mim­ic­ked Lil­l’s voice to cov­er for her­self at school, using her mother’s stern tone to cre­ate plau­si­ble sto­ries that could smooth over tricky sit­u­a­tions. As they find them­selves in a motel, the group sets up two rooms, and the nar­ra­tor feels a sense of cau­tious opti­mism. The decep­tion, though uncom­fort­able, is believed to be nec­es­sary for Lill’s peace of mind and to avoid com­pli­ca­tions from call­ing home too ear­ly. The sit­u­a­tion feels frag­ile, and the nar­ra­tor under­stands that main­tain­ing this illu­sion could help keep the jour­ney mov­ing for­ward with­out any unwant­ed dis­rup­tions or stress for Lill.

The ten­sion builds fur­ther when Lill inspects the motel rooms and assigns the girls and boys to sep­a­rate accom­mo­da­tions, a small task that takes on added sig­nif­i­cance in this moment. With every­thing still uncer­tain, the nar­ra­tor shifts into a lead­er­ship role, giv­ing Fish spe­cif­ic instruc­tions on how to han­dle any incom­ing calls with­out giv­ing away the truth. Lill, aware of how con­cerned the children’s par­ents must be, encour­ages Bob­bi to call home and reas­sure her fam­i­ly about their well-being. With Lill momen­tar­i­ly dis­tract­ed by a trip to the bath­room, the nar­ra­tor seizes the oppor­tu­ni­ty to care­ful­ly guide Bob­bi on how to approach the con­ver­sa­tion, ensur­ing she remains calm and that their sto­ry stays con­sis­tent. This plan­ning gives Bob­bi the tools she needs to act con­vinc­ing­ly, while the narrator’s aware­ness of the poten­tial con­se­quences keeps the pres­sure high.

Bob­bi, despite her ini­tial hes­i­tance, picks up the phone, pre­tend­ing to speak with her moth­er, while Fish lis­tens on the oth­er end of the line. Bob­bi skill­ful­ly takes on the role, pro­vid­ing fab­ri­cat­ed details about their safe­ty and the direc­tion they plan to take toward Sali­na, all the while main­tain­ing an air of calm­ness. Even­tu­al­ly, Bob­bi pass­es the phone to the nar­ra­tor, who must now play her part in the decep­tion. The nar­ra­tor speaks in a con­trolled man­ner, keep­ing her voice steady despite the ner­vous ten­sion that puls­es with­in her. She must sound con­vinc­ing, even as the weight of the sit­u­a­tion press­es down on her, and the guilt of main­tain­ing the lie builds inside her chest.

When Lill returns and is eager to take the phone, she finds her­self in the midst of a con­ver­sa­tion where Bob­bi adopts a stern, author­i­ta­tive tone—one that mim­ics her mother’s. Lill, relieved to final­ly have the chance to speak with Bobbi’s fam­i­ly, reas­sures them with a com­fort­ing tone, pro­vid­ing all the details about the motel and how they are ful­ly pre­pared to care for the chil­dren. Her reas­sur­ances offer a sense of relief, not only to Bobbi’s moth­er but also to Lill, who is now con­vinced that every­thing is under con­trol. How­ev­er, the nar­ra­tor is left with a lin­ger­ing sense of guilt, ful­ly aware that the truth has been care­ful­ly manip­u­lat­ed and con­cealed. The emo­tion­al weight of the decep­tion weighs heav­i­ly on her, know­ing that although Lill may feel reas­sured, she remains bur­dened by the lie.

As the con­ver­sa­tion winds down and the group resumes their nor­mal rou­tine, Bob­bi and the boys return with a sense of tri­umph, clear­ly unaware of Lill’s lin­ger­ing doubts. The light-heart­ed ener­gy that the boys bring con­trasts sharply with the under­ly­ing ten­sion of the sit­u­a­tion. This chap­ter intri­cate­ly explores the lay­ers of fam­i­ly dynam­ics, empha­siz­ing how far indi­vid­u­als will go to pro­tect the ones they love—even when it means cross­ing eth­i­cal lines. The decep­tion, though born out of a desire to shield Lill from wor­ry, rais­es impor­tant ques­tions about the moral­i­ty of pro­tect­ing some­one through lies. The chap­ter delves into the com­plex­i­ties of trust, reveal­ing how it can be test­ed, strained, and some­times manip­u­lat­ed when love is at stake. The act of deceiv­ing Lill, though seem­ing­ly inno­cent, under­scores the larg­er theme of how deeply fam­i­ly mem­bers are will­ing to go to pro­tect each oth­er, even if it involves the painful cost of hon­esty.

Through this chap­ter, the nar­ra­tor grap­ples with the weight of her actions, as the moral impli­ca­tions of their choic­es begin to unfold. The impact of these deci­sions on the larg­er fam­i­ly dynam­ic remains unclear, but it’s evi­dent that the group is expe­ri­enc­ing a del­i­cate bal­ance of trust and secre­cy. This chap­ter not only explores themes of decep­tion but also touch­es on the vul­ner­a­bil­i­ty that comes with nav­i­gat­ing the com­plex­i­ties of love and fam­i­ly. The uncer­tain­ty of the jour­ney ahead looms large, and the char­ac­ters must decide whether their meth­ods of pro­tec­tion will lead to long-term peace or deep­er strug­gles as they con­tin­ue to move for­ward.