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Summary: Book IV: Chapters 19 & 20

Chapter 19

Ramy, Victoire, and Letty jump into action, devising a plan to conceal Lovell's body without a second thought. A shocked Robin offers to turn himself in but the others shoot him down, arguing that the rest of them would be implicated anyway. They resolve to throw the body overboard and tell the crew that he is quarantined in his room with a foreign disease. When they arrive in England, they will report that Lovell died of illness. Shocked by their immediate rise to action, Robin inquires whether his friends want to at least know why he did it. Surprisingly, it is Letty who chimes in and remarks that she thinks they all understand why he did what he did. 

They spend the rest of the journey feigning normalcy and evading questions about Lovell. Robin is consumed with guilt and agonizes over what he did, torturing himself by replaying the events of that night in his mind over and over. One night, he almost confesses to the ship’s captain but Ramy stops him, arguing that he'd be endangering Ramy and their friends. The boys grow closer than ever, as past tensions, along with Ramy's accusations of Robin's complicity, have evaporated. 

Back in England, the group tells the captain that Lovell has gone to see a doctor, and the four of them depart for Lovell's house in Hampstead after which they will return to Oxford. They don't know how to envision a life without Oxford—none of them knows how to live without a stipend, lodgings, or prepared meals. Robin still grasps at the hope that they could all return to their lives as students. 

Chapter 20

In Hampstead, the four friends run into Lovell's neighbor, Mrs. Clemens, and convince her that they've merely come to visit their professor. She produces a spare key and lets them into his house. They provide vague answers about Lovell's whereabouts and report that they'll be headed back to Oxford in the morning.

That night, they sleep in shifts and Robin wanders into Lovell's study, discovering correspondence confirming that Lovell was developing plans to purposely instigate a war with China for British gain. The cohort was sent to China only as a pretext, and the British had always planned for negotiations to fail, baiting Lin into declaring war first. Peace was never on the table. He shows Ramy and Victoire the letters along with preplanned propaganda to poison British public opinion against the Chinese. Together, the three of them realize they can never truly return to Oxford. They cannot live in ignorance of the British Empire's brutal immorality, and resolve to commit themselves to the Hermes Society instead. Robin still wants to turn himself in, but Ramy calls him out on his cowardice; allowing himself to be punished so he might feel absolved does not change anything. Action is needed, not sacrifice. Letty appears in the doorway—she has overheard and asks what the Hermes Society is.  

Letty has a hard time understanding since she had thought they were all happy at Oxford. However, Ramy points out her blindness—Oxford is no fairytale for people of color, as they are constantly harassed and discriminated against—and Victoire notes Letty's ignorance by telling her Babel's silver bars are used to uphold corrupt and immoral institutions and practices, including slavery. Letty is hurt that they did not tell her this before, but Victoire laments that in some ways, she had tried. Letty had simply refused to truly open her eyes and listen to what Victoire and the boys were saying. She implores Letty to listen now. Letty does not think that an underground society is the correct way to inspire change. She suggests they simply petition Parliament, which Victoire and Ramy point out is naive; the English are all too happy to turn the other way and refuse to bear witness if it means protecting their comforts. Victoire says that even if Letty is not with them, she hopes that Letty won't expose them. Letty begins to cry and throws her arms around Victoire, declaring that she plans to stick by her friends. Robin is uncomfortable—he knows that Letty is being genuine but it rubs him the wrong way that, after everything that they've told Letty about their experiences as foreigners, Letty is the one who needs comforting.

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