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Summary: Chapters 21 & 22

Chapter 21

Robin, Ramy, Victoire, and Letty finally return to Oxford. Letty struggles to keep herself together, frequently bursting into tears. They decide to spread the story that Lovell is gravely ill and quarantined in his Hampstead home. They will pretend that everything is normal and go through the motions of being Babel students so as not to arouse suspicion. Robin goes to see Mrs. Piper and feeds her the lie about Lovell's illness, imploring her not to go see him and risk exposure. Suddenly realizing that he may never see her again, he begins to cry and asks if she has family to turn to should Lovell succumb to his illness, which Mrs. Piper confirms. 

At the tower, Robin overhears Mrs. Lovell, who has come to Oxford with her children looking for her husband, though Playfair assures her that he knows nothing. The cohort fears it will become impossible to cover up Lovell's disappearance.

Ramy remembers there is a faculty party that week that they must attend to avoid suspicion. At the party, feigning normalcy becomes unbearably. Playfair approaches Robin, who attempts to stick to the lie about Lovell's illness. However, Playfair leans close and tells Robin that he is with the Hermes Society. Robin doesn't know whether he should believe him. To test Playfair, he makes up a fake Hermes mission led by Griffin, and when Playfair responds as if he knows exactly what Robin is referring to, Robin knows that he's lying. To make a speedy escape, Robin invites Playfair to meet him and Griffin later that night. He rounds up his friends and warns them that they need to leave immediately. Outside the party, as the cohort panics and wonders what to do next, Anthony appears, instructing them to follow him. 

Chapter 22

Anthony leads them toward the college where he uses a secret passcode to open a door to a series of tunnels. In the tunnels, Anthony asks about Lovell, and Robin reports the truth. Victoire tells Anthony about the planned invasion against China and emphasizes that the threat of war is real; they've even found Lovell's war plans, which Anthony will send someone to collect. Letty inquires why Anthony joined Hermes since she had thought he loved Babel. He explains that he used to be a slave. His owner had publicly spoken out against slavery but when it was actually abolished, he did not want to let Anthony go and even tried to relocate them to the U.S., where slavery was still legal. Anthony escaped and found sanctuary at Oxford, where he was deemed an asset and therefore treated well. However, he tells the story of a former slave whose master told him that he would one day have his own slaves, suggesting that the cycle of exploitation is cyclical and endless. 

The group arrives at the Old Library, where the Hermes Society hides in plain sight. There, they encounter other Babel students including Vimal, Cathy, and Ilse. Anthony gives them a tour of the facility, including their silver-working lab and research center where they catalogue the world's languages, many of which are disappearing. When Robin points out that this trend will render silver-working obsolete, Cathy reflects on the paradox of colonialism: "It's built to destroy that which it prizes most." Griffin arrives, greeting Robin and angering him by remarking that he didn't think Robin had it in him to kill their father. 

Anthony explains their plans to convince Parliament and the British public that it is against their best interests to wage war against China. The society members discuss the dangers of England winning the war; the country would come to possess a near limitless supply of silver and would inevitably and forcibly expand their territories, claiming more lands and peoples. The plan is to essentially become lobbyists to sway public opinion against the war. They are working on a match-pair to aid their efforts. Robin claims it will be difficult to convince people; injustice is easy to overlook when one does not have to confront it directly. Griffin advocates for a more violent approach. He is heading to Glasgow to blow up a shipyard and Anthony says they are “scholars, not soldiers,” and that the "violent theatrics" should be left to Griffin. Griffin wants to seize control of Babel but Anthony refuses to endanger innocent lives. 

Robin and Griffin speak alone and Griffin teaches Robin how to use a gun, arguing that violence is a necessity and decolonization is inherently violent. Robin broaches the subject of Evie's death and Griffin tells him that Evie pretended to join Hermes, then betrayed them. Griffin maintains that he only meant to scare Evie, not kill her, and that she may have attacked first if he hadn't acted. Robin asks Griffin if that's what he tells himself so that he can sleep at night and Griffin returns the question, asking the same of Robin's murder of Lovell. Griffin explains his argument for violent insurrection. Capitalism ensures that violence is more costly to the Empire than to Hermes—it disrupts lines of trade and systems of labor. Decolonization must be violent because “violence is the only language [the Empire] understand[s]." Robin shoots the gun and feels a sense of exhilaration.

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