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Summary: Chapters 11 & 12

Chapter 11

Robin and his cohort begin individual research projects and Victoire struggles with her advisor. Her advisor wants Victoire to translate sacred Kreyòl text, which Victoire finds culturally insensitive. Letty does not understand Victoire's apprehension, making derogatory comments about Haiti and creating a rift between the two girls. The four of them continue to unintentionally hurt each other, straining their bond, with animosity growing particularly between Letty and Ramy. 

Robin works on a project with Professor Chakravarti to compile a list of loanwords from Sanskrit to Chinese. Meanwhile, they also perform upkeep for silver bars to funnel more money into Babel. As a result, Robin learns about Babel's resonance links, massive silver rods that help power much of England's silver. Chakravarti secretly takes Robin to Babel to see them, explaining that if an external silver bar loses its connection to the resonance rods, the silver loses its power. The link is formed if bars are smelted from the same material, at which point etymological work helps to solidify the connection. Chakravarti and Lovell are the only ones responsible for this task. 

Later, Robin and his friends learn that Anthony went missing during a research expedition in Barbados and is presumed dead. The professors don't seem particularly moved and life continues as usual. Robin, Letty, and Ramy are disturbed by the apathy, uncovering the uncomfortable truth that Babel sees its students as expendable. Victoire, who was closest to Anthony, evades conversations about him. Though Letty fixates, Victoire moves on and Robin realizes that he never sees her cry over Anthony. 

Chapter 12

At the Twisted Root, Robin finally confronts Griffin about the incident with the wards. Griffin brushes him off, saying Robin can use their safe house next time, though Robin does not see this as an actual solution. Robin quells his anger and fills Griffin in on intel from Babel, including Anthony's disappearance. Griffin is flippant about Anthony's death, further frustrating Robin. 

Meanwhile, life becomes miserable for the cohort as Oxford loses its magic in their eyes. Break-ins at Babel increase while protesters arrive outside the tower, one of whom throws an egg at Victoire who is protected only by Ramy stepping in to block her from the egg's trajectory. The angry mob is made up of mill workers who have been put out of work after Playfair's most recent match-pair. Lovell is harsh about the protesters' plight, arguing that the unrest will dissolve overnight. However, Lovell is wrong. The protests continue and security measures increase exponentially. The protests are not isolated; they are connected to a nationwide civic unrest that Oxford can no longer ignore. An economic recession and growing wealth gap plague England, putting people out of work and causing widespread poverty and urbanization. The students turn a blind eye, focusing on their studies and eventually the protests slow. Though difficult to ignore the headlines that preach that Babel threatens national security, Robin reflects that it is easy to overlook "as long as one got used to looking away."

As the term nears its end, a public ceremony announces which fourth-year students passed their exams and which ones failed, thereby earning an irreversible banishment from Babel. Robin and his cohort watch the announcement in horror as one student fails and Playfair shatters the student's vial of blood, forever severing him from the tower.

Griffin arrives injured to the Twisted Root and tells Robin of an upcoming Hermes plan that requires explosives that need to be kept in Robin's room. Robin puts his foot down, refusing to store the explosives without more information; as usual, Griffin refuses to oblige. Robin is adamant that he deserves to know more since he is the one risking his future, causing Griffin to point out that Robin clearly still sees Oxford as his future, not Hermes. Griffin argues that Robin has spent so much time with the colonizer that he is now blind to the unwavering truth that he can never be one of them.

Griffin admits that the job has to do with Afghanistan, where the British plan to invade. Robin's admiration of Griffin shatters. He questions whether the Hermes Society is actually doing anything or if it just makes Griffin feel important. Robin remarks that nothing has changed and the Empire still stands. Griffin returns to the issue of Afghanistan, explaining that the British plan to invade not with English troops but with soldiers from Bengal and Bombay. He says this is how England wins—it pits the rest of the world against each other. Robin wants to take a hiatus from the Hermes Society until the end of the year but Griffin offers Robin an ultimatum, asking his brother if he's in or out. Robin says he's out. Griffin leaves with a threat against Robin should Robin tell anyone anything about Hermes.

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