Greetings From Witness Protection!

Winter melts into spring, and life continues on course until one evening when Charlotte comes home from a movie. Harriet was putting away Charlotte’s laundry and discovered her stash of stolen jewelry, including the rhinestone engagement ring. Charlotte expects Harriet to be furious, but Harriet apologizes. She says that she never read Charlotte’s file or knew about her “kleptomania” or the hardship of being a foster child. The file explained everything: “It was about a girl—a confused, hurt, terribly strong little girl. A girl who I hadn’t bothered to learn about, because I was so very concerned with my own life, my own hurt” (283).

Harriet understands that Charlotte steals only when she’s under significant emotional stress and says that if she finds any of her jewelry missing in the future, she’ll simply check Charlotte’s stash to see if it’s there. No questions will be asked. After their conversation, Charlotte feels relieved at having been caught.

Shortly after spring break, the entire school is swept up in test fever. Everyone participates in End of Grade testing (the EOGs), and the school receives additional funding because Loblolly usually excels. For weeks, students are put through test drills to sharpen their skills before the real event. On the date of the actual test, the process lasts for four hours. Charlotte does her best to get no better than an 82% average, even though she could score much higher. The Trevors go out for dinner to celebrate the end of the ordeal. When they return home, they find multiple blank voice mail messages from unidentifiable numbers.

Once all the tests are graded, Loblolly holds a School Spirit Day. During this event, students receive envelopes containing their test results, which they’re obligated to open in front of their parents. Everyone assembles in the gym for this ritual. Afterward, a basketball game is held between students and teachers. When Jackson and Charlotte arrive in the gym, they turn over their envelopes to Jonathan and Harriet. Charlotte managed a perfect 82%.

Afterward, she joins the girls’ basketball team, and Jonathan encourages her to cut loose and play her best. Even though her team doesn’t win, Charlotte singlehandedly steals the ball 21 times from the opposing team. Later, Archer snaps a photo of the Trevor family for the school website. They’re horrified to realize that their image will be posted on the internet.

That night, the entire family is in turmoil over what to do about the photo. They need to find a way to pull down the photo before someone in the Cercatore family sees it. Charlotte blames herself, but Jonathan says that Harriet needlessly reproaches herself the same way: “It’s not her fault they’re criminals. Their behavior tore apart the Cercatores, not her. It’s the same with you. None of us blames you. Not even Jackson!” (308). Charlotte and Jackson plan to approach Archer at school the next day to persuade him to take down the picture.

The chapter ends with the transcript of a conversation between Arturo Cercatore and his lawyer. The mob assassin says that he has seen the photo of his sister. He adds cryptically that the teenage girl in the picture will provide him with an alibi for the hit he’s planning.

The next morning, Archer is unwilling to cooperate in taking down the photo. In desperation, Jackson suggests that Charlotte confide in Brit. As a tech guru, Brit may be able to find a way to delete the picture from the school website. Jackson also says that Charlotte should tell Brit the whole story of the Trevors’ real identity. He says that she needs a friend, not a parent, to listen to her and understand what she’s going through:

‘I don’t want to have to be the kid you unload on,’ he continues. ‘That’s what friends are for. So tell Brit, because you need her.’ He gets up, shrugging his backpack over his shoulders. As he walks away, he adds, ‘And we need you’ (316).

Charlotte nervously approaches Brit, and the two go into the girl’s bathroom to talk through the situation. Although Brit is alarmed by the favor that Charlotte asks, she’s immediately supportive when she learns that her friend is part of WITSEC. Charlotte doesn’t go into all the details but explains the extent to which the Cercatore family is dangerous. She feels an immense flood of relief that she can confide some of her story to Brit.

That evening, Brit comes to the Trevor house so that Charlotte can explain why she told her friend. The photo is gone, and the Trevors are relieved, but they’re very worried about involving Brit any further. They also lecture Charlotte about the need to keep their secret from everyone else. Harriet says, “We were wrong to relax, and to encourage you to do the same at your basketball game. From now on, we play our roles every single moment of every single day, no exceptions” (327).

The chapter concludes with text messages between Arturo and another member of the Cercatore family. He types in the Trevors’ home address and announces that he has found them.

For the rest of that school week, Charlotte spends her time avoiding Archer and her basketball teammates. By Friday night, she’s exhausted but sits up late while Jonathan reads to her. Around midnight, they hear sounds on the porch. Charlotte only has time to initiate a phone call to Janice before three men break into the house: “Standing in the frame, flanked by two darkly dressed figures, is my bogeyman. My cancer and my killer bees. Somehow, some way, Arturo Cercatore found us” (335).

Jonathan trips the alarm, and Arturo fires at him, but Charlotte darts out her hand and gets shot instead. Harriet enters the room, carrying a baseball bat, and knocks out one of Arturo’s henchmen. Arturo then turns the gun on Jackson and threatens to shoot him unless Harriet drops the bat. He tells her to call the security company and tell them that the alert was a false alarm. The other henchman protests that he thought the job was the simple robbery of an empty house. With a start, Charlotte realizes that the man is her biological father, Christian Demere.

Arturo tells Christian that he can take his daughter and go. He’ll be paid a large sum of cash to disappear because his presence at the scene of a crime gives Arturo a scapegoat. Christian’s involvement in the crime would confuse a jury, and Arturo would escape yet again:

Perfectly plausible that Arturo Cercatore came here to make a message out of his turncoat sibling, just as it is perfectly plausible that an ex-convict might find that his only daughter has been taken by a family that is not her own (340).

Christian protests, but Arturo threatens that his family will hunt the ex-convict down if he doesn’t cooperate. Charlotte is losing a large quantity of blood from the wound in her palm and needs to go to a hospital. At first, she resists going with Christian but then begs him to take her upstairs to collect her stuffed animal, Fancypaws.

Christian carries Charlotte upstairs. He tries to apologize, but to no avail. Charlotte thinks, “All I see, though, is a confused, tired, and trapped man, and I find that there isn’t anything there to hate. Or to love. ‘No, Dad,’ I say softly. ‘There’s nothing you could say that makes it okay’” 346.

Clutching the stuffed animal as Christian carries her downstairs, Charlotte activates her taser just as Arturo is about to shoot the Trevors. She stuns him, and once he falls, Jonathan and Jackson incapacitate the other henchman. Christian leaves with Charlotte, who’s nearly unconscious from blood loss. She pleads with her father to take her to a hospital, but he wants to keep running to try to find safety: “I shiver, resting my head against the window, my hand cradled in the cove of my lap. ‘This is my safe. You say you want to keep me away from your world? Then help me make my own’” (350). Just as Charlotte passes out, she realizes that Christian has driven her to the hospital.

Once Charlotte recovers, she learns from Janice that her father is back in prison. The following day, she attends a meeting with the Trevors. Janice informs them that Project Family didn’t work very well for the Trevors, and they’ll need to be relocated. She announces that Charlotte will be placed back in the foster system, but this creates an uproar among all the Trevors. Harriet claims Charlotte as her own and tells Janice, “She’s mine, and I’d rather share a cell with my psychopath brother for the rest of my short life than be the mom who sends her away” (355-56). Janice is secretly pleased by this reaction. She leaves the meeting to consult with her superiors. When she returns, she suggests that they might try Arizona next and that Charlotte will be going with them. The novel concludes with an online friend request for BritneySpeargun from someone named MissRageBeast91. Brit accepts the request.