Unwind

A couple of weeks have passed, which Risa, Connor, and the other Unwinds have spent in a couple of different safe houses. Despite moving around and the danger, “The only reason she and Connor have been able to stay together is because they pose as a couple. It’s practical, and it serves both their interests” (141). They are in a large warehouse near an airfield. No one will tell any of the Unwinds what the next step is. Risa and Connor learn that Connor’s initial escape made the rumor mill. Kids talk about Akron AWOL, a kid who turned a cop’s “tranq” pistol against him and got away.

Risa talks to one of the guards holding them in the warehouse and asks why they are helping her and the others. She replies, “Saving you and others like you is an act of conscience” (143). Risa considers it Big-Picture-speak: “Seeing the whole, and none of the parts. It’s not just in their speech but in their eyes as well. When they look at Risa, she can tell they don’t really see her” (143).

Risa notices that Roland is controlling the other kids in the warehouse, so she approaches Connor to talk to him. She asks him to watch where other people go and what they do. Risa explains Connor is Roland’s biggest competition and that the others “are expecting you to do something about him—and Roland knows it” (147). Finally, she warns Connor, “A kid like Roland doesn’t want to fight you. He wants to kill you” (147).

Connor begins to watch Roland and notices he doesn’t bully kids too much. “It’s the subtle manipulation of the situation” that annoys Connor (147). Roland moves each kid like a chess piece and Connor realizes Risa isn’t just right about Roland, but she was right about Lev, too. “Connor hasn’t been able to get Lev out of his mind” (148); he expects Lev has been unwound “into nothing—his bones, his flesh, his mind, shredded and recycled” (148).

On Christmas day, the guards arrive late with dinner. Everyone is ravenous and quickly gets into line. Risa decides to go to the bathroom to have some time to herself while she can. She hears the door open behind her and realizes her mistake: “It’s Roland who has entered the bathroom. And now he closes the door gently behind him. […] She should never have come here alone” (149). Roland pushes her up against the wall, and then Connor walks in. When he sees Roland and Risa, he asks, “Should I turn off the light when I leave?” (151).

Connor’s seeming indifference shocks Risa. She feels betrayed. Connor is going to leave her there? Connor tells Roland that he and Risa broke up that morning, so she can do whatever she wants. Roland then leaves the room. Risa is upset and asks Connor what all that was about, and he explains the reasoning behind his actions: “[Roland] didn’t just follow you to the bathroom—he pushed past me first. He made sure I knew he was following you here. This whole thing wasn’t about you, it was about me—just like you said” (151-2).

Risa is still upset, so Connor leaves her alone in the bathroom. She realizes, however, that she views him as a hero. “Connor had done the right thing. For once, he had seen the situation more clearly than she—and he had probably ensured that Roland wouldn’t physically threaten her again, at least for a while” (152).

Remaining calm in the bathroom was one of the hardest things Connor ever had to do, but it pays off: “This is new territory for him. […] [Connor] enjoys this exercise of power—and it is power, because Roland now behaves exactly the way he and Risa want him to” (153).

One night, a different type of boy comes into the pawnbroker’s shop. He is used to seeing people down on their luck come into the shop, but “This boy is different” (157). When the boy approaches the counter, he asks if he can trade things for money. The pawnbroker explains he loans money for items, but he doesn’t do work with minors. The boy takes a gold and diamond bracelet out of his pocket and places it on the counter. He asks how much the pawnbroker will give him for it.

When the pawnbroker asks the boy to put the bracelet away and go home, the boy tells him he is an Unwind. This revelation confuses the pawnbroker. “First of all, runaway Unwinds who show up at his shop never admit it. Secondly, they always appear desperate and angry. […] They’re never this calm” (159). The pawnbroker, however, eyes the bracelet, and the boy asks to come with the man to the back room where the pawnbroker’s safe is. The pawnbroker finally obliges the boy: “He pulls open the door, and the second he does, he feels something hard and heavy connecting with his head” (161). When the pawnbroker wakes up, his money is missing.