Chapters 21- 25

Chapter 21- Everyone is planning for Steven and Emilia's wedding. Matt gets excited when Maria arrives. He takes her to the music room to talk to her. Matt gave her the book, A History of Opium. She instantly recognizes her mother. She gave it back knowing her father would be furious if he found it. Matt watched the wedding with a telescope. Someone shouted something about El Patron. Matt looked at the old man through his telescope and saw him grab his heart and fall out of his wheelchair. Tam Lin carried him out and to the hospital. Emilia and Steven were left standing at the alter.

Chapter 22- Matt doesn't know what to do. Celia told him to go to the pantry if anything bad happened and Tam Lin warned Matt that El Patron could have an evil side. Matt stays in the passage. He soon sees a flashlight and turns to see Maria. Matt doesn't understand why they are looking for him. Maria has an idea that can be fatal. They have to get to the Mendoza hovercraft. The fatal part is that there is a door that only El Patron can open. Matt may or may not be able to get it open. If it doesn't work, the hallway will be filled with a poisonous gas. He tries it, but it doesn't work. They run into a new opening. The passage leads them outside near the Mendoza hovercraft. Emilia comes to see Maria before she leaves for the convent. Emilia and Steven betray Matt and take him in instead of rescuing him. Maria tries to rescue him, but Emilia and Steven take him away.

Chapter 23- Matt wakes up strapped to a bed. El Patron talks to him and tells him his childhood story. At the end, he tells Matt that he is owed all the lives of his brothers and sisters. Celia stands up against El Patron. She tells him that she gave Matt foxglove and later arsenic. El Patron gets furious. They wheel him to the operating room. They took Celia away and left Matt. The next morning, they wheeled El Patron out. Mr. Alacran demands for Tam Lin to take Matt out. Matt believes that Tam Lin no longer cares about him.

Chapter 24- Tam Lin acts as if he is going to take Matt to the eejit pens, but he takes him to the path to the Ajo Mountains. Tam Lin tells Matt about the pathway. He tells Matt that he saved Celia from being turned in to an eejit. Matt wants Tam Lin to join him as he leaves. Tam Lin tells Matt that there is absolutely no difference between clones and humans. That his DNA is still human DNA. Tam Lin gives Matt money and tells him about it. Tam Lin says he has to leave and tells Matt what he is to do. Matt is to go to St. Luis and find Maria and hopefully her mother.

Chapter 25- Matt uses Tam Lin's notes on the trees as help to know where not to go. He continues on towards Aztlan. He worries about Celia and Tam Lin. He spends the night at the top of the ridge. Matt begins to hear noises. As he reaches the top cleft of the mountain, the noises get louder. He realizes it's music. He begins to slide down the mountainside. Matt looks through his binoculars and sees a member of the Farm Patrol. He looks around and sees more of them. As the Farm Patrol went after a group of people, Matt sees the chance and runs. He hears the Farm Patrol behind him. The Farm Patroller grabbed Matt's bag, but Matt just left it behind and ran across the Aztlan border and into slime.

I read 54 pages.

Interesting Quotation- ""No one can tell the difference between a clone and a human. That's because there isn't any difference. The idea of clones being inferior is a filthy lie."" ~Page 245, Lines 2-4~ Everyone believes that Matt is a dirty little creature because he is a clone, but in truth, clones are the same. They had human DNA. Others don't understand that Matt is a real boy. Just because he is a clone and was born differently doesn't mean anything.