During a huge rainstorm, Amber finds Liz in the hollow tree. She has not been eating and cannot stand being by herself in the dark at night. Amber must leave soon, but he feels a great urge to stay with Liz. Amber wants to help her escape, though all the code signs left by slaves in the area say to stay put.

Liz thinks she is losing her mind and that someone is watching her. She despairs, “Death would be a relief to me, after what I been through” (156), but is unable to tell Amber what that is. Finally, Amber offers to take her on the gospel train himself. Liz repeats that there is no freedom in the north: “You love the North, she said. You love a place. There ain’t nothing there to love” (158). The things that Liz tells Amber upset him and turn his ideas of the world upside down.

Liz tells Amber that she is already free in her heart. She has seen the future in her dreams and knows that being free does not bring happiness, as all the free people she sees in opulent surroundings are miserable. She does not think he is the kind of man who would love only money and possessions.