Out on the road again with just her sister, Isabel finally realizes that Ruth fears her because she believes that Isabel was responsible for selling her away. The sisters are forced to flee in the night. Shortly after this argument, Isabel and Ruth get separated from the boys when the laundress they work for burns their free papers and tries to turn them in for a slave bounty. When she discovers that the boys both joined armies-Curzon as a Patriot soldier, Aberdeen as a spy for the British-she has a falling-out with them, infuriated that they believe that either army truly has the interests of black people in mind, and upset that Curzon chose this dangerous course of action over staying safe with her. The girls work in a laundry, while the boys go off to their own mysterious jobs Isabel gets a sense that they’re not telling her something. The group makes it to Williamsburg, where a major battle between the Continental army and the British is brewing. Isabel is heartbroken that her sister won’t acknowledge her but holds the group together with her wilderness skills and persistence.

Ruth continues to reject Isabel but shows that she’s canny, kindhearted, and tough, with a special affinity for animals. The friends make an arduous journey north, beset by illness, hunger, and exhaustion. Together, the children will try to start new lives as free people. She rejects Isabel immediately, but Serafina and Walter persuade Ruth to go on the run with Isabel and Curzon, and Aberdeen accompanies them. Ruth, who has epilepsy and some degree of intellectual disability, is under the care of an old couple named Serafina and Walter and a young man named Aberdeen, and she’s adopted them as her new family. When the two find Ruth, it’s not the loving reunion Isabel hopes for. Isabel longs to see her sister and has also developed a longing for Curzon that she can’t admit, even to herself. After serving at Valley Forge, they’re travelling through the Eastern states, looking for Isabel’s little sister Ruth, who was sold away from Isabel when the two were only children. Isabel Gardener and Curzon Smith, two black teenagers who escaped slavery during the American Revolution, have been on the run together for five years.

Ashes trilogy book 1