News of the game between the Big Liars and a team including Buendía spreads throughout the Summerlands and draws a huge crowd. The night before the game, the kids realize that Taffy is gone. Jennifer T. believes that Taffy has gone to look for La Llorona because doing so will let her drown and forget the sorrow of losing her children. Before they can look for her, she returns, holding a strange jug, and apologizes for frightening them. The next morning, Ethan finds a Liar with a knife he says can cut anything, but when the man tries to cut the knot off Ethan’s bat, the knife breaks.

By the fifth inning of the game, the Shadowtails are losing by six runs because the Liar with the knife used shavings from Ethan’s bat to rig the game. Ethan consults his book and finds a way to throw a pitch along the Tree of Worlds to trick the batter using a wormhole. Jennifer T. likes it but doesn’t think it’s possible until Ethan tells her, “[M]aybe you’re a shadowtail” (394). Jennifer T. uses the technique and strikes out every batter for the rest of the game, leading the Shadowtails to victory.