The Testaments

Daisy sleeps for a while, and Garth is there when she wakes up. He looks at her with interest, calling her Baby Nicole, but Daisy asks him not to call her that. They get into Garth’s van, with Ada and Daisy concealed in the back.

Ada explains how she smuggled Daisy out of Gilead. Daisy’s mother had given her to friends, who took her up to Vermont. From there, they carried Daisy over the mountains and into Canada at Three Rivers. That area had been a focal point for bringing in abducted girls since the 18th century, which Ada says accounts for her mixed heritage. Daisy asks what mix she means, Ada says, “Part stealer, part stolen,” she said. “I’m ambidextrous” (191).

Daisy asks about her mother, and Ada tells her that the fewer people who know her whereabouts, the better. She risked her life for Daisy, and she has kept up with her via photos from Neil and Melanie, taken while Daisy was sleeping. Daisy’s mother would look at the photos, then promptly burn them to keep Daisy safe.

After an hour, they reach a carpet outlet called Carpitz. Hidden in the back of the warehouse, there is Mayday operations center. Elijah cautions Ada and Daisy that only Garth knows who they are. They see on the news that the coroner has ruled Aunt Adrianna’s death a homicide, and Gilead is blaming Mayday operatives. There’s no mention of Daisy’s disappearance, as Elijah has connections at her school, and he has arranged for them to keep quiet.

In the morning, Elijah tells Ada and Daisy that there is increased pressure on the Canadian government by Gilead to root out the Mayday operations. There is also word that Gilead may target Carpitz and that they’ve lost contact with the rescue-line allies inside Gilead.

The group considers where to keep Daisy. Daisy’s mother’s location isn’t safe, the European countries don’t want trouble with Gilead, South America has too many dictators, and California and Texas (now independent) are too difficult to enter because of the war. Now that they have lost contact with their source in Gilead, they are without information on Gilead’s plans and don’t have accurate warning of raids and blocked routes. The mystery source in Gilead had used microdots to convey information, Neil had read them with his viewer, and the Pearl Girl brochures had smuggled the messages back and forth. Since Gilead has killed Neil and Melanie and arrested their operatives in upstate New York, they cannot communicate.

The source has a large cache of information that would mean the end of Gilead. He or she maintains that the best way to get this information out would be to bring in a young woman from outside Gilead, claiming to be a convert. The source wants to use Baby Nicole, aware that Mayday must know where she is. The source will not release the document cache without Baby Nicole. Elijah tells Daisy they will train her to appear as a convert and teach her self-defense. 

Though Daisy never agreed to go into Gilead, she begins her training. Ada and Elijah set up a mini gym, and Garth works out with Daisy. Garth tells Daisy that he is from the Republic of Texas, which had fought to a stalemate with Gilead. Texas is officially neutral toward Gilead, so Garth and his friends came to neutral, but more relenting, Canada to be freedom fighters. Garth has Daisy practice giving and taking punches, and Ada teaches Daisy how to pray correctly, as Ada grew up in a fundamentalist part of the country.

For her new identity, Daisy chooses the name Jade, wanting something harder than a flower. At the source’s insistence, Daisy gets a tattoo of the words “LOVE” and “GOD” intersecting like a cross, with a shared letter O. Daisy dyes her hair green. The Mayday operatives have used pretend converts before with “mixed results,” but Daisy will have protection from the source, who they suspect is an Aunt. When Daisy voices her fears that the source may be trapping her, Garth tells her he’s betting that she’ll succeed.

Daisy dresses like a street person and panhandles around downtown Toronto, where Pearl Girls will see her. Garth goes with her as part of her cover story. Ada tells her not to speak much, that Garth will tell people that violence at home has traumatized her. Garth will pretend to be her boyfriend so he can protect her until the Pearl Girls take her away.