They reach the “Bridge of a Thousand Mallards” and prepare to cross. However, Lola growls in warning and they notice the man who was threatening to report them the day before. He has arrived with a police officer and together they are blocking the bridge so Max and Isadora can’t escape. The man knows there is a reward out for Isadora, and he wants to send her back to Abismo so he can collect it.

Max had only wanted to prove he was old enough to be responsible and to find answers about his mother. Now, he feels guilt and remorse for volunteering as a guardian and getting them caught: “Father Romero had warned that their lives would be in danger. And yet, he had foolishly undertaken the journey anyway, for his own selfish reasons. How could he ever have thought himself capable of being responsible for another person’s life?” (181-82).

Stuck with no way out, Max prepares to hand over Isadora. Suddenly, he remembers Buelo’s saying: “A guardian had to be ready to improvise at a moment’s notice” (183). Max quickly develops a plan. Although they can’t escape over the bridge, there is another path.