Chapter 57: Ky
The Pilot comes on over Ky’s speaker as he flies and tells him the location of the sego lily field that Cassia’s mother remembered. Ky flies there and sees two other ships already on the ground as he lands. The Pilot greets him when they land and together they talk with a man who knew the original planter of the lilies, a man named Jacob Childs. Jacob was taken to the Outer Provinces to die when the Society learned of his transgression, but the lilies reappeared this year after the Society bulldozed them. They arrange to have the lily bulbs carefully harvested.
A few days later, Ky is making rounds in his ship when the Pilot comes on the speaker to tell him that there is no record of a Jacob Childs in the Society’s database, meaning he was indeed likely taken to the Outer Provinces to die. There is also no record of Patrick or Aida Markham, which Ky had asked the Pilot to check. Ky feels that he needs to find them. He lands on his old street in Oria Province despite the Pilot’s protests and explores the refuse and detriment. He knocks on the door of Xander’s old house.
Chapter 58: Xander
The cure is making good progress. Scientists have figured out how to synthesize it now, so people are getting better much more quickly. Ky retrieved Xander’s recently-still family from their home and brought them to safety. Xander reflects on how lucky his family has always been. Though none of them were Rising members, they held the neighborhood together as long as they could when things looked grim.
Xander recalls finding Ky sitting by the river that runs through Camas not long after he returned with Xander’s parents. Xander thanks him immensely for this, and asks how Ky knew he loved Cassia when they were first accidentally Matched. Ky said he believed that she could learn to know him the way no one else did.
In real time, Xander finds Lei in this same place by the river. He tells her all about what happened while she was still, about going to Endstone and finding the cure. He explains that his Match is in love with someone else, and Lei acknowledges that hers actually died before the Plague even began. She describes feeling like she was held by water while she was still. Xander thinks about wanting to kiss her, then feels disgusted with himself, and leaves abruptly.
Chapter 59: Cassia
Cassia watches Xander leave the river bank and goes to join Lei. They officially introduce one another and talk about Lei’s Match being gone. Lei is planning to leave, but first explains that she used to be an Anomaly, but thanks to knowing the right people, was able to purchase an entirely false set of data about herself that allowed her citizenship and even Official status within the Society. As part of this, she reversed her name.
Cassia runs to tell Xander Lei’s true identity. Her name, Nea Lei, is pronounced Laney in reverse. She is Vick’s former partner. She also tells him that Lei is leaving. The Pilot is taking a few cargo ships to bring the Endstone villagers to the Otherlands as promised. To Cassia’s great shock, Xander decides he wants to go, too.
Chapter 60: Ky
Ky and Cassia sit alone on his ship, waiting to fly with a small fleet to Endstone, where the two intend to bring Anna back to be a potential leader for the Provinces. They are able to share a private moment of intimacy, telling one another that they love each other. Then it’s time take off. Ky imagines the clouds in the sky as the paintings his mother used to make.
Chapter 61: Cassia
Cassia observes that Ky is the Pilot, flying as freely as Indie. When they reach Endstone, there is dancing and singing in the village center, and Cassia and Ky join in, dancing effortlessly for the first time. Cassia sees Xander there and wishes he could find love like she did. Anna thanks each of them for their part in finding the cure: the pilot, the poet, and the physic. She draws the traditionally blue lines of the farmers onto each of them. Cassia and Xander dance together and talk about how Cassia was stronger than the red and blue tablet. Xander says she may always have to wonder how it was possible, but it could just be that she’s strong. They share a final embrace, and then Cassia and the others take off in the ships, leaving Xander behind.
Chapter 62: Xander
Xander decides not to go to the Otherlands, but also doesn’t want to return to the Provinces. He thinks he might stay in Endstone and work in Oker’s old lab. He visits a stream near where he and Oker retrieved the camassia, where he sees the color-changing fish that Lei spoke of in the water, and then turns to see that she’s come to join him. They finally tell one another that they love each other and share their first kiss.
Chapter 63: Cassia
Cassia and Ky stand together on the steps of Camas City Hall, having just cast their votes for a new leader of the Provinces. There are three candidates: The Pilot for the Rising, an Official for the Society, and Anna, for everyone else. Both Ky and Cassia have voted for Anna. The Official argues that the Society is still the best way to exist, and that it will allow more freedom of expression, but Cassia doubts the Official’s arguments. She and Ky join her mother and Bram, who cannot vote until he’s seventeen. Ky produces two tissue sample tubes that he recently retrieved: one of Cassia’s grandfather, the other of Vick’s. They decide to send the latter to Lei out in the mountains with Xander. They pour Cassia’s grandfather’s into the river nearby, finally letting him go. Cassia is proud of how far she, Ky, and Xander have come. She and Ky share a final kiss, and the book ends.
Chapters 57-63 Analysis
The final fate of Ky’s adopted parents is ultimately left a mystery at Reached’s end, paralleling the fate of their son Matthew. It is implied that Ky will continue to look for them past the book’s conclusion, but for the moment, he is once again without a family. In contrast, Xander’s self-professed luck comes through as his family ultimately survives, illustrating a key difference in luck between the two boys. That Ky retrieves Xander’s still family from Oria speaks to their strong friendship despite the pain of Cassia’s torn love.
Anna makes an important observation about the role that Ky, Cassia and Xander play in the story as the Pilot, the Poet, and the Physic, respectively. Following the theme of threes that is common to trilogies like Matched, the three protagonists hold three presences crucial to the plot of the story: Cassia as the poet, a creator who pursues freedom of expression; Xander, the healer, instrumental in helping develop and administer the cure to the still; and Ky, the Pilot who keeps moving, representing the ability to survive the Society and Rising with enough strength and determination.
Xander’s fate at the trilogy’s conclusion is one of great redemption. While he has spent the series longing for Cassia’s love and a leader to follow, he ultimately finds a new love in Lei, and chooses to be his own Pilot in deciding to leave the Provinces for good. There is irony and perhaps a double dose of redemption in that Lei is revealed to be Vick’s former love, Laney. Where Xander and Lei each had a hole in their life from the loss of a Match, they are able to create something new with each other and be happy.
The story ends with an important promise for the future: a potential democracy in which each citizen of the Provinces has a say. Whether they ultimately choose to elect Anna as their leader in a new chapter of freedom for all is not revealed, but Cassia’s observation that the Society Official’s electoral platform is less than convincing hints that at least that candidate will lose. Regardless, the fact that the citizens are able to vote for their future represents a great stride forward for the Provinces and provides hope that better days are on the horizon.
