 In a parallel thread, Curtis' two sisters Elsie and Rachel are left in an orphanage in Portland while their parents travel to Istanbul to pursue a lead in their son's disappearance.The orphanage is a front for a machine shop run by Joffrey Unthank, an industrialist who is determined to find his way into the Impassable Wilderness and plunder its resources.Unthank is visited by a mysterious man named Roger Swindon who promises him access to the I.W.