Now that Nita is dead, they no longer worry about the soldiers’ threat.
The soldiers threatened Gabe and Ruth that they would also take Nita if Gabe and Ruth told anyone that they took Naomi. Gabe is hesitant to talk with Isaac about the missing girl, but he and Ruth decide to tell everyone about Nita’s sister, Naomi. She tells Isaac that finding that sister is how he can help her parents now that Nita is gone. Nita, as a ghost, visits Isaac and reveals that she has a sister who went missing. The soldiers see that Nita has died and make callous remarks that Isaac and Father overhear. Ruth wakes everyone up the next morning when she finds Nita dead. Isaac has a vision of Nita one day in which Nita’s face is swollen and a spider walks across it. Isaac agrees to be Nita’s big brother and immediately begins looking out for her. Isaac’s family befriends the family, comprised of Gabe, Ruth, and Nita. They come upon another group of Choctaws who are walking along a road. When everyone in the swamp who took blankets from the Nahullo comes down with smallpox, Father leads Mother, Isaac, Isaac’s brother Luke, and their dog Jumper away from the swamp.
When the oldest man, Old Man, visits them one morning, Isaac has a vision of the man with sores again. Isaac’s Mother tells Isaac and Luke that they do not need the Nahullos’ blankets, and Father orders the boys to stay away from everyone else. The oldest Choctaw man is the first to accept the offer, and the others follow. They arrive one morning offering blankets to the Choctaw. The next week, winter arrives and freezes the swamp, which makes it easy for the Nahullo to reach the Choctaws’ camp. The Choctaws make their way to the swamp since they feel sure that the Nahullo will leave them alone there. Upon realizing that the Nahullo soldiers have set everyone’s homes and the church on fire, Isaac and the rest of the Choctaws run into the woods and hide from the Nahullo. That evening, Isaac wakes to the smell of smoke and sees his room and the rest of his house in flames. While watching these rituals, Isaac experiences a warm shiver right before he has visions of the people bursting into flames or becoming covered in sores and pleading for help.
After Isaac’s parents discuss that there is Treaty Talk between the Choctaws and Nahullos (the Choctaws’ name for white men) and that they must get ready to leave, Isaac’s mother takes Isaac out to the woods to watch old Choctaw men and women perform rituals to say goodbye to their home. How I Became A Ghost begins with 10-year-old Isaac, who is now a ghost, telling the story of the day in 1830 when he learned that he and his family would have to leave their home in Choctaw Nation, Mississippi.
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