In the first four chapters, the author provides an in-depth introduction to the four main characters of the book, Noah Gershom, Nadia Diamondstein, Ethan Potter, and Julian Singh. She does this by allowing each character to narrate the majority of a single chapter each. In Chapter 1, Noah relates the events of the previous summer, which he spent with his grandparents at a senior-citizen community, Century Village. In Chapter 2, Nadia tells about spending time at the same community in the company of her father who has just been divorced from her mother, and in Chapter 3, Ethan describes his dilemma when a new student, Julian, tries to befriend him on the schoolbus. In Chapter 4, Julian recounts the role he played in helping Nadia's dog Ginger get a role in the school play. The characters tell about serious problems they have had to face in their narratives, and with this method the author succeeds in giving the reader a clear sense of each individual's personality, which is essential in understanding how each fits in the unusual entity of the Epiphany Academic Team, the Souls.
The first four chapters are quite lengthy in comparison with the eight chapters that follow; the first four make up a good three-quarters of the entire narrative. Each of the first four chapters opens with a short account relating to Mrs. Olinski and the formation and activities of the Souls. From the fifth chapter on, the book continues in the style of these short opening accounts. The story is told by an omniscient narrator from the fifth chapter, and the focus is on the Souls as a whole.
It appears that the author made the change in style because, in the first four chapters, she had completed her objective of providing in-depth exposition. After laying this foundation, she was free to continue telling the story of the Souls as a unified team.
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