Alex woke at the Hutch to a broken window and found Mercy in the alley alongside the Bridegroom. Mercy had brought Alex’s mother, Mira, who immediately hugged Alex, noticed she was injured, and tried to help despite Alex’s evasions. Alex allowed Mira and Mercy into the Hutch, barring the Bridegroom at the door.

Inside, Alex was embarrassed by the squalor. Mercy opened windows while Mira cleaned and organized. Together they got Alex to shower, change, and schedule an appointment at the university health center for antibiotics; Alex hid the true nature of her injury, blaming a flu. Mira went shopping for clothes and supplies, returning with boots, basics, and even a dress.

They spent the afternoon quietly, with Mercy sharing class notes and a plan to catch Alex up before finals. Alex felt detached, knowing Sandow had promised to fix her grades, but she pretended for Mercy and Mira. Later Alex showed Mira their dorm suite on Old Campus; Mira smudged the room with sage, and the familiarity comforted Alex despite her embarrassment.

Outside, as Mira prepared to leave, Alex told her mother she might have a summer job and would not come home. Mira, emotional but supportive, said Yale was where Alex belonged. When Alex tentatively asked about her father’s nature—whether he shared Mira’s mystical inclinations—Mira answered with a metaphor about “arsenic eaters,” describing him as intoxicating but poisonous. They parted with Mira asking for a text after the doctor’s visit, and Alex watched the car depart as the Bridegroom hovered at a distance.

Back with Mercy, Alex learned the public narrative: Blake Keely had attacked a woman and been fought off; forensics matched his knife to Tara Hutchins’s murder weapon. There was no mention of Dawes, the societies, Merity, or portals—effectively, the case was closed. Mercy expressed conflicted gratitude for surviving her own assault, and the two discussed hard, long-lived relatives and what it takes to endure.

Alex noticed the Bridegroom waiting outside again and snapped, “No one is immortal,” causing him to recede. Drawing the curtains, Alex articulated an unspoken resolve: to find safety, sever her bond with the Bridegroom, and live long enough to grow old despite a world that keeps trying to destroy her.