Alice traces the elusive music through Boston to a sublevel café called White Thorn Black Roast. Inside, the ordinary setting and her failed attempt to drink tea underscore her alienation, but a young man approaches and immediately references the music she followed. He reveals himself as Ezra and, with a teasing but kind demeanor, offers her an espresso laced with blood, which Alice manages to drink.

Ezra hints the café serves a varied clientele and, upon seeing Alice’s photo, recognizes the girl as Lottie, saying he has known Lottie for a long time. When Alice angrily accuses Lottie of turning and abandoning her, Ezra says that behavior does not match the Lottie he knew. He presses Alice to recount the party, the note, and her transformation. Concluding that something about Lottie’s involvement does not add up, Ezra proposes finding her.

Ezra brings Alice to Melody, a Black BU student and psychic regular studying in a back booth. After some banter—during which Melody casually identifies Alice as a vampire—Melody asks for contact and prepares a scrying-like focus using a plate filled with spilled coffee. She instructs Alice to think of her last time with Lottie.

As Melody concentrates, Alice is drawn into a vision not from her own perspective. She experiences Lottie leading someone else—whose hand has autumn-painted nails—up a spiral staircase lined with a blue runner and blue-patterned walls, to a room marked 139. The scene ends with laughter and the door closing as Melody releases Alice’s hands.

Returning to the café, Melody states Lottie is at a hotel. Alice provides details of the blue decor, prompting Ezra to identify the location as the Taj hotel. Determined to confront Lottie, Alice and Ezra leave the café together, Ezra reiterating that the Lottie he knew would not have done this.