The chapter opens with a memory of Alice at home in Hoxburn, baking with her little brother Finn while their sister Catty spirals. After Catty smashes their mother’s wedding portrait, Finn cuts his heel on the glass, and Eloise (El) angrily tells Catty to grow up or leave. Catty turns seventeen, and the next day she disappears without a note or a working phone, leaving the family strained with blame, worry, and sleeplessness.

A week later Catty calls Alice from York, sounding carefree and dismissive about returning, insisting the world is full of chances beyond Hoxburn. Alice begs her to come home and admits she planned to follow after finishing school, but Catty refuses, saying Malcolm was only a ride out and hinting at other company before abruptly ending the call. The family cannot reach Catty again, and Alice clings to her locket containing dirt from their mother’s grave, imagining it as the tether between them.

Transitioning to the present, Alice jerks awake at dusk on a hotel sofa, remembering Ezra had sedated her. She tastes blood, sees a crack in the coffee table from her earlier outburst, and lies to her suite-mates via text about her whereabouts. Finding herself alone, she opens her locket of grave dirt; when it touches her skin, it violently drains her strength, forcing her to stop and salvage what little remains back into the vial.

Alice notices The Secret History in Lottie’s bag and reads the list of names scrawled in the back. The latest entry reduces her to six words: “Alice. Scottish. Gentle. Tastes like grief.” Fury flares as she confronts the dehumanizing record. Lottie enters with a shopping bag, apologizes for drugging her at Ezra’s urging, and explains that newly turned vampires are volatile. Alice demands to know why Lottie did not kill her after recognizing what Sabine made her.

Lottie says she did not want to kill Alice, admits killing Penny broke her heart, and reveals she sent Ezra away because this is her responsibility. She demonstrates that she can hear Alice’s loud thoughts and teaches Alice to mask them by focusing on specific emotions. When Alice projects distrust, Lottie acknowledges it and then explains her true reason for sparing Alice: she is exhausted by running from Sabine and believes someone must stop Sabine—perhaps Alice.

Alice doubts she can defeat an ancient vampire, until Lottie reveals a crucial rule: because Alice is newly made, a rope-like bond still connects her to Sabine. If Alice kills Sabine soon, the bond will sever and Alice will return to what she was before—alive. The promise of regaining her life shocks Alice, outweighing lore that says there is no going back.

Galvanized by anger at Sabine and refusing to let Lottie’s six-word note define her, Alice decides to try. She looks to Lottie, sees reflected hope, and agrees to pursue the plan, asking what she must do next.