Bryce regains consciousness amid the devastated Old Square, realizing she survived the brimstone bombardment. The Gate still stands, though her starlight has gone out. She discovers Hunt sprawled behind her—his legs destroyed, his right arm gone, his wings reduced to a gaping hole in his back. He shielded her from the blast. His wounds, laced with brimstone magic that suppresses Vanir healing, are rapidly fatal. Bryce screams for help, but no one answers.

Meanwhile, Fury crash-lands the damaged helicopter in Moonwood. Ruhn, Tharion, Flynn, Amelie, and Fury survive with various injuries and begin arming themselves from the remaining weapon duffels. Over the radio, Hypaxia confirms she has eyes on the Old Square Gate, and Declan reports that Bryce is alive but Hunt is critically wounded with almost no chance of survival. Demons are closing in from multiple directions. Ruhn decides the group should head down the riverwalk toward the Heart Gate, thirty blocks away, hoping Tharion's Blue Court allies might reinforce them from the river. Ruhn is driven by Bryce's earlier message of forgiveness and his determination to reach her.

Back in the Old Square, Bryce repeats a mantra—"I believe it happened for a reason"—and approaches the Gate's dial pad. She reasons that the Gates are conduits sitting atop linked ley lines, and since she carries Luna's Horn in her skin, she can use the firstlight generated by making the Drop to close every portal to Hel across the city. But she needs an Anchor: someone at another Gate touching their own disk to complete the magical circuit. She broadcasts her plea through the Gate's intercom system, explaining her plan and begging anyone in any district to answer.

No one responds. Bryce releases the disk and returns to Hunt, whose breathing has become a death rattle. She whispers comforting lies about medwitches coming and going home together, then tells him three unspoken but deeply meaningful words. As Hunt fades, Bryce hears Danika's voice urging her to "light it up." Bryce despairs, insisting she tried and failed. But then Danika's voice rings out across every square in the city—"Light it up, Bryce"—and the onyx gem representing the Bone Quarter glows like a dark star on the Gate's dial pad, signaling that someone—or something—has answered from the land of the dead.