Fern is driven back to Wellwood in a midnight convoy: a police car leads, Dr. Vincent drives Miss Wellwood’s wagon, Nurse Kent follows with Holly and the newborn, and Fern rides handcuffed in the rear of the last police car with Coach and the Latin Teacher. Fern watches Reverend Jerry arrive at the Home and take Holly’s baby, and Fern’s despair hardens into fury at how adults insist everything will be “fine” while the girls keep paying the cost.

Claiming she is about to vomit, Fern tricks Coach into opening the door and bolts for the porch. She drops to her knees at the steps and digs up the buried Nehi bottle—Zinnia’s storm—while the police and staff surround her. When Fern sees only an ordinary bottle and realizes Hagar’s pouch could still let Fern retreat into safety, Fern chooses otherwise and throws the pouch away, embracing the risk and responsibility she believes everyone else avoids.

Fern smashes the bottle, takes the jagged glass, and slashes her own tongue to supply blood for the invocation. She silently calls to Hecate through pain and spits blood into the air, but at first nothing happens; the officers restrain and ridicule Fern, and Miss Wellwood coldly tells them to do whatever is necessary. Fern is forced back into the police car, choking on blood and convinced the witches may have lied too.

As Fern sits in the sealed car, the air turns cold and damp. Raindrops begin, then hail fractures the windshield and pounds the vehicle as the storm finally releases—compressed and enraged from captivity in the bottle. Wind and thunder tear into the grounds; branches spear vehicles, trees topple, and the Home is assaulted room by room as windows blow out and boards rip free.

The storm escalates into outright devastation: portraits are shredded, the Smoke Shack is torn apart, offices are flooded and wrecked, and the porch roof is peeled away and hurled down, crushing Miss Wellwood’s station wagon and Nurse Kent’s VW Bug. Fern panics about whether Holly and Zinnia escaped, but cannot open the door safely. As the fury begins to subside, someone knocks on Fern’s window—Miss Parcae peers in, locking eyes with Fern, and Fern understands the storm’s power has summoned a debt the witch has come to collect.