By the river, Fern, Zinnia, and Rose press Holly to explain her claim about carrying “God’s baby.” Holly admits she is not stupid or crazy: the powerful founder of her church, Reverend Jerry, has been sexually abusing her since she was eight, and her parents punished her for telling. Reverend Jerry blamed a choir boy for the pregnancy, and Holly reveals Reverend Jerry’s wife, Helen, sometimes helps him.

Fern connects Holly’s situation to what Diane Keller said about a minister planning to adopt a baby: Reverend Jerry intends to take Holly’s child, meaning the abuse could repeat when the child grows. Holly says she cannot go home and has even imagined dying in childbirth as the only escape. Fern wants to report it, but the others recognize how unlikely anyone at Wellwood—or at home—will believe them.

Holly decides Miss Parcae’s offer may be the only “solution,” and the girls argue about whether witchcraft is real or safe. Fern, furious at how adults have controlled and harmed them, chooses action over pleading and asks Miss Parcae if she can help keep Holly from going home. Miss Parcae says the girls must do it themselves, but she can teach them—if they renounce God, turn their backs on the world of men, and pledge loyalty and obedience to her. Fern agrees, challenging what God has done for them.

Miss Parcae organizes an initiation circle by the river with a small fire, assigns each girl a direction and element, and orders them “skyclad,” undressing herself first to force them past shame. She instructs them to “read free” by destroying familiar words; Zinnia leads them in the Lord’s Prayer backward in pig Latin while they walk counterclockwise. Miss Parcae then invokes goddesses and declares that witches pay a blood price—the Witch’s Sixpence—for their workings.

Fern kneels first to sign Miss Parcae’s book, focusing on her heart’s desire: Holly not going home. Miss Parcae cuts Fern’s thumb and Fern leaves a bloody print, then Zinnia and Rose do the same, with Zinnia framing it as symbolic. Holly hesitates, terrified of Hell, but agrees and signs as well; Fern promises Holly “whatever it takes,” she will not go back.

Afterward, Miss Parcae offers no further instructions beyond reading the book and practicing, and she dismisses them until two weeks later. The girls leave disappointed and skeptical, comparing the “Craft” to unwanted homework, but they confirm to each other—and to Holly—that their shared wish is to keep Holly from returning home. Fern reassures Holly that being witches will help, even as Fern privately wonders if it could make things worse.