Viv approaches Thistleburr's red door alone, having convinced Iridia and the Gatewardens to hold back. She enters to find the bookshop wrecked and Fern and Gallina suspended in cocoons of bone woven from Varine's wights. Varine herself sits at ease in a padded chair, ivory-pale and beautiful, with one of Gallina's daggers harmlessly lodged in her chest.

Varine reveals she has been peering into Viv's dreams through Blackblood, even mocking Viv's attachment to her friends. She explains she is not after the book or Satchel specifically but the time and centuries of effort she invested in them. After tense negotiation, Viv hands over Satchel's satchel and then the grimoire, knowing any pact is hollow but unwilling to risk Fern and Gallina's lives.

Varine conjures a lectern of bones, opens the book, and notices a dog-eared page. As she reaches to smooth it, Satchel's skeletal hands erupt from the dark page and seize her arm, dragging her in. Varine begins gathering lethal magic against Viv, but Potroast hurtles in and bites her free arm, knocking her off balance. Satchel pulls her fully into the page, the gryphet clinging on as both vanish into the book.

Viv plunges her arm into the page and rescues Potroast by the scruff, then slams the book shut as it pounds violently from within until it goes still. The bone cages collapse, freeing Fern and Gallina. Viv reopens the book to retrieve Satchel, pulling out his skull and ribcage before closing it again.

Viv places the grimoire on a side table and drives Blackblood through it, splitting both book and table. A shrieking wail and cold wind burst from the pages. Satchel reassembles himself and surveys the destruction, remarking in disbelief that the plan actually worked.