Emily Wilde sleeps well in the cottage but wakes briefly to the wind and a faint sense of movement from the mummified faerie foot under the bed. In the morning, she discovers the nighttime visitors took the food left outside and also gouged long scratches into the door, alarming Ariadne.

Emily stays outwardly calm, deciding to be more careful with the next offering and privately planning additional protections at the threshold. When Emily asks Wendell what sort of Folk might be responsible, he answers flippantly, making it clear he is in a quarrelsome mood.

Emily lays out her research plan: first conduct an unbiased mountain survey using Danielle de Grey’s maps to locate all likely faerie doors (since the nexus should share similar markers), and only afterward interview townsfolk. Dr. Farris Rose overrides her, insisting they should question locals first and that the group must not split; Emily refuses to cede control and tells him he may do as he pleases.

While Rose goes off on a “morning stroll,” Wendell fixates on the cottage’s disorder and begins an agitated cleaning spree, with Ariadne trying to help. Emily refuses to assist, but watches as Wendell’s tidying has an almost uncanny effect on the room, making it seem brighter and cleaner; he soon collapses from exhaustion, and Emily grudgingly brings him tea and an apricot bun.

Breakfast arrives with Elsa, who reacts grimly to questions about the scratched door and warns them not to put salt in tonight’s offering, suggesting the Folk may have been offended. With that caution in mind, Emily, Wendell, and Ariadne finish quickly and head out to begin the day’s work, leaving Rose to fend for himself.