Misery wakes in the middle of the day, exhausted and half-incapacitated by sunlight, and discovers a young Were girl in the closet where Misery slept to escape the bright room. The girl, Ana, cheerfully asks invasive questions about Vampyres and explains that the bedroom used to be hers. When Misery worries that she displaced Lowe’s child, Ana instead reveals that she used to cross through the adjoining door to reach Lowe after nightmares.

Juno arrives before Misery can learn much more. She states that Ana’s father is dead, implies that many Were children were orphaned by Vampyres, and sends Ana away. Once they are alone, Juno identifies Ana as Lowe’s sister, warns Misery to stay away from her, and bluntly tells Misery not to ask about the pack, not to socialize, and not to walk around unsupervised because the Weres consider her dangerous.

After Juno leaves, Misery notices Serena’s cat and begins thinking about Serena, the missing best friend she is secretly trying to find. Misery recalls that Serena vanished only days after adopting the cat. When Serena missed their plans, stopped answering messages, and failed to show up at work, Misery broke into Serena’s apartment, confirmed Serena was gone, fed the cat, and went to the authorities to report her missing.

The police dismiss Misery’s concern, suggesting Serena ran off with a boyfriend or on vacation. Misery argues that Serena had no family nearby, had not used her money, had not officially taken time off, and would never abandon a newly adopted cat. A missing-person report is eventually filed, but no one seriously searches for Serena, which leaves Misery feeling how alone Serena was and how little either of them matters to the world.

Because the authorities fail, Misery keeps caring for the cat and investigates on her own by hacking Serena’s bank records, emails, locations, and work data. She finds no digital trace at all, which makes Serena’s disappearance feel unnaturally clean and frightening. Then the cat drags out a torn planner page from the day Serena vanished, and Misery decodes a message written in the childhood cipher she and Serena invented: "L. E. Moreland." That discovery reveals Misery’s true reason for agreeing to marry Lowe: she believes Serena’s disappearance is connected to him.