At breakfast in Lonnie Fielding's house, Iris asks Attie whether she should send Helena the article she has written from the myth of Dacre and Enva. Iris is especially uneasy about including the part where Enva's music makes Dacre weep, laugh, and sleep, because she suspects that knowledge may be dangerous and may even explain why stringed instruments were banned. Attie encourages her to send it anyway, believing Helena should at least see it.

Tobias prepares to drive to Oath with their articles despite a storm moving in from the west. Before leaving, Tobias reminds Iris and Attie of their agreement not to wait for him if people begin evacuating, showing that he expects conditions to worsen quickly if danger reaches Bitteryne. After Tobias departs, Iris runs after the roadster to add her myth article to the folder, deciding at the last second that she does want it sent.

Once Tobias is gone, the quiet morning is interrupted when Iris feels the ground rumble beneath the street. Back inside, Attie admits she sensed similar shaking and clinking the night before, and Lonnie confirms that Bitteryne has been feeling unexplained underground tremors for a week. Lonnie tries to reassure them, but Iris is disturbed because the shaking echoes the tunnels and underground world described in the myth she has just sent away.

Iris and Roman then exchange letters. After a playful test of the typewriter bars, Iris tells Roman about the clinking and rumbling under Bitteryne and asks if he has any explanation or advice. Roman answers that he does not yet know what is causing it, but he asks for a day to investigate and warns Iris to remain on guard. His reply gives her caution, but not certainty.

The next day, heavy rain floods Bitteryne's streets while Iris and Attie go door-to-door collecting reports from the townspeople. They learn little beyond rumors that Dacre has left Avalon Bluff and is now in Merrow, raising new questions about why he is delaying his move east. As evening turns into a violent storm, Iris waits for the further answer Roman promised, while Attie grows increasingly worried because Tobias should have returned by then. The power fails, the women work by firelight, and by midnight Tobias still has not come back.