Before dawn, Eve jolts awake from a forgotten nightmare with a pounding head and a lingering sense of dread. She leaves the bedroom for water and, while passing the study, sees Thomas and his family still asleep inside. In the kitchen, Eve briefly reassures herself that the storm is easing and that the family will likely leave in the morning, turning the entire ordeal into an unsettling but temporary story.

That hope vanishes when Eve notices the basement door standing slightly open. Afraid Jenny may have gone back downstairs, Eve calls for her and then remembers the odd knock pattern Thomas used earlier to retrieve the girl. When Eve repeats the pattern on the doorframe, silence follows at first, but then an answering pair of knocks comes from below the stairs, convincing Eve that someone is there.

Eve looks down into the darkness and sees what appears to be a small, motionless figure at the bottom of the stairs. Believing it is Jenny, Eve crouches and tries to coax the figure upstairs by speaking gently and offering the lure of more secrets about the house. As Eve studies the figure, she realizes it has not blinked; then the shape rises from a crouch and reveals itself to be a tall, gaunt adult. Terrified, Eve slams the basement door and runs upstairs, only to find Thomas's family still asleep in the study.

Eve wakes Charlie and insists there is a stranger in the basement, but Charlie, exhausted and still affected by wine, questions whether darkness and shadows misled Eve. Charlie agrees to check only after sunrise, leaving Eve frustrated and unsupported. After Charlie immediately falls back asleep, Eve locks the bedroom door and stays awake listening for movement, trying to hold onto the certainty that what Eve saw was real, not another mistaken panic.