Carl opens the chapter face-to-face with the furious mantis Vrah and keeps her talking with jokes and taunts while Britney executes a covert step in the background. Using one of the stuffed Slate Butterflies sewn into her jacket, Britney sends the creature to wrap a warning light and dim it before it drops harmlessly back into her hand. The move succeeds without starting a fight, and Vrah leaves after promising to kill Carl and his friends before the night is over.

Carl then turns to a new disturbance and finds that Katia, not Florin, is the one trying to attack Eva. Eva now displays more than fifty player-killer skulls and several hunter-killer marks, and she deliberately provokes Katia with insults about Katia's appearance, Fannar, and Katia's motherhood. Carl, Bautista, Florin, and Donut calm Katia down because any violence would break the peace seal and destroy their larger plan, while Eva backs off to get a drink and the hunters visibly avoid her.

As crawlers continue entering, Donut returns from backstage and launches into a detailed complaint about how poorly the theater is designed for performance, even though she confirms the single catwalk should not interfere with their options. Carl breaks away when Florin starts toward Lucia Mar, fearing Lucia's instability could trigger chaos. Florin insists he only wants to talk, but after staring at Lucia he admits something seems badly wrong with her; Lucia then flees to a corner by the stage, sits cross-legged, and hugs herself, appearing more like a frightened child than a threat. Soon after, an exhausted Prepotente approaches Carl and asks to join his party for the rest of the floor so they can travel together to the next one, but Carl postpones the decision.

Theobold takes the stage to formally open the Butcher's Masquerade, explains the food and prize arrangements, reminds everyone that violence is blasphemy under Apito's seal, and calls pet-program entrants backstage. While Donut and Prepotente head back for the show, Carl surveys the room and thinks through the operation unfolding beyond the ballroom: Sledge and allied changelings are moving through the secret entrance below, other teams are preparing to seize the sentinel towers and support an assault, and Bomo has begun looting. Carl also reviews how their original plan depended on controlling the moment Signet appeared, but new information about Queen Imogen means they now need to improvise based on how the outside infiltration develops.

That uncertainty vanishes when Zev urgently warns Carl that someone is not supposed to be inside the ballroom. Carl looks up and sees Signet herself walking in, apparently teleported directly into the party by Apito. A guard panics and runs for help, Signet casually tells Carl that Apito invited her from her cell, and Carl realizes the AI has upended his timing and thrown the entire scheme into immediate disorder.