At the gate to Enchantra, Genevieve considered retreating to town with her hired driver Morello, but a brief shimmer beyond the bars and the circling crows convinced her to stay. When Morello persisted, Genevieve used her magic to flicker non-corporeally and frightened him into leaving. Alone as a storm gathered, she studied the gate’s thorned vines and sensed a veil of magic beyond.

A crow landed above her and pecked at the gate’s sculpted berries. Genevieve plucked a real purple berry, recalling memories of Farrow Henry and forcing herself to move on. She ate several berries, finding them delicious, and as she did, the illusion lifted to reveal an expansive hedge maze and a glittering silver villa with towerlike ends and snow blanketing the grounds.

Weighing the irreversible nature of stepping inside, Genevieve decided to proceed. She slipped through the gate by turning non-corporeal and skirted the maze, but soon felt watched. A black fox with glowing amber eyes appeared, snatched her invitation from Barrington Silver, and darted into the labyrinth.

Genevieve turned invisible and chased the fox into the maze. She managed to grab it by the scruff and ordered it to drop the envelope, but the fox and the invitation dissolved into thick black smoke, leaving her stunned. When she shouted at a circling crow to leave, the bird suddenly fell dead at her feet, its belly swollen.

Realizing too late that the berries might be dangerous, Genevieve’s vision spun and she collapsed. As consciousness faded, someone cold and wet nosed her awake briefly before a strong figure lifted her. A deep, unfamiliar voice spoke, calling the fox “Umbra” and praising it, and Genevieve caught a whiff of mint and something sweet, unlike Farrow’s scent. She glimpsed a flash of gold before blacking out again, haunted by a recurring nightmare of Farrow threatening to burn her.

Genevieve awoke outside Enchantra’s gates beside her trunks, with a bitter taste in her mouth and no memory of how she was removed from the maze or who carried her. The estate’s threshold had rebuffed her, returning her to where she started.