Genevieve woke to Ellin’s Familiar, a snow leopard named Sapphire, pouncing on the bed. As she tumbled, she instinctively shifted intangible before impact, confirming her magic had returned now that hunting hours were over. Ellin, a Light Wraith, roused her for preparations, noting Rowin had let Genevieve sleep over twelve hours. Ellin lit the room with her power and sketched the family’s Wraith types—Ellin as Light; Rowin, Wells, and Remi as Shadow—and stressed the masquerade began soon and the Hunt at midnight, warning Genevieve to enjoy the party and be alert.

Ellin laced Genevieve into an opulent gold gown adorned with a jeweled anatomical heart and advised her to meet Barrington before six. Ellin hinted that the consequences of the marriage and the Hunt were broader than saving their mother from Crimson Rot, and bluntly said Genevieve was not part of the family. After Ellin left, Genevieve found a gift: a note from Knox saying he had chosen her mask, which proved to be a hare, making her feel displayed as gilded prey.

Exiting Rowin’s room, Genevieve faced a corridor of opulently masked guests holding cocktails and one-way looking glasses that showed her image on command. A man in cobalt blue, identified by others as Cedric, mocked her and probed her value for wagers, while her signet ring from Rowin heated as danger neared. Genevieve derided the crowd’s depravity and immortals’ ennui; Cedric shoved her until a peacock-masked guest cautioned him that Knox would be angered. When Cedric pursued her with a money-making “offer,” Genevieve threatened to scream for Rowin; Cedric grabbed her, and she bit his hand hard, warning him off. As she left, the ring cooled, signaling the danger had passed.

Genevieve reached Barrington’s dark, drafty study, where a rippling black portal radiated power. Barrington, somber, compared her to Tessie Grimm and asked what happened to Tessie. Genevieve said their father entered Phantasma’s layer Fraud and was forced to kill the person he loved most; Tessie died, and Gabriel’s fate was uncertain. Barrington vowed to hunt Gabriel, then began sharing his history with Tessie: he met her in New Orleans while obtaining Necromancer blood for Knox, became close friends through a decade of adventures, and their rift began when Tessie, still pre-magic, insisted on entering Phantasma.

When Genevieve showed a photo of Tessie and Barrington with matching lockets, Barrington explained Soul Locks—enchanted artifacts that contain souls. His locket had been a loan from Knox for a job, but Tessie’s locket was uniquely shrouded and, according to Tessie and her mother, contained something immensely powerful and potentially disastrous. Tessie believed she needed to train her first child intentionally to bear that burden, explaining her strictness with Ophelia. Barrington affirmed Tessie loved Genevieve but allowed that Genevieve’s anger was valid.

Barrington cautioned that the Silver siblings would not go easy on Genevieve and offered tactical notes: Grave’s brute strength and determination; Covin’s similar threat level; Remi and Wells’s quiet cleverness; Ellin’s persistence to the end; and Sevin’s unpredictability. When asked why he never sought Tessie afterward, Barrington said sometimes one must let things go and hope they return, a passivity Genevieve rejected internally.

The chapter closed with the formal invitation to Knox’s annual masquerade and the Hunt: the Hellmouth opens at six and closes at 12:05, with trespassers killed on sight. Bets begin at one-thousand Soul Coins, with categories including Champion, First Hunter, First Eliminated, Final Two, Most Kills, and Favored. Rules detailed timing, looking-glass monitoring, and that the Hunting Blade selects the Hunter each round. The players listed all seven Silver siblings, with Rowington as reigning champion, and announced the surprise—Rowin and Genevieve will compete as married partners and wagers on them will be doubled. If Rowin wins his sixtieth consecutive Hunt, it will be his last, with a pointed reminder that a previous Silver attempt at the marriage loophole ended badly.