After Celia Bowen finishes her illusion act in Dublin, Marco remains alone in the tent until she reappears to meet him privately. They flirt and talk about the Cloud Maze, which Marco admits he created with Mr. Barris’s help, and Celia challenges Marco to show her his own magic.

Marco transforms the tent into a forest of glowing, poem-covered paper trees. As they walk, Celia explains what truly happened to her father, Prospero: he attempted to remove himself from the physical world, discarding his “glass” and dispersing himself too widely, leaving him drifting and forced to cling to places and to Celia. Celia considers that the feat could be done properly with a localized touchstone, and she tests her influence by saturating one tree with floating wine, making it glow crimson within Marco’s illusion.

Marco then shifts the scene into a ship made of books, sailing on an ocean of black ink beneath star-like lights. They compare the scars on their ring fingers and recognize the Latin phrase “Esse quam videri” as Celia’s family motto, linking their injuries to Alexander’s involvement and Celia’s childhood meeting with him. Their attraction intensifies, but Celia stops Marco from kissing her, admitting she fears losing control—and fears how much she enjoys that loss of control with him.

Marco urges Celia to run away together, away from the circus and their mentors, but Celia insists they cannot. To prove it, Celia makes Marco truly imagine leaving; Marco is immediately wracked with searing pain from the scar, and the ship illusion collapses back into the tent. Celia reveals she has experienced the same punishment when she sincerely contemplated fleeing or even skipping the train, confirming they are magically bound to the game and can only fully act within the circus’s arena.

They confess their feelings and confront the stakes: many people are entangled in the contest, and Celia worries that distraction or exhaustion could cause catastrophe, especially since she is constantly holding the circus together without an external power source. They talk until dawn, sharing stories and ideas, and Marco gives Celia an address where she can find him away from Chandresh’s house. They part with a promise that, once the contest ends—regardless of who wins—Marco will not let Celia go easily, and Celia agrees before disappearing.