On All Hallows’ Eve at Le Cirque des Rêves, lanterns and offered masks make it hard to tell patrons from performers, and the circus feels especially anonymous and uncanny after midnight as the crowds thin.

In Isobel’s fortune-telling tent, the beaded curtain parts without warning and Marco arrives to speak with her. Marco confirms what Isobel’s tarot has suggested for years, forcing Isobel to face the truth she kept avoiding: Marco’s heart is not with Isobel. Isobel asks Marco to draw a single tarot card; he agrees, and he draws La Papessa, which does not surprise her.

After Marco leaves, Isobel takes down her sign and, instead of seeking Tsukiko for company, sits alone and compulsively shuffles her deck. When Isobel turns cards faceup, they are all swords—four, nine, ten, and the ace—ominous images that deepen her dread.

Isobel then pulls a dusty hatbox from beneath her table and opens it, revealing an old black bowler hat wrapped with black-and-white ribbons, a folded lace handkerchief, and a tarot card—simple components tied with intent as a precautionary charm. Speaking aloud as if to the charm, Isobel admits she fears it has done nothing, even as she remembers how Marco’s emotions and the circus itself have always pointed back to Celia, with Isobel unknowingly helping to keep the balance.

In a sudden fury, Isobel rips the ribbons apart. The handkerchief falls with the initials C.N.B. visible, and the tarot card drops faceup as Tempérance. For a moment nothing happens, and Isobel feels foolish—until a sound like screaming brakes gives way to the unmistakable scream of Poppet Murray outside the tent.