Bailey finds the tiny, book-filled room and searches a large leather book for Poppet and Widget’s signatures. He carefully tears out the signed page and adds his own name as instructed, then gathers the required items: crimson yarn, two cards (a playing card and an angel tarot card), and a stopped pocket watch engraved “H.B.” He also takes a candle from the Wishing Tree, keeping the book and page together as he leaves under the raven’s watchful gaze.

Crossing back through the tents in the rain, Bailey finds Tsukiko in the courtyard and asks to borrow her lighter for Celia’s plan. Tsukiko hands it over with a warning; she says it is not magic but is old and precious to her. Though Tsukiko offers help with detached words, Bailey insists on doing the task alone, and Tsukiko departs after steaming the rainwater in the bonfire cauldron.

Remembering Widget’s detailed story of the first bonfire lighting, Bailey follows the instructions he only partly understands, focusing on intent. He wraps and knots the book with crimson yarn, binds the loose page against the cover, tucks the cards inside, and loops the pocket watch chain around it. Bailey throws this bundle into the empty iron cauldron, then adds Marco’s bowler hat and, impulsively, personal tokens: his silver ticket, the dried rose from his rêveur dinner, Poppet’s white glove, and Widget’s bottled tree, which shatters on impact.

Bailey lights the Wishing Tree candle using Tsukiko’s lighter and throws the burning candle into the cauldron, but nothing happens at first. He concentrates, choosing the circus and wishing fiercely not only for himself but for the rêveurs, the absent clockmaker, and for Celia, Marco, Poppet, Widget, and even Tsukiko. With his eyes closed, Bailey feels hands on his shoulders and a weight in his chest as sparks begin within the cauldron; crimson flames flare and then turn blinding white, showering star-like sparks as heat drives Bailey backward.

Bailey lands on dry, solid ground patterned in a black-and-white spiral as lights awaken across the circus tents. Beneath the Wishing Tree, Marco watches the candles relight; Celia reappears beside him. When Marco asks if it worked, Celia answers by kissing him, confirming the bonfire has been successfully lit again.