Sunday breakfast is loud and joyful until David winces while using his injured wrist. When Arthur apologizes for what Harriet Marblemaw did to David, the children challenge Arthur for taking blame that is not his, with Sal insisting Arthur stop acting as if he is fighting alone. Arthur steadies himself, tells David he belongs on Marsyas and will stay, and promises he will demand an apology from Marblemaw.

Arthur goes to the guesthouse to find Marblemaw, but instead tracks her to a secluded beach. Hidden behind a tree, Arthur overhears Marblemaw using a briefcase screen to speak with Jeanine Rowder, who berates Marblemaw for failing to achieve results quickly and warns Arthur may have “bugged” the house. Rowder orders Marblemaw to get the children removed “by the books,” declares Lucy the “Antichrist,” and reveals a plan to control magical beings by leveraging Lucy’s attachment to the other children; Rowder gives Marblemaw ten days and threatens consequences for failure.

Arthur returns home in shock and spirals into rage and panic, briefly hallucinating a remembered conversation with his mother about stopping anger “with hope.” The rest of the day passes in a haze as Arthur watches ordinary island life continue; when Marblemaw arrives to push for interviews and touches Arthur’s wrist to stop him from leaving, Arthur threatens her, warning she must never touch anyone on the island without permission again.

That night, Arthur’s fury keeps building, fed by his memories of lifelong trauma and the fear of losing his children. He nearly goes to Lucy’s room to concede defeat and encourage Lucy to change the world, but Linus interrupts and asks what is wrong. Arthur explodes verbally at Linus, blaming him for past inaction; Arthur’s phoenix erupts, Lucy opens the door, and Linus steps between Lucy and Arthur as the phoenix screams and bursts through the window.

Arthur loses control completely: the phoenix soars into the sky and detonates in a massive blaze, and Arthur falls as a man toward the ocean. A vortex of fish—led by one Arthur recognizes as Frank—slows Arthur’s descent and lifts Arthur to a beach, where Arthur breaks down crying for others and for himself. Linus finds Arthur, covers him with a robe, reassures him no one was hurt, and comforts Arthur through the night; at sunrise Arthur tells Linus what he overheard about Rowder’s plan, and the two return home hand in hand, resolved to act.