In a snowstorm at Washington Square Park, Drummond Fox returns to the place where, ten years earlier, a massacre changed his life and led to the creation of the Shadow House. He lingers beneath the Washington Square Arch, grieving the friends he lost and remembering how that day began with laughter and ended in screams, blood, and darkness.

Drummond realizes he is not alone when Dr. Hugo Barbary appears out of the blowing snow and approaches him like a hunter. Barbary reveals that people have been searching for Drummond for ten years and asks what books Drummond has been carrying to stay safe. Drummond admits the library is gone, while Barbary says there are still book-hunters left, though a dangerous woman has been killing them and taking their books one by one.

Barbary demands Drummond’s books and suggests he might kill Drummond to take them. Drummond, tense and prepared, grips the books hidden in his pockets, with the Book of Shadows ready and open. After taunting Drummond about abandoning friends to die, Barbary finally lunges to attack.

Drummond evades him by tearing a corner from the Book of Shadows; the fragment grows heavy and turns Drummond into shadow—intangible and invisible in the storm. Barbary, frustrated, warns that now he has seen Drummond again, he will find him. Drummond stays still until Barbary leaves, then walks out of the park still hidden and lets the used scrap of shadow-paper lose its rainbow aura and blow away as he returns to being solid.

That night Drummond stays at the Library Hotel despite the risk, drinks whisky on the rooftop terrace, and toasts the memories of Lily, Yasmin, and Wagner—friends he has carried like ghosts through a decade of wandering. He reflects on how he has survived by using three books: the Book of Shadows to pass unseen, the Book of Memories to make people forget him, and the Book of Luck to bring fortune, though Barbary’s sudden reappearance makes Drummond question what “luck” truly means.

Drummond’s attention snaps to two women who stumble out onto the snowy terrace laughing. Watching them, he notices a brief telltale rainbow light on their faces and then sees they do not appear behind the glass after passing through the doorway, confirming they used a magic door. Realizing they must have the long-sought Book of Doors, Drummond understands they are in extreme danger and decides he must find them.