Cassie drops out of the “nothing and nowhere” and back into a dark, damp ballroom, recognizing carpet under her hands and the ruined space from the auction night. Memory returns in a rush—mayhem, gunfire, and Izzy’s death—and Cassie collapses, crying until she is numb.

She finds light switches and sees the ballroom’s damage: shattered mirrors, mold stains, damp air, and bullet marks. The bodies are gone, and while other blood remains, the wall where Izzy fell has been cleaned, which unsettles Cassie and briefly tempts her with hope she refuses to trust. She leaves the ballroom for a boarded-up lobby and discovers the main exit is locked from the outside.

Trying to think, Cassie realizes she still has two books on her and concludes the Book of Safety is why she survived the place outside reality—the origin point of the books’ magic. She remembers the Bookseller fleeing and trapping Izzy, thinks bitterly of that “cowardice,” and also remembers Drummond protecting her with the Book of Control, worrying what happened to him. Cassie recognizes the books as hers—made by her in that void—and decides she cannot allow the monstrous woman to keep using them.

Using the Book of Doors, Cassie steps from the ballroom into the apartment bedroom she once shared with Izzy. Overwhelmed and detached, Cassie strips, crawls into bed, and sleeps.

After waking, Cassie forces herself to shower and dress, keeping the books on her, then enters Izzy’s room and is hit by Izzy’s lingering scent and the relics of their life together. As Cassie searches through drawers and wardrobes, she becomes certain some of Izzy’s belongings are missing, deepening her confusion about what really happened after the shooting.

Cassie powers on her phone and discovers months have passed—it is early March. She also sees a voice message from Izzy’s phone dated days after Izzy supposedly died, and a stream of texts over the last three months, each containing only a different photo of a door.