Cassie uses the Book of Doors to appear at midnight in Café Du Monde, New Orleans, on three consecutive nights in her own timeline, trying to catch the Bookseller in the Bookseller’s present. On the third attempt, Cassie arrives to find the Bookseller already seated with coffee and beignets, lost in thought, and the Bookseller only notices Cassie once Cassie sits.

The Bookseller vents about the auction’s aftermath: Barbary killing her only real friend, multiple deaths, and the chaos caused by the gray-mist woman. Cassie pushes back when the Bookseller accuses her of nerve—Cassie still has the Book of Safety and the Book of Doors—arguing the Bookseller fled and failed her side of their deal, and noting Izzy was shot during the escape (but survived). The Bookseller insists she ran to keep the gray-mist woman from gaining yet another book.

Cassie states her demands plainly: coffee and beignets, the Book of Pain, and the Bookseller’s help. The Bookseller refuses to hand over the Book of Pain until Cassie returns the Book of Safety, while Cassie insists she will return it only if the Bookseller assists with a larger plan.

Cassie reveals the plan: she intends to stop the gray-mist woman and needs a new auction to draw her out. When Cassie suggests the woman likely learned of the last auction via stolen phones and would receive another notification, the Bookseller reluctantly engages, asking what bait Cassie could possibly offer.

Cassie names the Fox Library as the lure, claiming she knows where it is. Though alarmed at the risk of giving the gray-mist woman access to such a prize, the Bookseller agrees to help in a limited way: she will schedule another auction and send the notification when Cassie instructs. Cassie chooses the same location as before—the Bookseller’s New York hotel—arguing it is ideal because it is full of doors.