At the Macintosh Hotel’s mezzanine bar, Azaki drinks with Izzy and Lund while waiting for Cassie and Drummond Fox to return from the past. Azaki reflects on how recently he met Cassie and Lund in “his” timeline versus how little time has passed for them, and he notes how the group has settled into tense, alcohol-soaked waiting inside the eerie hotel.

Cassie and Drummond suddenly burst back through the doorway. Cassie is visibly shaken and says they followed the gray-mist woman home and witnessed her murder two men, including turning one victim into liquid. Cassie’s horror hardens into certainty that they must stop the woman, but she also reports a crucial discovery: the woman keeps multiple books inside a safe in a basement south of the city.

Cassie decides to act immediately. She opens the Book of Doors doorway not to a corridor but directly to the interior of the safe—a black wall with a recessed safe opening—and confirms it is the woman’s cache. Cassie reaches in and removes the books, showing them to Azaki and asking whether he can create convincing copies with the Book of Illusion.

Azaki explains the limitation: the illusion-books will only last hours (maybe a day) and will require constant concentration. The group agrees to have the Bookseller call the auction in about twelve hours, forcing the woman to leave quickly and giving them a window while the illusion holds. Drummond insists they leave the Book of Mists behind, reasoning that if the woman tries to make an entrance with mist and fails, she will realize the books are missing too soon.

Azaki creates weighted, textured simulacrums of the stolen books and places them in the safe, maintaining focus with the Book of Illusion in his hands. Cassie closes the doorway, sealing the false cache in place, and announces she will call the Bookseller—knowing that once the auction is set, there is no turning back.