Chapter 69

Raeve and her companions traverse a decimated Gore, discovering the city emptied and the Undercity flooded with refugees fleeing the impending moonfall. They find The Curly Quill looted, Ruse and Uno missing, and a cryptic message from Sereme confirming changed plans. Raeve prepares Ahvi, Kaan, and Pyrok for the journey into the collapsed mineshaft while securing Gruffin in her secret safe house.

The party moves through The Ditch, an abandoned district of Gore blanketed in undisturbed snow and strewn with panicked refugees' discards. They encounter a starving null fleeing with food and discover soldiers have hanged those with the same ear-nick as Raeve—folk from the Undercity—before opening its gates to the desperate masses. At The Curly Quill, Raeve finds the shop ransacked; Ahvi reveals via his shield that Ruse and Uno are missing. Upstairs in Sereme's chambers, Raeve discovers a parchment lark cage containing a message from Sereme stating plans have changed and she will be in touch. Among documents hidden beneath Sereme's flipped desk, Raeve finds notes mentioning the Elding's visions and authorization for Sereme to tend wounded nulls—confirming the Elding (whom Raeve intends to kill) is still operating. When Ahvi's shield fails against a toxic powder seeping from the collapsed shaft below, his lungs compromise, though he insists the mission must continue because an internal song tells him it is right. Raeve reluctantly agrees but worries about his safety. Pyrok volunteers to stay behind with Gruffin, the hatchling, while Raeve leads them to her secret safe house—an abandoned wind tunnel and her hidden quarters—accessible only through a treacherous trash chute. She warns Pyrok never to open the hatch in the ceiling, and the chapter closes with Raeve suppressing grief over a memory she touched in her Other's mind, one revealing her doppelgänger has also loved and lost.