Chapter Summaries

Trissy took an assassination commission and tracked down Grizzly Jon, discovering he was likely a Beyonder before deciding to attack anyway. Meanwhile, Klein followed Mrs. Meras to the South Bridge Borough and divined that danger awaited.

• Trissy chose Grizzly Jon as her target, paid the broker a deposit, and received his information.
• Klein used divination to follow Mrs. Meras to the South Bridge Borough, where a coin divination confirmed danger.
• Trissy found Grizzly Jon and realized he was likely a properly prepared Beyonder, possibly connected to an organization.
• Trissy decided to proceed with the assassination, turned invisible, erased traces of her presence, and crept toward Grizzly Jon.

Trissy killed Gray Bear, took his belongings and Beyonder Characteristic, and prepared to dispose of evidence. Meanwhile, Klein broke into a house linked to Mrs. Meras and discovered a likely hidden room as the chapter ended.

• Trissy killed Gray Bear, stripped his corpse, and took his money, cigarettes, and crimson Beyonder Characteristic.
• Klein reached a private residence linked to Mrs. Meras but decided to investigate the house rather than follow her.
• Klein climbed into the house, found dust throughout most of it, and traced women’s footprints to a clean guest room containing Mrs. Meras’s jewelry and clothes.
• Klein used pendulum divination to ask whether the house had a secret room or hidden compartment, and the pendulum rotated clockwise.

After discovering a hidden room in Mr. Meras's house, Klein suspected it contained something dangerous and decided to report it rather than investigate. His anonymous warning reached Archbishop Ace Snake, who learned that someone might be raising a dangerous divine creature at 22 Vinske Street.

• Klein divined that a wardrobe concealed a wooden door, but left without opening it because Mrs. Meras could return.
• When Mrs. Meras came back unexpectedly, Klein wondered whether a spiritual warning had cautioned him against entering the hidden room and hurried away.
• At Above the Gray Fog, Klein's divinations about the room's contents and Mrs. Meras's condition produced no clear results.
• Klein reasoned that Mrs. Meras might be feeding a creature hidden in the room and chose to report the danger to the Church of the Storms.
• Archbishop Ace Snake received an anonymous note alleging that an extremely dangerous divine creature was being raised at 22 Vinske Street.

After the Tarot Club meeting was postponed, Sno heard the True Creator’s call and found Lanevus hiding in a sewer. Sno brought Lanevus to Mr. A’s home, where Lanevus stayed under guard while the True Creator’s influence threatened to consume him.

• Klein read that an explosion had destroyed the empty residence at 22 Vinske Street and postponed the next Tarot Club gathering.
• Sno heard the True Creator’s whispers, used the Hermit’s Extraordinary Characteristic, and followed the call into a sewer.
• Sno found Lanevus, who had fled the Mandated Punishers and hidden in the Southern Bridge District to resist the True Creator’s influence.
• Sno brought Lanevus to Mr. A’s home and instructed the butler to provide for him while keeping his presence secret.
• Sno explained the limits and possible uses of Concept Swap, including how it could imitate curse-based killing.

Lanevus remained imprisoned in Mr. A’s mansion while the True Creator’s consciousness grew inside him, and Sno refused to let him reach the East Borough. After a week, Lanevus tried to drown out Mr. V’s supernatural piano playing by requesting the loudest records available.

• Lanevus questioned Sno about taking him to the West Borough, but Sno explained that the East Borough’s dangers could let Lanevus escape and warned the True Creator’s consciousness against trying.
• Sno confined Lanevus at Mr. A’s residence and watched him while Lanevus’s emotions grew more unstable as the True Creator’s presence developed.
• Lanevus attempted to leave the mansion but was forced by mental influence to return to his bedroom, and he avoided using the True Creator’s divinity to break free.
• Mr. V’s chaotic piano playing drove Lanevus into a rage, but cotton earplugs failed to block the sound because Mr. V used Beyonder powers.
• Lanevus asked the butler for the loudest records, and the butler offered to bring him Mr. V’s death-metal recordings.

Sno played a song that stirred True Creator’s consciousness, causing the god to sing through Lanevus and torment him with supernatural whispers. True Creator loved the song so much that he sent an Oracle to connected Beyonders, and the Aurora Society adopted “Katyusha” as a holy hymn.

• After Sno’s piano practice made his playing more orderly, Lanevus heard the music again the next morning and sensed True Creator’s consciousness growing excited.
• Lanevus rushed to the practice room and found Sno playing as True Creator’s voice and an imagined orchestra joined the performance.
• True Creator’s singing activated Lanevus’s Whispers, making the song sound everywhere and driving him to panic as it eroded his will.
• Sno’s conditioned reflexes and enhanced memory let him reproduce songs he had heard despite being unable to read musical notation.
• After Sno finished playing, True Creator blessed him, and Beyonders connected to the god received an Oracle within minutes.
• The Aurora Society chose “Katyusha” as its holy hymn.

Sno returned to the Tarot Club after becoming a Blessed of the True Creator and warned Justice about the danger of acting before a god’s symbol. The gathering ended with Roselle’s Diary revealing that potions could change a person’s sex and raising questions about Roselle’s past with a Demoness.

• Sno reflected on becoming the True Creator’s Blessed, the Aurora Society learning to sing Katyusha, and his need to improve his piano playing.
• Sno left Lanevus under his butler and steward’s watch and returned home before entering the palace above the gray fog.
• Justice apologized to Mr. Devil for her recklessness, and Sno warned her that gods could observe events before their symbolic emblems.
• Alger offered Mr. Fool nineteen pages of Roselle’s Diary as thanks for the Blessed who helped him defeat Zilingus, and said he could provide only six pages at a time.
• Sno presented a diary page in which Roselle wrote that potions could change a person’s sex and wondered whether a Demoness he had slept with had once been a man.

Klein used Roselle’s diary to explain the immortality and conservation of Beyonder Characteristics and adjacent Sequences to the Tarot Club. Sno then asked Miss Justice to help him learn piano, and she offered to teach him herself.

• Klein read Perrdax’s diary and inferred that Tris had advanced to Sequence Seven and become a woman after acting as an Instigator.
• Klein finished reading Roselle’s diary and told the Tarot Club he would share basic knowledge prompted by it.
• Klein explained the immortality and conservation of Beyonder Characteristics and discussed adjacent Sequences with the members.
• Mr. Fool asked Miss Justice and Mr. Hangman to cooperate in an experiment involving sacrifice and bestowal, and Miss Justice recommended two Beyonders.
• Sno asked Miss Justice to introduce him to a piano teacher, and she offered to teach him at their previous meeting place.

Audrey attended Viscount Grellint’s ball to meet Sno von Pandax and borrowed the music room for him. Sno used his ability to make them seem like irrelevant passersby as they left the ballroom together, while Grellint forgot what he had been worrying about.

• Audrey reassured Viscount Grellint that her father was not restricting her social life, then asked to borrow his music room for Sno von Pandax.
• Audrey searched the ballroom for Mr. Devil until Sno approached her, transforming in her perception from an unremarkable passerby into the room’s center of attention.
• Sno made everyone at the ball regard Audrey and him as irrelevant passersby, and explained that his ability came from the Spectator pathway.
• Audrey thanked Sno for reminding her to preserve her sense of self, then led him toward Grellint’s music room.
• Viscount Grellint forgot what he had been worrying about as Audrey and Sno left.

Audrey taught Sno piano at Viscount Grellint’s ball, discovering that he could imitate melodies perfectly but could not read sheet music. As the evening wound down, Grellint was still troubled by something he had forgotten when someone spoke to him from behind.

• Audrey played an etude for Sno and asked him to repeat it.
• Sno reproduced Audrey’s performance almost exactly, revealing his imitation ability and his lack of musical theory knowledge.
• Audrey began teaching Sno to read sheet music, but their lesson started with identifying individual notes.
• Viscount Grellint accepted a check at the ball while wondering what important thing he had forgotten.
• Someone behind Grellint asked him what he was thinking about.

Grelint realized Audrey had met Sno at his ball and worried that the Beyonder might have influenced her, while Sno enjoyed his social success and continued learning piano. Meanwhile, Klein accepted a five-pound investigation commission from Ian.

• Grelint remembered that Audrey was supposed to meet Sno and panicked until Audrey asked him to invite Sno to future events.
• Grelint worried that Sno had used a Beyonder Ability on Audrey, but she assured him she prayed at St. Samuel's Cathedral and would be protected from its effects.
• Sno returned to the dance floor, used Whisper to charm the guests, and left Grelint fretting over Audrey's interest in him.
• Sno practiced piano at Mr. A's home, built on what Audrey had taught him, and played Katyusha alongside Lanevus's wails.
• Klein received five pounds from Ian for an investigation and promised to complete it as quickly as possible.

Sno crushed Lanevus’s hope of escaping the True Creator by revealing that he had collected the degraded divine blood Lanevus was trying to shed. Meanwhile, Xio and Fors finished helping Lavish secure a new labor contract, then went to meet Audrey at Grelint’s house.

• Sno showed Lanevus the test tube of degraded divine blood he had collected, leaving Lanevus despairing that his attempt to escape had failed.
• Lanevus used thought guidance to resist the True Creator’s influence and left Sno, who returned to arranging the True Creator’s incomplete melodies.
• Lavish thanked Xio and Fors after signing a new labor contract, then reunited with his striking companions.
• Xio told Fors that her payment for the commission was information about her father, though Fors remained suspicious of the task.
• Audrey visited Grelint to meet Xio and Fors, and Grelint pretended he had not forgotten to invite them.

After receiving her reward, Xio discovered an old paper containing an honorific name and accidentally recited it, leaving her terrified. Fors returned unexpectedly, was struck by Xio, and learned what had happened, though neither knew whether Xio was in danger.

• Fors asked Xio why she had not gone to collect her reward, and Xio explained that she had already received it.
• Fors pretended to leave for a gathering, then waited nearby to see whether Xio would go out.
• Xio found an old paper hidden in a book’s cover and read its symbols and Ancient Hermes text.
• Fors returned home and was struck in the stomach when Xio attacked her by reflex.
• Xio admitted that she had mindlessly recited the honorific name written on the paper, and Fors tried to reassure her.

Xio told Fors that Panredax had named the Fool as a hidden existence who might protect her from the Full Moon Whisper, which Xio believed came from Fors’s bloodline. Fors agreed to visit Panredax with Xio the next day, while the two friends reconciled and planned to sleep together that night.

• Fors comforted Xio as she cried, and Xio revealed that she had heard the name the Fool from Panredax.
• Fors realized Xio had asked Panredax about her Full Moon Whisper, and Xio confronted Fors for hiding how badly it affected her.
• Xio explained that Panredax said Fors could resolve the Full Moon Whisper by becoming a demigod or praying for protection from a great existence.
• Fors agreed to accompany Xio to see Panredax the next day and asked about the second hidden existence, which Xio recalled as Paradox.
• Fors and Xio agreed to sleep together that night.

Sno reviewed Mr. Glory’s successful strike and discussed the progress of Mr. Foundation and Mr. Victory before receiving Fors and Xio. The two women asked about the Fool, and Sno quoted them a steep price for information about praying to Him and curing Full Moon Whisper.

• Sno learned that Mr. Glory had won workers a ten-hour workday and family-supporting wages, then spread strike knowledge to other workers and factory districts.
• Sno uploaded newly devised combination skills to the exchange list and considered how to modify Star Fighter.
• Fors and Xio visited Sno, who accepted their proof that they had completed the commission and ended Xio’s contract obligation for the task.
• Fors asked what would happen if someone prayed to the Fool and whether He could remove the effects of Full Moon Whisper.
• Sno offered a discounted price of one thousand times for the information Fors requested.

Fors and Xio learned that the Fool could temporarily shield Fors from Full Moon Whisper, though Sno could not guarantee the safety of praying to Him. After warning Xio that reciting the Fool’s honorific name had drawn attention, Sno reminded Fors that the full moon was the next night, and Xio began considering what to do.

• Xio offered to pay Sno for information, but Fors insisted on taking on the debt herself and signed a contract with protections against dangerous or excessively demanding tasks.
• Sno explained that the Fool could temporarily cut Fors off from Full Moon Whisper, but eliminating its source was nearly impossible.
• Fors asked whether praying to the Fool would corrupt their minds, and Sno said He seemed relatively safe so far but that no one could be certain about a god.
• Sno deduced that Xio had encountered the Fool after reciting His honorific name and warned that the act would make her stand out.
• As Fors and Xio prepared to leave, Sno pointed out that the full moon was the next night, prompting Xio to realize how little time remained and form a decision.

After leaving Sno’s house, Xio and Fors discussed Xio’s debt and the information she had bought, while Sno watched them go. Lily returned home dispirited because her paws could not make dried fish, so Sno gave her a strip and assigned her a letter-delivery errand to teach her how hard ordinary people worked for it.

• Xio argued that she should pay for the Sheriff formula herself, but Fors explained that owing the debt would make the creditor more invested in keeping her alive.
• Fors questioned Xio about the price of information on the Full Moon Whisper, and Xio dodged the question by pointing out that Mr. Panredax lived across from Mr. A’s Beyonder gathering.
• Sno watched the Fool and Xio leave, then heard Lily return and found her upset that her paws could not make dried fish.
• Lily explained that she had learned to speak by listening to people argue, and Sno gave her a strip of dried fish.
• After Lily listed the ingredients and costs of making dried fish, Sno told her to deliver a letter to his friend in the dock district and learn how ordinary people earned money.

Sno hosted an Extraordinary gathering where Hugh bought the Sheriff Potion formula, then received an invitation from Sno to discuss something she needed. The chapter ended with Hugh heading to meet him while Fors stayed behind.

• Lily began valuing money after seeing how hard humans worked to earn what she considered the price of a dried fish, and Sno stopped her from eyeing the attendees as riches.
• Hugh bought the Sheriff Potion formula for 450 pounds but found that she did not know where to obtain its main ingredients.
• Hugh received a note inviting the buyer of the Sheriff formula to a private discussion and another note denying that Sno had exposed her transaction.
• Fors advised Hugh to accept the invitation because Sno might know something about the person Hugh was seeking, and Hugh went to the study.
• Fors watched Sno play with Lily and quickly looked away when he smiled at her.

Sno visited Lanclus after the gathering, while Fors stopped Hugh from praying to a dangerous great existence. Later, Sno met the man behind the Brave Man Bar and offered him a charm that could shield Prisoner pathway Beyonders from the full moon, provoking an icy reaction.

• After the gathering, Sno turned off the gramophone and left Lanclus, who convinced himself that Sno had not uncovered his plan.
• Fors caught Hugh preparing a ritual and forbade her from praying, insisting that she stay with her overnight.
• The next morning, Sno asked Casper to introduce him to the powerful man behind the Brave Man Bar.
• Sno met the wary man in a card room and offered to sell him a charm that could protect Prisoner pathway Beyonders from the full moon.
• The living corpses rose and the man radiated an icy chill as he demanded to know Sno’s purpose.

Sno sold a full-moon-protective talisman to a man connected to Miss Ghost, then bought Klein’s Hunter Pathway Extraordinary Characteristic. Klein also asked Sno for a powerful defensive item, and Sno offered him a cheaper alternative to the Sun Talisman.

• Sno gave the wary man a free talisman that could protect Prisoner pathway Beyonders from the full moon and left him a card for contacting Sno.
• The man and the woman who appeared in a wineglass discussed whether to test the talisman, and she said she would handle it.
• Back home, Sno prepared for the next day’s Tarot Club and considered his plans before Klein arrived.
• Klein offered Sno a Hunter Pathway Extraordinary Characteristic, and Sno agreed to buy it for four hundred pounds.
• Klein asked whether Sno had any Sun Talismans left, and Sno offered a cheaper defensive option instead.