Chapter Summaries

Shade met Priest Augustus in Middlesburg, learned that Death Outbreak might threaten all three passages, and arranged for the priest’s intelligence to reach the Order of Spiritual Cultivation. Back at home, he joined Luvia and Iluna to discuss the third Chosen One.

• Shade told Priest Augustus to pass his information about the Interstice and Death Outbreak to the Order of Spiritual Cultivation, and the priest agreed to write down what he knew.
• Priest Augustus explained the contagious Itch Spell Relic, and Shade’s back began to itch as he listened.
• Shade reminded Priest Augustus that he owed the Doctor 3,000 pounds for opening the door, and the two speculated about the Doctor’s profitable investment.
• Shade returned through the Abandoned Tower and found Luvia and Iluna playing chess at home.
• Luvia and Iluna joined Shade to discuss the third Chosen One after Priest Augustus was confirmed safe.

Shade and his companions discussed the Chosen One of Death, the Order of Spiritual Cultivation, and a possible Phoenix before Shade prepared to travel to Middlesburg. That night, Luvia entered his bedroom, and Mia spent the rest of the night in the closet.

• Shade told Luvia and Iluna that he suspected Priest Augustus and Sister Devlin might be Chosen Ones and concluded that the third Chosen One was associated with Death.
• Shade and his companions arranged to seek information and coins, while Iluna gave Shade a Sun Sigil brooch and Luvia agreed to investigate the Order of Spiritual Cultivation.
• Shade showed them a red stone containing a Phoenix and wondered whether the ancient being in the Sealed Limbo was one.
• Shade planned to meet Priest Augustus in Middlesburg the next morning, then went to bed after reading and preparing for the trip.
• Mia woke Shade with a cry, and Luvia appeared in his bedroom asking to warm herself; Shade let her in, and Mia spent the night in the closet.

Shade welcomed Princess Leisha and Princess Angelina to his home on Wednesday morning, where Leisha arranged a replacement lesson on Spirit Runes and asked him to investigate a lieutenant at Red Water Camp. The visit left Shade with a new task and his ongoing study of the Sleeping Princess stories.

• Mia regained Shade's affection after he gave her some boiled egg yolk with breakfast.
• Leisha and Angelina arrived at Shade's home early, and Shade invited them inside.
• Leisha said she had taken on diplomatic duties since Brother Sax's sentencing and explained that Angelina was trustworthy and unusually intuitive.
• Leisha commissioned Shade to investigate Lieutenant Shuton of Red Water Camp and find out whether he had recently made any unusual large expenses.
• Leisha asked about Shade's progress reading Sleeping Princess, and Shade said he copied the Ancient Writings stories each day and had not burned the parchment this time.

Shade received a lesson from Leisha, who kissed him before returning to the palace with Angelina. He later met Priest Augustus in Middlesburg to collect information about True Death thaumaturgies and the Interstice, then rejected two spells that let users foresee death.

• Leisha taught Shade about Spirit Runes and gave him books to read, then scolded Angelina for reading The Queen and Her Lovers.
• Leisha kissed Shade on the sofa while Angelina watched as punishment, then she and Angelina left with wine Shade had prepared for them.
• Shade practiced with his knife at the Abandoned Tower before traveling to Middlesburg to meet Priest Augustus.
• Priest Augustus handed Shade two document envelopes containing thaumaturgies and information about the Interstice, then hurried back to the church.
• Shade read about Eye of Peering Death and Death Inspiration, but rejected both because he did not want to foresee death.

Shade reviewed two death-related thaumaturgies and chose Guiding Death as a future addition to his abilities. After giving Sister Devlin information about the Middlesburg incident, he accepted Grandma Cassandra’s commission to investigate an antique at Middlesburg Mechanical College, giving him a reason to visit a folklore professor and learn about the Twins God.

• Shade considered learning Death Bringer’s Scythe but postponed it because its ritual materials would cost at least ten thousand Gold Pounds.
• Shade decided Guiding Death would complement his Silver Moon-centered abilities and planned to obtain its materials in Tobesk rather than Middlesburg.
• Shade gave Sister Devlin Priest Augustus’s information about the Middlesburg incident, and she promised to send special blood to the House of the Blind.
• Grandma Cassandra asked Shade to investigate an antique at Middlesburg Mechanical College through Professor John Dunn, and Shade accepted the commission in exchange for special blood.
• Shade grew more interested in learning about the Twins God because he hoped its power might help Leisha and Dorothy.

Shade learned more about Miss Galina, Sister Devlin, and the Murmuring Chapters over lunch with Grandma Cassandra, then went to Middlesburg Mechanical College to seek Professor John Dunn. There he unexpectedly met Captain Rades, whom he asked for help finding the Academy’s folklore professors while posing as John Watson.

• Grandma Cassandra told Shade that Miss Galina’s teacher was a royal and shared stories about Miss Galina and Sister Devlin, whom she had once considered as a successor.
• Shade asked Grandma Cassandra about Ring Arcanists skilled in death, but she said she would investigate the Murmuring Chapters herself and warned him not to get involved.
• Shade traveled to Middlesburg Mechanical College to look for Professor John Dunn.
• Shade met Captain Rades, who recognized him despite his disguise, and asked him to use the alias John Watson.
• Shade told Captain Rades a cover story about investigating an illegitimate son and asked where the Academy’s folklore professors could be found.

Shade investigated the theft of a Bronze Jar from Middlesburg Mechanical College for Cassandra Auction House and identified student Henry Val as a suspect. He discovered an evil spirit clinging to Henry and asked Captain Rades to watch him while Shade pursued another lead.

• Captain Rades told Shade that Lieutenant Shuton had recently won a large sum gambling and smoked cigars during night shifts.
• Professor John Dunn explained that the Bronze Jar had been stolen but was likely still inside the Academy, and named Henry Val as a suspicious student.
• Shade and Captain Rades found Henry Val in the library, where Shade saw an evil spirit clinging to him.
• Henry admitted seeing the jar in Professor Dunn's office and mentioning it at Barbara Jerin's party.
• Shade asked Captain Rades to keep Henry under observation, question students about the jar, and find out whether there had been any recent murders at the school.

Shade learned that the female student murdered at Middlesburg Mechanical College was one of five women killed in a serial murder case, with an organ removed from each. Suspecting Henry Val was responsible and had hidden the Bronze Jar in the castle, Shade followed the victim’s blood trail to a broom closet on the fifth floor.

• Shade asked Professor Dunn about the murdered student and learned the case had not been made public or solved.
• Shade showed Deputy Director Gurus Leisha’s pendant, reviewed the case file, and learned that five women had been killed and had organs removed.
• Shade learned that Bane Bennett had died in police custody, the shooting victim’s body had been tampered with, and the killer’s fountain pen had gone missing.
• Shade returned to the Academy and discovered that Henry Val and Captain Rades had disappeared while he was away.
• Shade asked Professor Dunn about secret rooms, then traced blood from the murder scene through the castle to a fifth-floor broom closet.

Shade found Henry Val’s hidden room and stopped him after discovering that he had murdered people to make a life-extending medicine. He freed the victim’s spirit and realized a boy had predicted Henry Val’s death, leaving Shade to consider whether to kill him before the foretold winter death.

• Shade followed the prayer into a concealed passage and broke into Henry Val’s secret room.
• Henry Val admitted to killing people for a medicine after a boy predicted he would die of a brain disease during the winter’s First Snow.
• When Henry Val tried to shoot him, Shade severed his trigger finger and knocked him unconscious with Mind Blast.
• Shade opened a passage to the Land of Death, allowing the evil spirit on Henry Val’s back to depart.
• Shade realized his attack might cause Henry Val to die as predicted and learned that a boy in Middlesburg could foresee death.
• She suggested that Shade test the prophecy by killing Henry Val immediately.

Shade stopped an accidental entrance to the Interstice, searched Henry Val’s secret room, and discovered a relic mirror. He let Captain Rades take credit for solving the serial murder case and left with most of the reward.

• Shade used Space Stabilization Aura to close the Interstice entrance triggered by Unfortunate One’s Long Hair.
• Shade searched Henry Val’s secret room, found his diary and a book promoting cannibalism, and discovered a note advertising death predictions.
• Shade uncovered a hidden compartment containing evidence, a pistol, and a silver-framed mirror that he recognized as a relic.
• Shade woke Captain Rades and let him take sole credit for solving the murder case in exchange for ninety pounds of the reward.

Shade learned from Professor Dunn that Twin Worship was an ancient belief tied to prehistoric ruins and local customs, then received an address for Professor Tiris Manning in Tobesk. He visited Manning that night to ask about the Twins God, leaving the professor surprised by his sudden question.

• Shade told Professor Dunn that the Bronze Jar had been used to boil corpses, and Dunn worried about damage to the antique before paying Shade and explaining Twin Worship.
• Professor Dunn described legends of the Twins God blessing a black-and-white pair of twins and said the ancient faith still shaped local customs around Middlesburg.
• Professor Dunn gave Shade the address of Professor Tiris Manning, an archaeologist who had taken part in the Sikar Mountain excavation.
• Shade shared part of his payment with Captain Rades, left the House of the Blind as his mailing address, and returned to Saint Derain Square.
• Shade brought Mia home after dinner, discovered Luvia had already fed the cat, and then went to visit Professor Manning in Tobesk.
• Shade asked Professor Manning about the Twins God and Twin Worship, and Manning questioned why he had brought up the subject.

Shade questioned Professor Manning about Twin Worship and learned that its Red Butterflies poem was associated with twins separated by distance. He then had Old John identify a silver mirror as the Corpse-Hiding Mirror and learned that it allowed its bearer to enter other mirrors, though its mirror space carried dangers.

• Shade asked Professor Manning about Twin Worship’s connection to death and learned that Middlesburg had once held a rumor about killing one twin to save the other.
• Shade learned that Twin Worship’s Red Butterflies poem was believed to carry meanings of sacrifice and twins, and that it might describe a way to cross the distance between separated twins.
• Shade visited Old John’s pawnshop, where Old John identified his silver mirror as a Level 4 relic called the Corpse-Hiding Mirror.
• Old John explained that the mirror could store corpses, which might turn into low-level undead, and let its bearer enter another mirror with objects that had no soul.
• Shade learned that a mirror entered this way could not be moved, that breaking it could trap its occupant, and that mirror space reduced mental and soul contamination from outside.

Shade appraised a dangerous mirror, bought old blood, and commissioned Old John to make an Alchemy Item from a folk song before purchasing materials from Mr. Corps and learning Guiding Death. He returned home with the finished butterfly pendants and learned that Luvia and Iluna had plans in Tobesk, while the Seer Association had found nothing about the Order of Spiritual Cultivation.

• Shade learned that the mirror could pull nearby people and objects into a hard-to-escape mirror world, then declined Old John's offer of 1,200 Pounds for it.
• Shade bought Bolbo Brando's deteriorated blood for 39 Pounds and commissioned Old John to make a possible Alchemy Item from a folk song about the Twins God.
• Shade traveled to Mr. Corps's cemetery shop, bought materials for Guiding Death, and heard Mr. Corps offer high prices for plants gathered in Boundary Lands.
• Shade learned Guiding Death near a cemetery and returned to Old John's, where he collected two magnetic red Butterfly Pendants and asked about the Order of Spiritual Cultivation.
• Shade returned home near midnight, found Luvia gone, and read her letter about her and Iluna's plans and the Seer Association's lack of progress on his inquiry.

Shade used the red butterfly pendant to help Dorothy and Leisha meet across their body-swapping barrier. The two women saw each other from opposite sides of Yodel Palace Street, leaving Dorothy overwhelmed with emotion as Shade sheltered her from the rain.

• Shade visited Dorothy and told her about the red butterfly pendant and the legend of the Twins God.
• Shade proposed that Dorothy and Leisha use the pendant to try meeting by looking toward each other across Yodel Palace Street.
• Shade gave half of the pendant and a letter for Leisha to Angelina's maid at Mary Jane Flower Shop.
• At ten o'clock, Shade and Dorothy passed Yodel Palace and saw Leisha and another red-haired figure at a window.
• Dorothy dropped her umbrella and stared at Leisha through the rain, while Shade stood behind her and shielded her.

Shade helped Dorothy and Leisha see each other from a distance using the Red Butterfly Pendant, and Leisha thanked him before asking for his help with a warehouse matter. The chapter left Shade surprised when Dorothy switched in during Leisha’s kiss and gave him a kiss of her own.

• Shade recorded what he had learned about the Twins God and Twins Faith for Leisha, then recognized her when Mia identified her in Dorothy’s body.
• Leisha thanked Shade for helping her and Dorothy meet, and he suggested she ask Old Dad John to make a better Red Butterfly Pendant.
• Shade told Leisha that Lieutenant Shuton had been spending heavily, and she concluded that he had betrayed her by reselling her goods.
• Leisha asked Shade to secretly count the crates in her warehouse at 19 Punjab Avenue in Middlesburg on the first day of the Month of Withered Leaves, and he agreed.
• Leisha offered Shade autumn clothes instead of Gold Pounds, then embraced and kissed him while Dorothy had agreed to switch with her.
• Mia’s reaction made Shade realize Dorothy had switched in, and Dorothy reproached him before giving him a brief kiss as her own thanks.

Shade received Demon blood from Grandma Cassandra, learned that the Council would send Sivie Aurora to Middlesburg, and arranged a visit to the boy who could see deaths. After finding a lost cat and attending the Study Group, he learned that Devourer Sakato had once encountered the Great One who appeared in Tobesk during the summer.

• Shade learned from Captain Rades's letter that Rades had received public credit for solving the serial killer case and invited Shade to Sikar Mountain next Thursday.
• Grandma Cassandra gave Shade the blood of Devourer Sakato, told him the third Chosen One was likely connected to death, and said Sivie Aurora would arrive in Middlesburg next month.
• Shade visited the Raven Club as John Watson and paid a deposit to book an appointment with the boy who could see dates and manners of death for next Sunday.
• Shade found the Drax family's runaway cat the morning after accepting their case and collected his thirteen-pound commission.
• At the Study Group, Dorothy arranged with Shade to help with her advancement ritual, and Doctor Schneider told Shade that Devourer Sakato had disappeared after encountering the Great One who appeared in Tobesk during the summer.

Shade collected a bottle of mixed magma-creature blood from Sister Devlin for the gathering in the Fifth Epoch and agreed to accompany her to meet a boy who could see when things would die. Sister Devlin warned that disaster would come to Middlesburg and that Shade would become involved, advising him to head toward flames when danger arose.

• Shade helped Dorothy prepare her attic for her advancement ritual and learned that Leisha had paid Old John three thousand pounds for a new Red Butterflies pendant.
• Shade traveled to Middlesburg with Mia and collected Sister Devlin's bottle of blood from magma-dwelling creatures.
• Sister Devlin asked Shade to accompany her to meet the Raven Club's boy who could see the date of death, and Shade agreed to meet her at the House of the Blind the following weekend.
• Sister Devlin examined Mia and told Shade that nothing was wrong with either the cat or him.
• Sister Devlin warned Shade that Middlesburg faced an approaching disaster, its seals would eventually fail, and he should move toward flames if he encountered danger.

Shade returned to the God of Vampires’ wine party with three new kinds of blood, and the saint began its final challenge. The party would end only after the five mortals each chose a bottle from thirty identical bottles, including the six hidden kinds of blood.

• Shade returned to Night Manor for the final stage of the wine party and presented blood from a lightning-struck mortal, Devourer Sakato, and a Magma Colony.
• The God of Vampires identified the lightning-struck blood as connected to Raging Storm and called the Magma Colony blood the most valuable of the six kinds.
• The saint transformed the banquet hall and announced that the final stage would be a game involving all five mortals and the god.
• The god hid the six kinds of blood among thirty identical bottles and told the mortals to choose their wines before the party could end.

Shade found the correct Blood Brew by choosing a bottle that had been on the table before the banquet began, then helped the middle-aged witch survive her choices and earn a dangerous Ninth Order breakthrough. The witch and the old man departed with gifts and warnings, leaving the twin girls to face the remaining bottles with only two correct choices among them.

• Shade chose the preexisting bottle and drank the Blood Brew made from Devourer Sakato's blood, accepting the danger of Demon's Blood.
• The middle-aged witch survived several dangerous wines with Shade's help, then drank the Abyss-Eyed Dragon Squid Blood Brew and received a crimson Ninth Order step with the risk of Blood Thirst Syndrome.
• The witch gave the twin girls her address and left Night Manor after thanking Shade and the Saint.
• The old man found the correct Rhine Fiend Blood Brew and received a Bloodkin Ring to help him search for Feng Ke Liqing's murderer, at the cost of Blood Thirst Syndrome.
• The old man departed, and the Saint told Shade that most guests would lose their memories and written records of the wine party.
• Shade saw that twenty-one bottles remained and only two correct choices were left for the twin girls.

Shade gave up the boon promised to him so Grace and Helen could finish the banquet with fewer choices, and the Saint gave them a way to seek help escaping their ancient duty. After the twins left, the Saint explained why Shade was safe in the past and sent him away with a new ability for Blood Echo.

• Shade gave up his chance to receive a Blood Moon-related boon so Grace and Helen could face fewer bottle choices, then rolled a one and ended the banquet for them.
• The Saint gave Grace and Helen a red butterfly that could delay their fate and guide them to the Twins God for help with their ancient contract.
• Grace and Helen introduced themselves, gave Shade their joined black-and-white ribbons, and left Night Manor holding hands.
• The Saint told Shade that the Father of Infinite Tree's power protected him from being killed by gods in a time that was not his, and enhanced Blood Echo so he could identify Bloodkin.
• The Saint told Shade that the other four banquet guests were dead, and Shade left through the White Fog after reflecting on the Phoenix blood in the Magma Colony.