Chapter Summaries

At Yodel Palace's farewell ball, Shade reflected on the coming eclipse after a private moment with Angelina and a dance with Galina. He discovered Durut Giles had brought Miss Lust Edwardz's soul to the palace and warned him to be cautious.

• Angelina removed her coronet, let down her hair, and kissed Shade while asking him to speak about the Moon.
• Galina danced with Shade, teased him about Angelina and Leisha, and offered him a place to stay during the eclipse; he said he preferred home.
• Galina warned Shade she would arrange a meeting with Megan as she pleased and later reminded him to see them off at the train station.
• Angelina told Shade that Miss Servit had noticed a strange attendee accompanied by a soul, and Shade recognized him as Durut Giles with Miss Lust Edwardz hidden inside him.
• Shade disguised himself, led Durut Giles into the corridor, and warned him that the Church might cause trouble if it discovered he was a Ring Arcanist.

Shade met Megan late to retrieve the Ring of Emotions, and she took him to an abandoned manor tied to its history. As they entered, Megan revealed that she had located the ring beneath a bedroom floor on the third floor.

• Shade told Durut Giles to collect the curse antidote at Three Cats Inn on Sunday and remain on the 1st Floor afterward.
• Shade spent the night at Yodel Palace with Leisha and Dorothy, then left Saturday morning after Angelina arrived.
• Shade met Megan at Green Lake Inn, apologized for keeping her waiting, and agreed to accompany her to retrieve the Ring of Emotions.
• Megan told Shade that several powerful Church warlocks and Seer Association leaders had arrived in the Green Lake Region, while investigations of the island continued.
• Megan brought Shade to the abandoned Gaiman family manor and explained that its former owner had made a dangerous wish before the family fell into ruin.
• Megan led Shade inside and revealed that the Ring of Emotions lay beneath the floor of a third-floor bedroom.

Shade and Megan searched Gaiman Earl’s ruined manor and recovered the Ring of Emotions, along with his escape supplies and a notebook describing a mysterious wish-granting encounter. As they prepared to leave for lunch, they encountered Megan’s nephews, who continued to mistake Shade for her partner.

• Shade used spatial movement to take Megan to the manor’s third floor, where he cleared a snake nest and found a hidden compartment beneath the bedroom floorboards.
• Shade found the Ring of Emotions in Gaiman Earl’s metal box, tried recording his joy in its White Gem, and put the ring on Little Mia’s tail.
• Megan examined Gaiman Earl’s notebook and learned that he had caught something strange while fishing, received an opportunity to make a wish, and later died before using his escape plans.
• Shade and Megan spotted Megan’s two one-eyed nephews outside and transformed Little Mia into a toy and Shade into a silver cat before leaving the manor.
• The nephews met Megan at the estate entrance, attributed their repeated encounters to destiny and their ancestor Laplace Klein Howard, and continued misunderstanding her relationship with Shade.

Megan, Shade, and the twin brothers cooperated to investigate Gaiman Earl’s strange encounter and searched the waters behind his estate. They found a distorted glass bottle, and Shade tried to examine it with a spell.

• The brothers revealed their Space Locking talent, and Megan shared that the Edwards Family had several nonhuman bloodlines and possible ties to Human Transmutation.
• Megan, Shade, and the brothers compared a notebook with the memoirs of Gaiman Earl’s former lover, learning that the earl feared making wishes and secretly left the estate by boat at night.
• The group agreed to search the waters behind the estate for clues connected to Gaiman Earl.
• The brother blind in his left eye found a distorted glass bottle beneath the water, and Shade cast Passionate Ice toward it.

Shade and his companions recovered the submerged Sage Level Relic, Reward of Greed, and its sealed Wish Demon, Zatanah, emerged and recognized Shade. The demon confronted them and asked what gave Shade confidence to challenge it.

• Megan and the brothers discovered that magic could not move the bottle, but Shade explained they needed a Fishing Rod to retrieve it.
• The brothers used the Fishing Rod to pull the bottle from Green Lake, revealing the inscription “I grant all wishes.”
• Shade identified the bottle as the Sage Level Relic Reward of Greed, and Zatanah emerged, offering to grant three wishes.
• Zatanah’s attention disturbed Megan’s soul, so Shade ordered the demon to back off and Megan showed the Demon Hunting Seal.
• Zatanah recognized Shade from their earlier encounter and asked how he had escaped the river leading to True Death.
• Shade offered the demon a choice between fighting and answering one question, and Zatanah asked what gave him confidence this time.

Shade questioned the wish-granting Demon about Central Island, the diviner, and the Demon’s kin, then learned that the Edwardzes’ reunion had activated a ritual inside a Spatial Anomaly. He freed the Demon after extracting the information and asked the brothers to work with him to escape the dangerously fragile space.

• Shade used three wishes to learn that the diviner on Central Island had left the Demon there fifty years earlier to await the Edwards descendants.
• The Demon described the diviner as a transformed human with unusual collaborators and gave Shade three cryptic hints about its kin on the island.
• The Demon took 0.9 marks of Shade’s Greed, and Shade gained insight into Redemption.
• When Shade asked about the legendary Demon King, the Demon tried to flee its bottle, but Shade restrained it with the Great Sin Chains.
• Shade secured the Demon’s promise to reveal that the Edwards family ritual had turned the area into a Spatial Anomaly that forced descendants to develop their bloodline talents.
• Shade released the Demon, which vanished into the lake, then asked the brothers to cooperate as they sensed the fragile space around them.

Shade and the Edwardz brothers escaped the ritual-shattered space and discovered traces showing that a Thirteenth Ring Diviner had prepared the trap decades earlier. Back aboard Megan’s ship, Shade learned more about her shared soul with Audrey and prepared to use Soul Whiplash to stabilize the damage caused by the Demon.

• Shade stabilized the fragile space, and the Edwardz brothers opened a safe passage through which they and Shade carried Megan to safety.
• The shattered space repaired itself after they escaped, and they found hidden ritual traces in the mud beneath the water.
• The brothers thanked Shade, promised to seek the Mirror Society’s cooperation, and left while Shade took Megan back to her ship.
• Shade urged Megan to rest and postpone the island trip, but she insisted on helping and admitted she would reveal something to him next week.
• Shade’s inner voice explained that Megan and Audrey shared one soul with both independent and fused tendencies, and that intense stimulation could stabilize the Demon’s damage.
• After Megan agreed to the painful treatment, Shade cast the Silence Charm and prepared to use Soul Whiplash.

Shade used a soul-restraining Thaumaturgy on Megan and Audrey, helping them glimpse a path to the Twelfth Order before returning to the Study Group and discussing the Demon on the island. He then told Priest Augustus that Durut Giles’s companion had mentioned a half skull, leading the Priest to suspect Ancestor Edwardz was using the power of the bones.

• Shade struck the confused soul within Megan and Audrey with a blood-red whip, and the two urged him to continue as the Thaumaturgy clarified and strengthened their souls.
• Shade treated everyone to lunch, then said goodbye to Megan and Audrey, who promised to take him onto the island the following week.
• Shade arrived late to the Study Group, shared the week’s updates, and afterward told the Doctor about Reward of Greed’s clues concerning the island’s Demon.
• The Doctor named Shabar, Yaru, and Masala as possible Demons and warned Shade to be cautious of whoever was cooperating with one.
• Shade told Priest Augustus that Durut Giles’s companion had mentioned a half skull, and the Priest suspected Ancestor Edwardz was using the bones’ power.

Shade investigated the Deathbringer Angel skeleton with Priest Augustus and agreed to meet Sister Devlin, then spent a crowded day seeing Miss Galina and Angelina off as they departed for Green Lake. After the train left, he returned home with Dorothy and Leisha and continued studying Clock Tower Lovers.

• Priest Augustus offered to travel to the Green Lake Region if Shade found the skeleton, and agreed to join Shade at his meeting with Sister Devlin.
• Shade struggled through Tobesk's crowded streets and reached the train station with help from Princess Alice, Princess Elena, and Princess Anastasia.
• Shade privately said farewell to Miss Galina, then joined Dorothy in formally bidding farewell to Miss Galina and Angelina as Queen Diana saw them off.
• After the train departed, Dorothy told Shade that Leisha had arranged dinner at home, and Shade spent the end of Red Butterfly Day with both women.
• Shade returned upstairs with Dorothy and discussed how Clock Tower Lovers might fuse two people into one.

Shade, Sister Devlin, and Priest Augustus examined Lust Edwardz’s soul and discovered it was incomplete, explaining her lost memories and spirituality. They concluded that her soul was likely divided, with its other part remaining on the island, and that it could gradually heal while she stayed near Durut Giles.

• Dorothy slept late after Her Royal Highness the Princess borrowed her body, so Shade left Mia at home and took Sister Devlin to meet Priest Augustus and Durut Giles.
• On the carriage ride, Sister Devlin warned Shade that the coming lunar eclipse could worsen imbalances in places already affected by disrupted life and death.
• At the Three Cats Inn, Sister Devlin examined Lust Edwardz’s soul while Priest Augustus and Shade observed her from separate tables.
• Back at Shade’s home, Priest Augustus said Lust Edwardz’s soul was incomplete and that its missing part was likely still on the island.
• Sister Devlin and Priest Augustus explained that Lust’s soul resembled Durut Giles’s closely enough to recover gradually near him, but her lost memories would not return.
• Sister Devlin said Lust’s deepest memories included meeting Shade and thinking he was frightening.

Sister Devlin revealed the memories of Lust Edwardz and the warning surrounding the Door in a Bottle, while Shade and Priest Augustus considered what the Thirteenth Ring Diviner planned to do. Afterward, Sister Devlin examined Dorothy Louisa’s soul and sensed that it was great, though she found no sign of corruption.

• Sister Devlin recounted Lust Edwardz’s memories of escaping the island, her father killing her, a blood-red door with thirteen keyholes, and her birth in a blood-red liquid.
• Sister Devlin connected Lust’s birth blessing to the Door in a Bottle, and Priest Augustus explained that the ancient sealed evil was associated with space, truth, and origin.
• Priest Augustus and Sister Devlin warned Shade that Lust would eventually return to Central Island and discussed the danger posed by the Thirteenth Ring Diviner.
• Sister Devlin met Iluna and discussed coming events in Green Lake, while Shade gave Iluna the Youthful Immortality Leaf.
• Dorothy Louisa briefly encountered Sister Devlin at Shade’s home, and Sister Devlin later told Shade that Dorothy’s soul was untainted but great.

Sister Devlin explained that Dorothy Louisa and Leisha Cavendish were born with extraordinary destinies, then left Shade for Green Lake. As the rival delegations and Great Witches prepared to gather there, Leisha complained that Margaret could travel with the delegation while she could not, and Dorothy’s worsening condition became apparent.

• Sister Devlin told Shade that Dorothy and Leisha were destined to be extraordinary, though they could still reject fate, and said the believers of the Old God of Love hated unfaithful lovers.
• After Sister Devlin departed, Dorothy emerged from her room and asked Shade to introduce them sometime; she also urged him to take Leisha on a date.
• Shade visited Green Lake on Sunday and Monday but still could not reach the island as tensions over the coming negotiations and possible war rose across the Old Continent.
• Shade learned that Duke Galina would stay at Rose Manor, while Margaret would travel to Green Lake with the delegation and Miss Sylvia would accompany her.
• Leisha, speaking through Dorothy, complained that she could not go to Green Lake, and the Purple Eyes diviner remarked that Dorothy had seemed unwell before Dorothy bent her spoon with her hand.

Shade visited the Glass City to meet devout Believers of the God of Love from the Rosicrucian Order and discuss the Green Lake crisis. He met Richard, who called him unfaithful and asked him to take a psychological test about love before they talked.

• Luvia asked Shade what the cat in his earlier divination had represented, and Shade questioned whether it meant Cat Transformation.
• Shade learned that the Church had withdrawn most of its forces from Green Lake Central Island after discovering that rituals and signs of destruction there vanished, while Megan arranged for him to return to the island on Wednesday.
• Shade traveled to Mikella Blast Furnace City, where the Follen Brothers told him that the Rosicrucian Order's president had revealed their identity as Edwards Descendants and that three devout believers were waiting to meet him.
• Shade went to Richard's hotel suite, where Richard called him unfaithful and gave him an abstract-image test about love, marriage, and lovers.

Shade underwent Richard’s psychological test, then learned that an ancient maxim about love was the incantation for the Thaumaturgy Linked Hearts. He obtained Kelly Hope’s authorization to buy the Thaumaturgy and was left waiting to hear her different interpretation of the maxim.

• Shade described thirteen images in Richard’s album, and Richard analyzed his romantic preferences, desire for the Moon, loneliness, and fear of loss.
• Shade asked Richard about an ancient passage on affection, sex, romance, and Love, and Richard identified it as an old Cult maxim and the incantation for Linked Hearts.
• Richard explained that Linked Hearts let two people holding hands communicate, while trust and emotional Fusion of Souls could enable injury transfer; the Follen Brothers had developed additional uses.
• Richard directed Shade to seek approval from Upton and a price from Kelly Hope, and advised him to approach Hope first.
• Kelly Hope agreed to sell Shade authorization to learn Linked Hearts for 320 Pounds and warned that its stronger effects required strict prerequisites.
• As Shade prepared to seek Upton, Kelly Hope said she had a different view of the maxim Shade had quoted.

Shade visited Upton to buy the Cult divine art for a pair of twin girls and learned about Upton’s unusual research into love and physical transformation. Upton showed Shade a supposedly dangerous oil painting of a beautiful underwater woman, and Shade became captivated by it.

• Hope explained to Shade that strong emotions could connect souls, while a past alchemist’s attempt to merge souls had created a dangerous fused undead creature.
• Shade visited Upton with Hope’s authorization and asked to purchase the divine art for a pair of twin girls.
• Upton agreed to teach Shade the divine art on the condition that he sign a contract to keep the knowledge secret.
• Upton explained that he studied how love and physical contact might allow two living people to become one, and said an unusual painting had convinced him of his ideas.
• Upton uncovered an oil painting of a beautiful woman underwater, and Shade found himself unable to look away from her.

Shade recognized Upton’s animated painting as a portrait of the Level 0 Relic Desire and learned that the God of Love’s followers had been trying to protect Upton from it. After hearing the painting might draw Desire to Green Lake, Shade left with Richard and Hope to discuss the danger away from the water.

• Shade saw the woman in Upton’s painting move and recognized her as Desire, but Upton refused to sell the portrait.
• Shade considered reporting the painting to the Church, then learned that Hope and Richard already knew what it depicted and warned them not to say its name.
• Richard and Hope told Shade that the God of Love had sealed the Relic during the Fifth Epoch, but it escaped as the Cult collapsed.
• Shade, Richard, and Hope left the hotel and traveled to a tavern in Little Riton Village to talk about the painting away from the lake.
• Hope explained that Upton had been bewitched by the portrait, had once nearly thrown himself into the lake with it, and was now improving, though the painting might still draw Desire to Green Lake.

Shade met Richard and Hope, members of the dwindling Cult of the Innocent Creator, and told them he had encountered the dangerous entity connected to a painting. He borrowed their records, hidden in a holy emblem, and planned to examine them at Green Lake before the Night of the Moon Eclipse.

• Richard and Hope explained that their cult’s surviving believers could access only fragments of its inherited records, and Shade revealed that he had seen the entity and resisted its temptation.
• Shade said he would make Upton willingly hand over the painting, and Richard and Hope agreed to help him gather information about it.
• Richard lent Shade the God of Love’s holy emblem, which contained records that appeared only when its stone plate was immersed in a large lake or river; Shade planned to use it at Green Lake.
• Richard advised Shade to ask the women who cared about him how they felt, and Shade returned home and secured the emblem inside God's Gift Box.
• Shade shared Linked Hearts with Dorothy and Leisha, then Luvia reassured him that she did not resent the other women and urged him to be careful during the eclipse.

Shade met with Soren Green before his third trip to the island, learning more about Megan and Audrey’s family history and revealing that he was the detective and writer John Watson. Shade and Megan then set out for the island by a magically modified rowboat, avoiding the Church patrols on the lake.

• Soren Green told Shade that Megan and Audrey were descendants of Maria Edwards, who had stayed in Green Lake City and left the inn to her descendants as a welcoming home for their family.
• Shade said he already knew Megan and Audrey were two souls in one body and members of the Witch Council, and reassured Soren that he did not mind their past or their nature.
• Shade gave Soren his Detective Hamilton Agency card and Rhodes Cards deck, revealing that he was John Watson, then asked Soren to keep the secret for now.
• Megan arrived at the inn, and Shade described himself as a traveling writer before they left for Pukhov Village.
• Shade and Megan avoided the Peace Church patrol ship and launched a ritual-enhanced wooden rowboat toward the island.

Shade and Megan landed on the fog-covered island, where Shade used the black fragment to summon Desire from the lake. Desire tested him by asking the colors of her nails and lips, and Shade answered correctly before she approached the shore.

• Megan steered Shade across the lake in her specially modified boat, and they used a Witch Secret Art to stay connected in the fog.
• Shade invited Megan to a banquet and led her to the mudflat he had purified during their previous landing.
• Shade asked Megan to plug her ears, turn away, and wait while he opened the holy emblem and threw the black fragment into the lake.
• Desire caught the fragment beneath the water and asked Shade to identify the colors of her nails and lipstick.
• Shade answered that her nails were pomegranate red and her lipstick was Rose Madder, and Desire smiled as she moved closer to shore.

Shade met Desire at Green Lake and learned that the black sliver showed two connected souls separating, while Desire offered to reveal how to treat Megan’s hidden affliction in exchange for a kiss during the lunar eclipse. After Desire vanished, Megan kissed Shade herself, leaving the bargain’s outcome unresolved.

• Desire showed Shade an image of two pink lights splitting apart into golden and black lights, then challenged him to separate love from desire.
• Desire’s laughter affected Megan and Audrey despite their earplugs, but Shade restrained them with the Great Sin Chains.
• Desire proposed that Shade kiss the girl behind him during the lunar eclipse, promising help with Megan’s hidden affliction and protection on the island.
• Shade agreed to kiss Megan and Audrey during the eclipse, and Desire withdrew into the lake as a giant Mermaid.
• Shade released Megan and explained that Desire had left, but Megan noticed he had been affected and kissed him.