Chapter Summaries

Shade and Miss Bayes secretly interrogated Baron Herle and uncovered his long sponsorship of Blood of Mercury. After Miss Bayes met Shade to offer compensation, a threatening Ring Arcanist appeared at the alley entrance.

• Shade and Miss Bayes lured Baron Herle into a broom closet, where Miss Bayes interrogated him while Shade impersonated Military Intelligence Section Six.
• Baron Herle revealed that he had funded Blood of Mercury for thirteen years in exchange for potions, and Miss Bayes used a memory-erasing Relic before letting him return to the salon.
• Shade left Duke Lucas's residence and walked toward a carriage stand, but Miss Bayes pulled him into a dark alley to offer compensation.
• Miss Bayes refused to share details of her investigation, then stepped between Shade and a deathly pale man who appeared at the alley entrance.
• Shade's whisper identified the man as a Ring Arcanist using the power of a Relic.

Shade investigated an alley while Miss Bayes fought a grave robber connected to the Silver-Eyed One, and he discovered a relic hidden in a wall. After Miss Bayes won, Shade revealed that he was a First Ring Arcanist.

• Miss Bayes told Shade to leave so she could face the grave robber, and Shade retreated through the alley.
• A controlled corpse blocked Shade's way, but he cut it in two with Silver Moonlight.
• A ghost emerged from the wall and pointed Shade toward a hidden relic; he pulled out a brick and found a carved finger bone wrapped in newspaper.
• Shade heard the grave robber scream and the Sunlight Gun flare, then waited for Miss Bayes to arrive with the defeated man's corpse.
• When Miss Bayes questioned whether he was ordinary, Shade introduced himself as a correspondence First Ring Arcanist of Saint Byrens Comprehensive College.

Shade and Miss Bayes tested his nature with the Scales, then renewed their cooperation after he revealed that he was a Ring Arcanist. Miss Bayes shared what she had learned about Blood of Mercury and gave Shade until Tuesday to search for the Falsified Philosopher's Stone through two new leads.

• Miss Bayes used her Destiny Ring's Scales to question Shade, whose answers suggested extraordinary goodness and order before the Scales overturned at the final question.
• Miss Bayes took Shade to his home, where he admitted he was a correspondence Ring Arcanist and confirmed his Military Intelligence Section Six connection; she agreed to keep working with him.
• Shade asked Miss Bayes about The Truth Society and described a symbol he had encountered, which she agreed to investigate in the Church library.
• Miss Bayes told Shade that Baron Herle had revealed two people who might possess Blood of Mercury relics: Mr. Pangdun and Mr. Roosevelt.
• Miss Bayes agreed to delay reporting the two names to The Church until Tuesday so Shade could search for the Falsified Philosopher's Stone, provided he did not take other relics or alert the suspects.

Shade and Miss Bayes identified the relic Undead Corpse Remains and agreed to sell it, while Miss Bayes warned him about recent dangers in the city. Shade kept his connection to those events secret and learned that Iluna Bayes was only seventeen.

• Shade placed the finger bone on the table and asked Miss Bayes about its powers.
• Miss Bayes explained that the relic could grant near-immortality but would gradually turn its user into an undead corpse.
• Shade and Miss Bayes agreed to sell the relic and split the money.
• Miss Bayes warned Shade that an evil god had gazed upon the city and an unknown High-Ring Arcanist had deployed a near-Miracle Mystic Lock.
• Shade promised to be careful but withheld his connection to the recent events, then learned that Iluna Bayes was seventeen.

Shade gave Doctor Schneider leads on two people connected to Blood of Mercury, then visited Old John's pawnshop to buy a Time Key and sell the Undead Corpse Remains. Old John proposed trading the relic for a rare sheet of Witch's Copy Paper, whose supernatural effect he explained.

• Shade told Doctor Schneider that Mr. Pangdun and Mr. Roosevelt were likely hiding relics for Blood of Mercury, and agreed to join the doctor and Louisa in investigating them that evening.
• Shade visited Old John's pawnshop and bought a Time Key corresponding to around the year 3002 of the Fifth Epoch for twenty-three pounds and fifteen shillings.
• Shade offered Old John the Keeper of Secrets Level relic Undead Corpse Remains, which Old John recognized and verified.
• Old John suggested trading the finger bone instead of paying cash and introduced the Keeper of Secrets Level relic Witch's Copy Paper, which could copy supernatural abilities being cast.

Shade visited Old John Pawnshop, where he considered trading for Witch's Copy Paper, then went to Blackstone Security Company to find Miss Bayes. He met her at the company and followed her to a resting room to talk.

• Shade learned that drinking Ash Water caused intense mental contamination and considered trading two sheets of Witch's Copy Paper for one of his finger bones, but delayed because the bone belonged to someone else.
• Shade paid Old John for the Time Key and left, deciding to visit Miss Bayes at Blackstone Security Company before reporting to Military Intelligence Section Six.
• Shade arrived at Blackstone Security Company and told the receptionist he was looking for Miss Iluna Bayes.
• The company's white Cat took a liking to Shade, and Miss Bayes greeted him and led him to an unused resting room.
• Miss Bayes asked Shade why he had come to see her so soon after their previous meeting.

Shade traded the Corpse Finger Bone for two pages of Witch's Copy Paper and gave one to Miss Bayes, then failed to use his new Time Key while still in the Father of Infinite Tree's mission. He collected his Military Intelligence Section Six identification and a Luger Revolver from Giles Johnson.

• Shade exchanged the Corpse Finger Bone for two pages of Witch's Copy Paper and gave one to Miss Bayes, who invited him to visit the Black Raven Library and mentioned Hogg Lundell's arrival.
• Shade returned home, where Mia smelled that he had recently held another cat, then discovered that he could not use his new Time Key until his current mission ended.
• Shade visited the City Waste Management Center, Military Intelligence Section Six's disguised base, and followed directions to the Equipment Maintenance Department.
• Giles Johnson gave Shade his Military Intelligence Section Six identification and explained that he would handle Shade's affairs.
• Giles Johnson issued Shade a six-round Luger Revolver, which Shade inspected and tested by pulling its trigger.

Shade completed the paperwork to join Military Intelligence Section Six and learned about several investigations and security concerns in Tobesk. He left wondering why Miss Galina had helped him so generously.

• Mr. Johnson gave Shade his firearm license, ammunition, enlistment form, and tax-withholding declaration, and Shade signed the documents as Sherlock Holmes.
• Mr. Johnson explained Shade’s salary and reimbursement rules, then told him to report information about the Drake Type II Steam Bomb explosion and the missing children case.
• Mr. Johnson warned Shade that a secret organization might target Queen Diana at Tobesk Station on Wednesday, though Gray Gloves denied planning an attack.
• Shade officially joined Military Intelligence Section Six and wondered what Miss Galina’s motive was for arranging the position.

Shade, Doctor Schneider, and Miss Louisa investigated two people linked to Blood of Mercury, but found no useful lead at the nursing home. At Mr. Pangdun’s house, they discovered that everyone was dead and followed the killer’s blood trail inside, where they found more victims and suspicious antique silverware.

• Doctor Schneider searched accountant Roosevelt’s dream and learned that Roosevelt helped Blood of Mercury fence stolen goods but knew nothing else about the group.
• The three went to Mr. Pangdun’s house, where Doctor Schneider found that everyone inside had been killed.
• Shade noticed faint blood traces leading farther into the house, and the group followed them past a servant’s body in the foyer.
• They found a fifteen-year-old boy dead in the dining room, his throat cut with a sharp weapon.
• Miss Louisa discovered antique silverware from the Norov Dynasty in a kitchen cupboard.

Shade, Doctor Schneider, and Miss Louisa investigated a brutal murder at Mr. Pangdun’s house and followed the killer’s blood trail through the victims and rooms. They found Pangdun dead in his study, then a knife-wielding man appeared behind Miss Louisa.

• Shade, Doctor Schneider, and Miss Louisa examined the maid and a boy killed in the house, noting valuable silverware and signs that the owner was not as wealthy as his possessions suggested.
• The three found an old woman and a housewife dead on the stairs, and Doctor Schneider concluded that a Ring Arcanist had killed them with a curse.
• Shade and the others followed the blood trail upstairs, where they found a teenage girl dead and Doctor Schneider prayed for her.
• The group tracked the blood to the third floor and discovered Mr. Pangdun dead in his study from the Brain Shatter curse, with account books on his desk.
• Shade spotted a figure in the corridor, and a man appeared behind Miss Louisa with a short knife as lightning lit the study.

Shade, Miss Louisa, and Doctor Schneider captured the knife-wielding murderer and discovered that his uncontrollable Magic Eye had no effect on Shade. While Doctor Schneider entered the man’s dream to question him, Shade removed the eye and sealed it in a bottle, and Miss Louisa prepared to kill the murderer for the innocent maid he had slain.

• Doctor Schneider and Miss Louisa ambushed the knife-wielding man, who fled into Shade’s silver mist before Miss Louisa drove him back.
• The man exposed his Magic Eye, but Shade remained unaffected, allowing Doctor Schneider to put him to sleep and enter his dream.
• Miss Louisa guessed that Mr. Pangdun had embezzled money from Blood of Mercury, prompting the murder.
• At Miss Louisa’s request, Shade pulled the Magic Eye from the unconscious man and sealed it in a bottle, where it stopped moving.
• Miss Louisa explained that Magic Eyes were dangerous relics and said they would kill the murderer after Doctor Schneider learned what he knew.

After the doctor learned the truth about Earl's Left Eye and the Silver-Eyed One's weakened position, he revealed that he knew where God's Gift Box was hidden. The relic lay fixed in ruins beneath Tobesk, and Shade recognized the excavated entrance as being close to where he had found the statue of the Old God, Vampire Duke Lawell.

• Doctor Schneider explained that Earl's Left Eye was a relic that could mentally shock weaker targets, and Shade kept it after Miss Louisa declined it.
• Doctor Schneider said the Silver-Eyed One had sent the dead man to silence Pang Dun and that the man knew nothing of the Silver-Eyed One's hiding place.
• Doctor Schneider killed the assassin, and Miss Louisa used Thought Writing to leave an account of the night's events for the Church.
• Doctor Schneider told Shade he knew the location of God's Gift Box and realized that Shade and Miss Louisa had confronted an evil god in Tobesk.
• Doctor Schneider revealed that Blood of Mercury had found ancient ruins beneath Tobesk, where God's Gift Box remained fixed to a pedestal.
• Shade recognized the ruins' entrance as being one street from the alley where he had found the statue of Vampire Duke Lawell.

Shade and Miss Louisa visited Old John's pawnshop, where Shade arranged for him to find a buyer for the Magic Eye. Back home, Shade stored two dangerous relics behind the basement's Hidden Wall, treating the house as a safe place while reflecting that trouble might be what drove Chosen Ones to power.

• Shade and Miss Louisa agreed to sell the information about the underground ruins after the Doctor obtained the Falsified Philosopher's Stone, then left Mr. Pangdun's neighborhood separately from the Doctor.
• Miss Louisa took Shade to Old John's pawnshop, where Old John showed Shade a photograph of a living leech relic and mentioned that Annette was seeking a disaster-linked box with a bell inside.
• Old John gave Miss Louisa the ink-erasing brush she had ordered and offered Shade a ten percent fee to find a buyer for the Magic Eye he brought in.
• Shade returned home, welcomed his orange cat, and stored Earl's Left Eye and Witch's Copy Paper behind the Hidden Wall in the basement.
• Shade reflected on the danger and rewards of his life as a Ring Arcanist and thought that Miss Bayes might possess many relics and considerable wealth.

Shade accepted Mrs. Lemmer’s commission to investigate whether a lawyer offering her a 50-pound inheritance was legitimate. He spent the rest of Tuesday trying to learn how to bathe Mia and visiting the Seer Association, but Miss Annette was absent.

• Shade tricked Mia into letting him pick her up, then met Mrs. Lemmer, who hired him to investigate the lawyer handling her late relative Jonathan Lemmer’s inheritance.
• Shade agreed that Mrs. Lemmer would pay five shillings if the lawyer was a fraud, or five pounds if Shade accompanied her to collect the inheritance.
• Shade took Mia to Good Man Peter’s Pet Shop to ask about bathing her, and the shop owner told him that his wife and Miss Cindy had run off together.
• Shade had lunch with Mia and went to the Seer Association to tell Miss Annette about his recent contact with Miss Bayes, but learned that Miss Annette was away.

Shade visited the Seer Association and received a tea-leaf divination from its president, Addis Stan, about his client Mrs. Lemmer. Stan also divined Shade’s future and saw him as a sword-bearing knight, leaving Shade baffled by the prediction.

• Shade accepted Vice President Mark’s recommendation to meet the association president, Addis Stan, for a divination.
• Shade met Stan and recognized him as a Ring Arcanist when their hands touched.
• Shade asked Stan to divine whether Mrs. Lemmer would safely obtain a large sum of money, and Stan’s tea-leaf reading gave a favorable result.
• Stan said his divination of Shade had shown him becoming a sword-bearing knight, and Shade wondered how that could happen in the Steam Epoch.

After a divination at the Seer Association, Shade returned home and unexpectedly hosted Iluna Bayes, who was assigned to watch Yodel Palace for suspicious Ring Arcanists. Iluna spent the afternoon observing the palace from Shade’s window, and she left that evening without incident.

• Mr. Stan warned Shade that the divination about becoming a knight might be metaphorical or incorrect, and Mr. Mark invited him to future Seer Association gatherings.
• Shade left the Seer Association and encountered Iluna Bayes near Silver Cross Avenue, then met her again at his home half an hour later.
• Iluna explained that the royal family had hired Blackstone Security Company and Church Ring Arcanists to monitor Yodel Palace for a week.
• Iluna asked to stay at Shade’s home during her shift, and Shade agreed after telling her not to force Mia to go with her.
• Iluna watched Yodel Palace from Shade’s kitchen window while Shade read and chatted with her, and she left that evening without anything happening.

Shade told Miss Bayes about the investigation into the Silver-Eyed One and God's Gift Box, then learned more about Church investigations and the diviner Addis Stan. Their afternoon conversation turned to Shade’s subtly changed appearance and Miss Bayes’s suspicions about the beautiful diviner Annette, leaving Shade to realize that Miss Bayes thought he often avoided her.

• Shade told Miss Bayes that the captured assassin did not know the Silver-Eyed One’s location, but confirmed the injured enemy distrusted his own organization, and that the group had found God's Gift Box.
• Shade suggested coordinating when to reveal the Sage Level Relic’s location so The Church and the Academy could both receive rewards, while Miss Bayes described the Church’s investigations and the powerful Ring Arcanists expected in Tobesk.
• Miss Bayes explained that Addis Stan was an exceptionally capable diviner, and Shade said Stan had divined that he would see a knight.
• Miss Bayes pointed out that Shade’s face looked subtly more handsome than when they first met, and Shade wondered whether his soul had changed his body.
• Miss Bayes offered to introduce Shade to Annette, then wondered aloud whether the diviner liked her; Shade changed the subject, and Miss Bayes observed that he seemed to avoid approaching her.

Miss Bayes gave Shade a one-use Sunlight Gun brooch as a gift and explained that she considered him a friend. The next morning, Shade went to Dawn Church to collect a potion and met Bishop Kanas Owen, whom Priest Augustus introduced as the young man he had praised.

• Miss Bayes gave Shade a golden Sun Sigil brooch that could fire a Sunlight Gun once without consuming spirit.
• Miss Bayes said she trusted Shade and hoped he would help her in the future, leaving Shade uneasy about hiding his motives from her.
• Shade waited for the Black-Haired Maid to arrive with the White Stone Crystal and a relic, but no one visited before he went to sleep.
• Priest Augustus sent Shade a letter saying the Price of Growth potion and its supplementary materials were ready, and asked him to visit Dawn Church.
• Priest Augustus introduced Shade to Bishop Kanas Owen outside Dawn Church.

Shade met Bishop Owen and Priest Augustus outside Dawn Church and discussed the church’s Saint Prayer Festival commemorative coin giveaway. His questions about the world’s name impressed the bishop, who invited him to learn more about Mister Dawn’s faith, while Shade remained uncertain about his own beliefs.

• Bishop Owen and Priest Augustus showed Shade the commemorative coin Dawn Church planned to distribute during the Saint Prayer Festival.
• Shade praised the giveaway and suggested advertising it in advance and distributing the coins in time slots to manage crowds.
• Bishop Owen asked Shade whether he had studied theology, and Priest Augustus described Shade’s thoughtful questions.
• Shade asked whether their world had a name, arguing that its lack of one suggested people believed it was unique.
• Bishop Owen praised Shade’s theological speculation and asked which god he believed in.
• Shade called himself a casual believer of Lady of Creation, and Bishop Owen encouraged him to consider following Mister Dawn.

Shade learned that the Wall of the Faithless might be real, collected the potion "Price of Growth," and asked Priest Augustus to investigate an ancient symbol tied to Ring Arcanists. He then went to find Locke Laurel, but a drunken neighbor answered the door instead.

• Shade asked Priest Augustus whether the Wall of the Faithless existed and said he would consider choosing a faith.
• Priest Augustus gave Shade the potion "Price of Growth" and agreed to look into the ancient symbol Shade had drawn.
• Shade hid the potion and its materials behind the Hidden Wall in his basement, then greeted Little Mia.
• Shade went to Locke Laurel's North District address to investigate the lawyer, but a drunken neighbor opened the door and complained about the knocking.