Inej begins the dangerous climb up the Ice Court incinerator shaft, aiming to reach the roof and secure the rope for the others. Because the walls are too hot to touch, Wylan and Jesper have helped her retrieve Kaz’s gloves, whose hidden fingertip slits reveal his need for touch without direct contact. Inej climbs despite the heat, the heavy rope, and the pressure of the crew’s survival depending on her.

The climb quickly turns desperate when Inej realizes the rubber soles of her treasured climbing shoes are melting against the hot bricks. Her feet slip, her muscles shake, and the sky above seems impossibly far away. As exhaustion and fear overwhelm her, Inej blames Kaz’s ambition and her own decision to follow him, questioning whether she came for money, freedom, or because she has feelings for Kaz.

The chapter shifts into Inej’s memory of the night Kaz came to Tante Heleen’s salon at the Menagerie. Inej expected punishment, but Heleen revealed that Per Haskell had paid off Inej’s indenture. Kaz explained that he wanted Inej to join the Dregs as a spy because she could move silently, climb, observe, and become invisible in a way even Kaz had not anticipated.

Kaz made clear that the offer was not kindness or safety: Inej would owe Haskell money under a new contract, but the terms would be more honest than Heleen’s fraudulent indenture. His refusal to offer comforting lies helped Inej trust him. Inej accepted, and Kaz led her out of the Menagerie, beginning her transformation into the Wraith.

Back in the incinerator, Inej recognizes that trusting Kaz and his legend has brought her to this near-death moment, but she also realizes that she has lacked a true aim of her own. She fears returning to her parents because of everything she has endured and done to survive. When rain begins to fall, it cools her face, hardens the rubber on her shoes, and gives her just enough relief to continue.

The rain renews Inej physically and spiritually, but it also awakens a sharper purpose. Inej imagines using her share of the reward to buy a ship and hunt slavers and their buyers. Reclaiming her full name and identity, Inej climbs onward, no longer merely Kaz’s Wraith but Inej Ghafa, moving toward a future she has finally begun to define.