Nina travels by rowboat with Kaz and Muzzen from Ketterdam toward Terrenjel, the island prison of Hellgate, feeling sick with dread at the thought of seeing Matthias. Kaz has dressed them in Barrel costumes, and Nina realizes other masked pleasure seekers are also arriving. Dime Lions take their money and guide them into the prison, revealing that access is part of an organized illicit spectacle rather than a straightforward prison break.

Inside Hellgate, Nina meets Inej, who entered earlier on a supply barge. Kaz explains only enough for Nina to understand that getting in is easier than getting out. The group descends into the old prison tower, where Nina sees cells for the worst prisoners and hears a chanting crowd before entering a gutted arena known as the Hellshow.

Nina watches in horror as prisoners are made to spin a wheel and fight deadly animals for the crowd’s entertainment. Kaz tells Nina that Pekka Rollins created the Hellshow with the knowledge of the Merchant Council, because it earns money. Nina remembers arriving in Ketterdam after testifying against Matthias, being courted by Pekka’s Dime Lions, and choosing Kaz’s offer instead after Inej came to her with better terms and a warning about Barrel survival.

Matthias is brought into the arena, and Nina is shaken by how much Hellgate has changed him. The wheel assigns him wolves, which horrifies Nina because wolves are sacred companions to Fjerdan drüskelle. Matthias survives by killing all three wolves, but Nina sees that the fight breaks him emotionally; when he is dragged away wounded and empty-eyed, Nina blames herself for what Hellgate has done to him.

After waiting for Matthias to be taken to a private cell and sedated by a medik, Kaz begins the extraction. Nina knocks out a guard, Inej and Muzzen disguise the body as a drunken reveler, and Kaz reveals he has been wearing a prison guard’s uniform beneath his costume. The group slips through the old tower to Matthias’ cell, where Kaz explains that Muzzen will take Matthias’ place and appear to have contracted firepox so the guards will quarantine him.

Nina uses her powers to copy Matthias’ injuries onto Muzzen and then creates severe swelling and pustules to make Muzzen unrecognizable. Inej prepares Muzzen as the substitute prisoner while Nina heals Matthias only enough to move, as Kaz orders. When Nina wakes Matthias gently and tells him they are there to free him, Matthias recognizes her, then suddenly pins Nina down and closes his hands around her throat.