The Antidote returns to her room at the Country Jentleman after spending a fruitless night searching for Cherry Le Foy. She is exhausted and guilt-ridden, fearing the worst has happened to Cherry. On the third floor, she finds a girl waiting outside her door: Asphodel Oletsky, the niece of Harp Oletsky, who had earlier helped her with her horse at the market.

Asphodel, dressed in basketball clothes and wearing a necklace of antelope and jackrabbit teeth, declares she is not a customer but wants a job. She tells the Antidote that her uncle revealed the witch's identity, and she believes she herself is a Vault, a prairie witch, and asks to become an apprentice. The Antidote tries to dismiss her, recalling her own teacher Kettle's instructions on how to enter and return from trance states, but refuses to teach Asphodel.

When the Antidote orders her to leave and threatens to call the Sheriff, Asphodel refuses, wedging herself into a corner. The Antidote learns that Asphodel is fifteen, from Hubbell, Nebraska, and that her mother was murdered two summers ago, allegedly by the Lucky Rabbit's Foot Killer. Recognizing something of herself, Cherry, and other witches in the girl, and worn down by exhaustion and pity, the Antidote relents and allows Asphodel to stay until sunrise, despite an inner warning voice from her future self.