Harp Oletsky travels to Genoa at daybreak to find the Counselor, the ancient Vault to whom his father Tomasz once entrusted a memory deposit. The Counselor, nearing one hundred, receives him with irritation and recognizes the Antidote's name dismissively, calling her and her fellow Vaults-in-training trouble. Harp confirms the Antidote sent him and that she is in trouble.

Harp presents the deposit slip and asks whether the Counselor is still functional. She reveals that Genoa was on the edge of the dust storm's path and so she survived intact, but every other Vault she knows from Black Mesa to McCook has gone bust during Black Sunday. This confirms the Antidote's suspicion that she is part of a much wider collapse of the Vaults.

The Counselor refuses to speculate on causes, noting that madness only fuels her business now that her competition has been wiped out. She reports that Cherry Le Foy, also known as Madame Quicksand, has been missing for two months, and warns that mobs are turning on emptied witches—one young Vault was recently killed in Kimball by angry customers. She urges Harp to warn the Antidote.

The Counselor then prepares her scarlet ear trumpet and instructs Harp to speak into the receiver to withdraw his father's memory. The withdrawal is excruciating—Harp feels split open from stomach to neck as the light of Tomasz Oletsky's hidden days pours into him.