Asphodel Oletsky watches over the sleeping Antidote, observing her sparse, monastic room filled with bartered objects and the painted earhorn hanging on the wall. She reflects on mornings with her late mother in Hubbell, when they took turns mothering each other. At seven, she wakes the witch and begins making breakfast in her pantry, asserting her new role as apprentice.

Their conversation establishes boundaries: the Antidote refuses friendship and warns Asphodel that revealing her real name to a stranger could be a fatal mistake in this profession. Asphodel reveals her private plan—to become a prairie witch herself, earn money for the Dangers, and escape poverty.

The Antidote decides to test whether Asphodel can serve as a Vault. She seats her in the rocking chair, secures the earhorn against her ear, and instructs her to enter a trance by recalling how she escaped pain in her mind. Asphodel cannot disappear; instead she remembers her mother's funeral, the coffin, and the coroner's photograph of her mother's body in a ditch.

The Antidote deposits a memory anyway—a childhood birthday with her Nonna Onofria at the Orpheum theater in Omaha and an orchard of electric lights. Asphodel remembers every word, confirming she did not enter a trance. The Antidote tells her Vaults are born, not made, and that no one should aspire to be one. Asphodel insists her grief over her mother has already hollowed her into a Vault, and credits this hole for her basketball prowess.

Their argument is interrupted by violent pounding at the door and a threat to call the Sheriff. The Antidote, suddenly fearful, hides Asphodel in the closet and answers the door, greeting the visitor as "Mr. Boyet" with forced composure.