Bree sprints through the cemetery while Sel’s conjured hellhound pursues her. Bree tries to reach the mausoleums for cover, but the hound corners Bree in a courtyard. Sel appears beside the construct and reveals that the chase was deliberate: Sel wanted to force Bree either to reveal her “true form” or kill Sel.

Sel accuses Bree of being Shadowborn, of faking the First Oath, of helping demons infiltrate the Order, and of endangering Nicholas. Sel explains that Sel can sense the Oaths Sel casts and feels none of Sel’s magic on Bree, proving to Sel that Bree was never bound. When Sel says Bree does not belong anywhere, Bree’s grief and anger surge, and Bree condemns Sel as a monster.

The confrontation is interrupted by three true Shadowborn hellfoxes emerging from the woods. Sel assumes Bree summoned them, but Bree insists they are not hers. Sel’s hellhound dissolves, and Sel prepares to fight by forming aether into crystalline staffs.

The hellfoxes scream and siphon the aether from Sel’s weapons, using Sel’s power to grow more solid and corporeal. Bree realizes Sel’s attacks are only feeding them and warns Sel to stop. As the danger escalates, Bree’s senses sharpen unnaturally, and crimson flames begin streaming from Bree’s fingertips, frightening both Bree and Sel.

When a hellfox lunges, Sel grabs Bree and carries Bree away at impossible speed to McCorkle Place. With the hellfoxes closing in, Sel casts hidden doors over the roots of an oak tree, opens an underground hiding place, throws Bree inside, drops in after Bree, and seals the doors above them.