Liff dreams beside a perfectly repeating pool whose ripples are disrupted by Gothi and Gethli. The Corvids tell Liff that the pattern cannot end until Liff does what the Witch wants, and they imply that Liff and Liff’s supposed grandfather are central to a paradox. Gothi also says Liff can stop Gethli’s interference, suggesting Liff has agency in the repeating or unstable reality.

Liff wakes in Portia’s house, disoriented by being in a farm that both is and is not familiar. Liff overhears Miranda, Portia, and Fabian discussing Liff as an anomaly, especially the contradictions around Liff’s family, dead or living parents, and a grandfather who cannot be what Liff remembers. Their reasoning frightens Liff because it makes Liff feel fundamentally unreal or impossible.

Liff opens the shutters to the storm-dark night and says that the outsiders are here but Liff cannot bring them to the Witch. Miranda catches Liff at the window, and Liff briefly sees Miranda as a monstrous, shifting composite before Miranda’s concern and kindness reassert themselves. Before Liff can ask where Miranda truly comes from, Miranda notices a figure outside.

The Witch, whom Miranda identifies as Kern, stands at the edge of the house’s light with one Corvid on her shoulder and the other circling nearby. Miranda closes the shutters and brings Liff downstairs to Portia and Fabian. The Witch knocks and demands that Liff open the door, promising to restore everything as it was, including the grandfather Liff wanted back, if Liff invites the Witch inside.

Liff senses that the Witch cannot cross the threshold without an invitation, though Liff also believes no one could stop Liff from opening the door. The Witch grows more threatening, asking whether Miranda wants her to call up other allies and referring to Miranda’s forgotten “baggage,” which confuses everyone. As the storm intensifies overhead, Miranda points again to the unnatural weather, and the Witch shouts that she knows where Miranda’s bodies are buried.