Inej and Kaz leave West Stave in disguise, moving through Ketterdam’s warehouse district toward one of Kaz’s safe houses. As they pass the Weft and Sweet Reef, Inej reflects on her first terrified days after leaving the Menagerie, her knowledge of the city’s rooftops, and the painful sight of a warehouse sign advertising “Rare Spices” with painted Suli girls that reminds her of slavery and exploitation.

They hide in a burned-out linen storehouse, where Kaz has stashed food and water. Inej worries about the explosions on the Stave and the safety of the others. Kaz asks whether Van Eck hurt her, but Inej lies and says no, unable to explain that Van Eck damaged her trust by proving how Kaz sees her as an asset. Kaz leaves briefly to gather information near the silos, then returns at sunset and takes Inej back to Black Veil.

At the tomb, Inej is joyfully reunited with Nina, Jesper, Matthias, Wylan, and Kuwei. The crew explains that Shu attackers with mechanical wings and enhanced bodies hunted Grisha on the Stave. Kuwei identifies them as Kherguud: soldiers created by the Shu using experiments on Fabrikators sickened by jurda parem. The group realizes the Shu may be capturing Grisha in Ketterdam and that earlier disappearances, including Emil Retvenko’s, may be connected. Kaz also reveals that the Council of Tides has dry-docked two Shu warships by pulling back the sea, a warning that may temporarily restrain the Shu.

Kaz shifts the group back to revenge against Van Eck. He reveals that he sold his shares in Fifth Harbor and the Crow Club to Pekka Rollins and used the money to buy sugar shares for the crew, then secretly bought similar shares in Alys Van Eck’s name. His plan is to destroy the sugar stored in Van Eck’s Sweet Reef silos with Wylan and Kuwei’s chemical “weevil,” causing sugar prices to soar and making it look as if Van Eck profited from sabotaging merchants who trusted him. The result would ruin Van Eck’s reputation, fortune, and trading rights, while making the crew rich enough to recover what Van Eck stole from them.

The silo plan requires Inej to climb one twenty-story silo and cross between the others on a high wire to place the weevil. Kaz says he has arranged a net, but Inej resists needing one. Nina then refuses to help unless the crew also evacuates Ketterdam’s endangered Grisha. Inej backs Nina, forcing Kaz to adjust the plan: they will use one of Van Eck’s own Ravka-bound ships, forged documents, and Van Eck’s seal to smuggle the refugees and Kuwei out of the city.

The new rescue plan creates another obstacle because Van Eck keeps his seal in a reinforced safe with a changing combination. Wylan proposes making auric acid from ingredients found at an ironworks and a quarry, a dangerous corrosive capable of burning through Grisha steel. Kaz assigns tasks for the coming night: choose a ship, forge papers, acquire materials, break into Van Eck’s safe, move the Grisha to the docks, and still hit the silos. When Kaz worries there will not be enough people to manage Inej’s safety net, Inej ends the discussion by insisting again that she does not work with a net.