Jesper and Wylan leave Black Veil Island in disguise, then change into more respectable clothes before entering the university district. Jesper is uneasy without his revolvers, which were left at the Cumulus, and carries only a lesser pistol. Kaz and Matthias shadow the meeting because Jesper’s father may be bait, while Wylan comes along under the excuse of gathering supplies for his work on the weevil.

As Jesper and Wylan walk through the cleaner, quieter university quarter, Jesper stalls and reflects on the contrast with the Barrel. Jesper worries about facing Colm Fahey after years away, unpaid loans, and ruined studies, while Wylan speaks about Jan Van Eck’s contempt for the Barrel and for anything that does not fit his ideas of prosperity and discipline.

At the Boeksplein, Jesper sees Colm waiting in his best suit and realizes how out of place and vulnerable his father looks in Ketterdam. Colm greets Jesper with relief rather than anger, believing Jesper might have died after disappearing from school. Wylan awkwardly introduces himself, and the group is about to go to lunch when Colm begins asking about the Gemensbank loan and Jesper’s studies.

Gunfire suddenly erupts in the courtyard. Jesper pulls Colm and Wylan into cover, explains that the shooters are likely after him or his crew, and tries to get them to safety. Wylan identifies another way out through the reading room on the far side of the courtyard, so Jesper covers Wylan and Colm while they run. Jesper takes a minor wound to the shoulder, then shoots one of Wylan’s thrown devices in midair; Wylan’s bomb blasts the courtyard and disables the rooftop attackers long enough for Jesper to dive into the fountain and escape.

Inside the library, Jesper threatens a scholar into helping barricade the door, alarms students, briefly recognizes Madeleine Michaud from an abandoned breakfast promise, and follows Wylan into the rare books room. A frightened Squaller mistakes Wylan’s Shu appearance for a threat, but Wylan leads the group onward to a hidden passage behind a map of Ravka, a route Wylan discovered while meeting a tutor there.

As the group squeezes through the dark passage toward a printmaker’s shop, Jesper praises Wylan for surprising him. The excitement of the escape is undercut by Jesper’s realization that Colm could have been killed simply because Colm trusted Jesper. Jesper recognizes that, in Ketterdam, trusting the wrong person can be deadly.