Chapter 10

In the middle of the night, Alex awakens outside Black Elm, barefoot and half-dressed, realizing she has been compelled there as if sleepwalking. Drawn upstairs despite resisting, she enters the ballroom and finds Darlington—horned, glowing, and collared—awake within the golden circle.

Darlington speaks lucidly and asks for books. When Alex slides them through, he explains stories are immutable across worlds, allowing them to pass. Testing his limits, he tosses a book back; Alex’s arm crosses the boundary without harm as her tattoos blaze and animate, revealing she can breach the circle.

Darlington admits he cannot exit; each attempt strips his humanity. He names Alex “Wheelwalker,” hints at witnessing Sandow’s punishment in a realm of greed, and warns the tether between worlds will snap—either trapping him in hell or unleashing his appetites. He begs Alex to find the Gauntlet and descend.

Dawes arrives and escorts Alex away. At Il Bastone, Alex recounts the encounter: Darlington’s plea, the greed-bound host, and the immutable nature of stories. Dawes reasons Darlington may be tied to a greed deity and that demons speak in puzzles, then focuses on the clue about stories.

Linking an Egyptian proverb over Sterling Library’s entrance, its cathedral-like “hallowed ground,” and ties to Yale secret societies involved in its construction, Alex and Dawes conclude the Gauntlet is concealed at Sterling Library. They affirm that the library itself is the portal to hell.