Gideon wakes in the Ninth House quarters at Canaan House, surrounded by decayed luxury far richer than anything at Drearburh. Harrowhark has already left notes ordering Gideon not to speak to anyone, explaining that Harrowhark has taken Gideon’s iron ring, and instructing Gideon to repaint her face properly. Annoyed but bound by Harrowhark’s orders, Gideon cleans up, applies Ninth death’s-head paint, arms herself, and goes out to explore.

Gideon follows the smell of food to a large dining hall, where skeleton servants provide soup, bread, and tea with impressive precision. Gideon silently observes Magnus Quinn of the Fifth House and two awestruck Fourth House teenagers. Magnus politely introduces himself, but Gideon obeys Harrowhark’s order not to speak; after Gideon only nods, Magnus accepts the exchange gracefully and shepherds the embarrassed Fourth youths away.

With no clear orders beyond silence, Gideon wanders through Canaan House. The building appears beautiful, huge, confusing, and dangerously rotten, full of strange doors, half-collapsed floors, courtyards, stairs, and sea-facing ruins. Descending into darker levels, Gideon finds a chemical-smelling chamber dominated by a filthy rectangular pit and, beyond glass doors, an old training room with rusted swords and a large mirror.

Near the stairs, Gideon notices a tapestry hiding another door. Behind it lies a lit corridor leading to a massive black-stone locked door decorated with an unfamiliar five-circle relief, skulls, and carved scaled forms. Gideon cannot open it, but curiosity and old Ninth habits lead Gideon to cover the entrance again with the tapestry, concealing it from others.

Voices approach, so Gideon hides in the stairwell and overhears the Third House discussing the trial, the missing shuttles, and whether the whole situation is a hazing, conspiracy, or protocol test. Coronabeth and Ianthe trade insults while their cavalier Naberius tries to defend Coronabeth and is sharply disciplined by her for disrespecting Ianthe. As the others enter the pit room, Ianthe detects Gideon in the shadows and quietly warns Gideon not to attract the necromancer of the Third House’s attention.