The next day as Evangeline and Marisol explore the North, they overhear people whispering about what it looked like Evangeline did with Jacks at the party last night. The rumors don’t bother Evangeline, but they’re a constant reminder of the strange kiss with Apollo and how little she knows about Jack’s motives. She buys a smoked apple from a vender. The first bite tastes like Jacks’s blood, and she loses her appetite. That night is the first of Nocte Neverending. After Evangeline finishes getting ready, she finds Marisol clutching a gossip sheet telling readers to “beware the cursed bride” (127).

The gossip sheet claims Marisol is there to ruin Nocte Neverending and turn Evangeline back to stone. Marisol doesn’t want to attend Nocte Neverending now, but Evangeline convinces her to go and prove the gossip sheets wrong. Marisol agrees to go and reaches out to touch the flowers on Evangeline’s dress. One rips off, and Evangeline’s old doubts about Marisol resurface.

Evangeline intentionally forgets her gloves and races back to get them and check Marisol’s room for spell books. She doesn’t find any, but Marisol comes back to find Evangeline searching her room.