Isabelle rests in a small apartment, recovering from what her host, a nurse named Eliana, believes was a partially collapsed lung brought on by a bad cold and physical exertion. Isabelle has been there for two days and worries that she only has seven days left to hike to Finisterre to meet Peter.

She calls her mother, who warns her not to return home because it is too dangerous. Her mother explains that Isabelle’s sister, Ana, has been sent to an aunt in Barcelona, while her brother, Xavier, is still with their father searching for her. Before hanging up, her mother tells Isabelle to look at the stars each night, and they will send love to each other via “Sagitta’s arrow,” calling Isabelle her “masterpiece” (205).

While struggling up a steep ascent to the hamlet of O Cebreiro, Reina recalls a conversation with her Uncle David from the previous day. By a river in the village of Molinaseca, David apologized for abandoning her after her father’s death, calling it his “second-greatest regret” (210). He explained that he couldn’t cope and drank for three years before finding his purpose at the Sanctuary of the Gods. He promised to never leave her again.

David also revealed the truth about Reina’s mother, Isabelle. She was not Portuguese but Andorran, and she was fleeing a violent family feud over mining rights and a proposed development in a town called Dur. This danger is why her parents lived secretly in Portugal and why her share of the mountain passed to Reina, making her a potential target. He clarified that Isabelle was not murdered; she died of a pulmonary embolism while pregnant with Reina’s would-be brother. David concluded by saying Isabelle had inspired his mission: in the Burgos Cathedral, she showed him a painting of his namesake, King David, and later, when he stopped to rest at Santuario de los Dioses, she came to him in a dream, and that was how he knew tending to God’s will was his calling. The weight of these revelations exhausts Reina as she continues her climb.

After Eliana drops her at a train station, believing she is leaving the Camino, Isabelle prepares to continue her journey on foot. She has six days to hike nearly 40 kilometers a day to reach Finisterre and meet Peter. Before setting out, she calls Senor Sansas, the head of the rival family, at his hotel in Santiago.

Sansas confirms that he blames Isabelle’s father for his sons’ deaths. Isabelle infers from the subtext of their conversation that he intends to exact two lives for two lives—hers and either Xavier’s or Ana’s. Isabelle proposes a deal: She will disappear forever and never cast her deciding vote on the disputed land if he spares her mother, brother, and sister. She intentionally omits her father from the agreement, sacrificing him to save the others and hoping he can protect himself. After a long silence, Sansas agrees to her terms. The call ends, and Isabelle collapses as a thunderstorm begins.

In O Cebreiro, Reina uses a clue from her father’s journal to find a secret hermitage once used by the Knights Templar. In the woods nearby, she is stung by a bee and, having left her EpiPen with her uncle, suffers a severe allergic reaction. She collapses, unable to breathe.

Matt, who realized she was missing and deduced her location from the journal, finds her just in time. He carries her to the stone hermitage to shelter from the rain and works to keep her conscious by telling jokes, flicking her cheek, chafing her neck with his beard, calling her “Velma,” and humming the Scooby-Doo theme song. He tells her about his older sister, Fiona, who has an intellectual disability and lives in a residential community he supports. When Reina mentions her wedding plans with her fiancé, John, they joke about his idea to hold the ceremony in a pub. Eventually, their friend Tuck, sent by a worried Nicole, arrives to help. As Matt and Tuck enter the hermitage, Reina tries to stand but falls, collapsing in front of them.

Soaked from persistent rain and weakened by her worsening cough, Isabelle struggles onward. The bargain she made with Senor Sansas weighs on her: by agreeing to never return home, she has given up her identity and any chance of legal citizenship. She realizes she cannot ask Peter to sacrifice his life in the United States to live with her as a fugitive.

In the town of Monforte de Lemos, she stops at a church to pray for guidance but feels nothing. In the church graveyard afterward, she sees an epitaph on a headstone: “I WAS ONCE WHAT YOU ARE NOW. / YOU WILL ONE DAY BE WHAT I AM NOW.” (237) The message prompts her to act. Understanding she is in serious trouble and needs help, she decides to call her friend Gemma.

Reina recovers in a hospital in Lugo. After her rescue, a local hotelkeeper drove her there. The medical staff has treated her reaction, drained her blisters, and removed the fluid from her swollen knee. A doctor notes that bee venom is sometimes used to treat stress and inflammation, which may explain her rejuvenated state.

After her release, Reina travels to Sarria, where she receives a call from her fiancé, John. As he details his plans for a 200-guest wedding at a pub, Reina realizes she cannot marry him. She ends their engagement, telling him she is not returning to New York and is considering going to Andorra to learn about her family. John hangs up, blaming the Camino for changing her. Reina feels an overwhelming sense of relief.

At a train station, Isabelle’s friend Gemma arrives and is shocked by Isabelle’s frail and sickly appearance. Isabelle is grief-stricken, knowing that today was the day she was supposed to meet Peter in Finisterre. She is too ill to continue, and her impossible situation makes any future with him seem out of reach. Gemma comforts her distraught friend.

In Portomarín, Reina’s group plays poker. Reina, having learned Matt’s tells, successfully bluffs him out of a large pot. Her Uncle David proudly calls her “a chip off the old block,” (249) a phrase her father used. When Matt’s friends Nicole and Cami rejoin the group, Nicole makes up with Matt, and Reina feels a surprising pang of jealousy, which she dismisses as misplaced gratitude for her rescue.

Later, Matt jokingly calls a sleeping pilgrim “Camino-tose,” a pun that reminds Reina of “Cat-a-tonic,” the title of an article he supposedly stole from their coworker Karen. Realizing Karen’s writing was never so clever, Reina checks the magazine’s archives online. She discovers that Matt had been ghostwriting Karen’s articles for over a year to help her as she struggled, and Brenda likely changed the byline to give him proper credit. Stunned by how badly she misjudged him, she confides in David, who advises her to forgive her mistakes and move on.

Isabelle wakes from a feverish nightmare in a hospital in Porto, Portugal. Her friend Gemma is with her. A doctor explains that she had advanced pneumonia but is responding to antibiotics. To protect her, Gemma’s uncle, a hospital director, has had her admitted under the false name Joan Silva.

It is the day she was supposed to meet Peter at Finisterre. Heartbroken, Isabelle imagines him waiting for her. She feels defeated, believing she has lost her home, her identity, and any chance of a future with the man she loves. Gemma attempts to reassure her, but Isabelle sees no way for things to work out.