City of Gods and Monsters

Loren is astonished to hear her “true name” for the first time. The creature, called the Widow, explains that Loren is the daughter of Erasmus Sophronia, “the creator of the Magnum Opus himself” (548). Loren is confused, as Erasmus died a millennium before, but the Widow doesn’t have other information. Loren asks the Widow to bring Singer back from the dead. The Widow refuses but offers to answer one of Loren’s questions. The Widow rejects her initial question, but when Loren compels the creature using her true name, the Widow explains that Erasmus used the true name of an “infernal being” to compel it to give him access to the prima materia. The Well cannot be destroyed; the Widow urges Loren to look “inside [herself]” to find the Well. (Loren learns that her father’s power is in her aura, though she uses it to call upon the God of Lies, not to fully recreate the Well.)

The Widow warns Loren that if she uses magic, she will die, but Loren counters that she doesn’t have any magic. The Widow argues that Loren’s pendant, which she’s had since childhood, marks her as special. She urges Loren that her “only chance” is to “wish upon the Liar” (550).