Reverie arrives at Craig Matthews’s crowded house party and finds Dread playing beer pong with a student named Stacy Clark. When Dread summons her, she sees that Stacy is dressed as one of Lionel’s murder victims, Georgia Farrell, complete with a fake slit throat and the date of the murder written on her shirt. After making out with Stacy while staring at Reverie, Dread texts her a warning not to leave.

Reverie discovers other girls at the party are also dressed as Lionel’s victims, including Eleanor Lamb, Johanna Rivers, and Rebecca Jenkins. Seeking refuge, Reverie slips into the pool house, where a television is playing an old interview—conducted after Lionel’s arrest and later broadcast heavily during his trial—featuring talk show host Connor Boredman with a young Reverie and her parents, Lionel and Regina. Suddenly, about a dozen girls dressed as victims surround the pool house and press against the windows, staring at her silently. Reverie tries to find another exit but discovers all the other doors are locked. She enters the only unlocked room and finds Dread waiting for her on the bed, casually holding a knife covered in fake blood.

Dread confronts Reverie, sarcastically wishing her a happy birthday and telling her the interview turned the public against him during the trial. He holds the knife to her throat, removes her jacket, then uses the blunt side of the blade to fake-slash her throat, leaving a trail of fake blood. He replaces the knife with a black Sharpie and writes the date of his mother Katherine Sharpe’s disappearance, 03/18/11, on her T-shirt before releasing her. Stacy and the other girls then lead Reverie into the woods behind the house, where a shallow grave has been dug. They throw her into the hole. One by one, each girl throws a handful of dirt onto Reverie, saying “Rest in peace” followed by the name of the victim she represents. When they finish, Dread appears at the foot of the grave. He throws a final handful of dirt on her, says, “Rest in peace, Mom” (120), and walks away, leaving her alone in the pit. Reverie thinks that “[t]his is the worst part of hating Dread—hating what happened to him, too” (109).

Three nights after the party, Reverie emerges from her dorm room and goes to the campus library to work on transfer paperwork for a criminal justice program in London. There, she is approached by Roxi Jenkins, a fellow senior who introduces herself as Lionel’s girlfriend—a woman the same age as Reverie whom Lionel met through a prison dating app. Roxi speaks enthusiastically about their plans to move near Reverie after graduation and have children, until Reverie abruptly stands and ends the conversation.

Afterward, Reverie goes to Sable’s house and calls Barry, her FBI contact, to report the situation. Barry believes Lionel deliberately targeted Roxi because of her connection to Reverie. He theorizes that the copycat murderer—whose cuts are cleaner and more methodical than Lionel’s passionate, jagged ones—is someone Lionel trained before his arrest to kill and further discredit the case against him. Reverie is left weighing whether to proceed with transferring to London or stay and protect Roxi. Later, she thinks, “I feel their blood soaking my hands, and I can’t go through life pretending it’s not when everything I touch leaves behind a scarlet stain” (133).

The perspective shifts to Dread, two weeks after the party. He returned to campus after a swim meet and a training camp. He is agitated because Reverie is avoiding him and because he still hasn’t received a decision about Lionel’s parole hearing, which was over a month ago. He checks the CDCR website several times a week to confirm Lionel remains in custody.

His frustration boils over when he sees Reverie laughing with another student, Luke. Dread thinks, “Reverie has a special way of driving me to dark places where my sanity struggles to survive” (145). Consumed with jealousy, Dread confronts them and intimidates Luke into leaving. In an act of defiance, Reverie walks up to the school’s star quarterback, Bryan Gate, and kisses him. Enraged by her actions, Dread grabs Reverie, throws her over his shoulder, and carries her across campus toward the sports center.

Dread carries Reverie into the public pool area and throws her into the shallow end. The water triggers a severe panic attack related to her childhood trauma. Dread gets into the pool with her, confronts her about kissing Bryan, and calls her his “favorite instrument.” The intense confrontation becomes sexual, and he kisses her, claiming he is washing away the “stain” of another man.

Reverie slaps him, but he kisses her again. For the first time, she calls him by his real name, Kellan, which deeply affects him. They begin kissing passionately, and Reverie wraps her legs around him. A group of students enters the pool area, interrupting them. Reverie tears herself away and flees to the far end of the pool, pulls herself out, and escapes through the door, inadvertently leaving her phone at the bottom of the pool. Reverie asks herself, “Why the fuck would he choose me? And why the fuck did I let him?” (155). Dread retrieves the phone before leaving.

Two days later, on February 5, Reverie is in her forensic science class with Dr. Camry. She is distracted by the memory of kissing Dread and the knowledge that her father, Lionel, is being released from prison today. She remains preoccupied with Dread’s words, thinking, “I don’t know what the fuck he meant, but even worse, I don’t know why the hell every time I replay it in my head, my stomach flutters” (164). Dread unexpectedly enters the lecture, sits beside her, and taunts her about drugging him, the potential damage to his career, and the details of her naked body. Before leaving, he whispers that if she wanted to affect him, all she needed to do was say his name.

Reverie returns to her dorm after her shift at the funeral home and finds a pink barrette and a handwritten note on her bed. The note is from Lionel, who calls her by her childhood nickname, “Angel,” suggesting he is free and has been inside her room. She suffers a severe panic attack and calls her FBI contact and father figure, Barry, who is shocked to learn Lionel may have left the state. Barry arranges for a local officer, Nichols, to escort her to a friend’s house; Reverie, unwilling to endanger Sable, decides to get an Uber to a hotel instead. She removes her North Star necklace. While she prepares to flee, Sable calls in a panic, revealing that Dread’s friend Rogue is at the funeral home looking for Reverie. Just as Reverie prepares to leave, Officer Nichols knocks on her door.