Macy enters the foyer as the white rotary phone continues to ring. On the line is a young man whose voice sounds weak and strained, as if he hasn’t spoken in years. He expresses relief that Macy hasn’t left the property. In the background, many voices scream in unison.

The man urgently instructs Macy to write down his directions. He asks about the rabbit and the woman who knocked on the door. When Macy mentions Lucy, he curses. He tells her to follow Lucy’s footprints into the woods at midnight, find whoever is waiting, and calm them without letting them leave the property. If they cry or speak incoherently, she must run back to the house first, lock the doors, and wait for a call.

When Macy protests, the man reminds her that she agreed to be the Ward of the house. Macy confirms that she did. The man warns that failure would unleash catastrophic consequences. The call ends abruptly. Macy looks through the glass door at the footprints disappearing into the woods, accepting that she must follow them.

At 11:58 pm, Macy paces the house anxiously. Despite briefly considering leaving or calling authorities, she feels an unshakable certainty that failing the Rites would doom everyone, including Jemma.

At midnight, she puts on a rain poncho, grabs a flashlight, and steps outside. Her phone buzzes with a reminder that it’s her late father’s birthday. She suppresses her emotions and enters the woods, following the muddy footprints.

The rain stops, and the trail deviates from the main path into darker woods. She hears a disembodied childlike voice declare that it knows her. Macy spots her own backpack lying at the base of a tree, and something peeks from behind it before slipping out of view. Macy’s body reacts instinctively. She sprints deeper into the woods, the mantra to “follow the Rites” overriding her survival instincts (201).

Macy enters a circular clearing dotted with mounds resembling unmarked graves. A familiar voice calls out for Zee. Macy follows the trail up a muddy slope and finds Lucy in a yellow rain poncho, her eyes now a pale, unnatural blue. Lucy doesn’t recognize Macy and explains that she’s searching for her friend Brienna, or “Zee.” Lucy is on the verge of tears.

Macy offers to help and tries to steer Lucy away from the property boundary. When she lies about hearing someone nearby, Lucy grows suspicious. A beautiful singing voice then emanates from beyond the boundary, and Lucy runs toward it, calling for Zee.

Macy chases her, insisting that it’s a trap. A voice claiming to be Zee cries for help from beyond the boundary. Lucy stops just short of crossing, drops to her knees, hits herself, and collapses into uncontrolled sobs as a storm intensifies overhead. Then, the storm suddenly ceases, and Lucy’s face goes blank. With empty blue eyes, she looks at Macy and says she knows her by name.

Lucy sprints toward the house. Macy remembers she must reach it first and gives chase. Dozens of other Visitors in yellow ponchos emerge from the trees, all running in the same direction. Macy overtakes them but can’t catch Lucy. As they near the house, she sees that the front door is wide open.

Macy tackles Lucy at the base of the concrete steps. They crash down hard, and Lucy’s face strikes a corner, caving in her nose. Unfazed, Lucy continues crawling up the steps, dragging Macy with her. Blood pours from the wound where her nose was, her pale blue eyes completely apathetic. She kicks Macy in the eye, breaks her grip, and runs into the house. Macy loses consciousness on the gravel.

Macy regains consciousness on the gravel driveway, bruised and aching. A trail of mud and blood leads up the concrete steps. As her memory of the Rites returns, she struggles to her feet. Dozens of Visitors in yellow rain ponchos stand motionless in the woods, forming a silent perimeter around the entire house.

Macy enters the house, locks the front door, and follows muddy boot prints and a bloody handprint through the foyer into the back hallway. She locks the patio door and then hears a door click shut somewhere in the back of the house.

She arms herself with the switchblade from the kitchen. The rotary phone rings, and a child’s voice instructs her to stay calm and keep her heart rate below 150 beats per minute (BPM). Macy must determine which room the Visitor occupies. She follows the muddy tracks to the study, where light shows beneath the closed door, and reports back.

The child provides Macy with new Rites: Do not open the study door, do not barricade it, do not speak to the Visitor, and do not use weapons. Macy drops the knife and writes the instructions on her arm. Her final task is to turn on all lights on the main and second floors within three minutes, keep them on, and rehang any fallen picture frames within one minute. If she maintains these Rites until sunrise, the setback from failing to burn the rabbit will be averted.

Macy rushes through the house turning on every light and finds a fitness bracelet to monitor her heart rate, which reads 122 BPM. She forces herself into the dark back hallway. She sees two shadows beneath the study door, suggesting that someone is standing directly behind it.

Lights begin turning off, and pictures begin falling in a repeating pattern, forcing Macy to race around the house restoring them within the one-minute limit. Her heart rate climbs to 132 BPM. Then, the Visitor begins speaking to Macy in Jemma’s voice, sounding frightened and confused. The study doorknob jiggles, and Macy grabs it to hold the door shut. The Visitor mimics a severe asthma attack as Macy’s heart rate hits 141 BPM.

The sounds abruptly stop, and the doorknob stills. Macy realizes that the Visitor is trying to distract her and refocuses on maintaining the Rites.

By 4:15 am, Macy has established an efficient routine, learning the pattern of falling pictures and extinguishing lights. She texts the real Jemma to confirm she’s safe.

At 4:37 am, the pattern breaks. All the lights in the back hallway turn off in unison, and the Visitor speaks again in Jemma’s voice. This time, she references Macy’s suicide attempt at the Hawthorne Hotel, a secret that Macy has never shared with anyone. She suddenly remembers the memory she has suppressed: A year after her father’s death, Macy took sleeping pills with vodka and placed a plastic bag over her head, surviving because the dosage wasn’t lethal and the bag ripped open. The Visitor recounts these details with perfect accuracy, its voice shifting from Jemma’s to a cruel, mocking tone and then finally to Macy’s own voice filled with self-hatred. The Visitor insists that Macy is worthless and too “scared” to attempt suicide again.

Macy’s heart rate spikes to 151 BPM. Every light bulb in the house shatters, and every picture frame falls simultaneously, plunging her into darkness. Overwhelmed, she hits herself in the head, berating herself until she sits numb and unable to move. From the back hallway comes the soft click and creak of a door opening.