Vale convinces the warden to let Raven and Gus try out the new wristbands. He leads them onto the hunting grounds before lights-out. They follow the break through the graves deep into the trees until Gus, exhausted by his injury, agrees to stand watch while the others search. Vale explains they must test the wristband features after digging, since the pain would prevent them from working.

Preparing to dig, Raven spots red berries on a thorny bush; she recognizes them as the same type near the Blood Tree tunnel entrance. They realize that these bushes mark the tunnel entrances. Vale drops his flashlight, which clangs against metal. He uncovers a hatch to another tunnel entrance. Gus waits above while Vale and Raven descend into a cavern matching the one near the Blood Tree. They enter the main tunnel heading north.

Raven asks how Vale knows that the North Settlement will accept them all. He explains that he cannot guarantee entry but plans to offer their skills. Vale stops near where the tunnel will go beyond the prison’s perimeter aboveground, explaining that Raven’s wristband will trigger an alarm if she crosses, but his will not. He goes to explore beyond the perimeter. Alone in complete darkness, Raven experiences a panic attack but calms herself with breathing exercises.

Returning after half an hour, Vale reports that the tunnel is clear, but the far exit is wedged shut and cannot be opened yet without alerting guards. They will have to wait until the escape. They leave the tunnels and rejoin Gus. Raven remembers her hidden rifle; Gus recognizes the location and leads them there. Vale logs the coordinates to collect the rifle later for Kit.

Near the prison, Vale prepares the wristband test and explains the sequence: vitals and imaging from distance, then proximity alerts, then pain infliction. The proximity alert emits an unbearably loud alarm. Vale says he must adjust the volume, as Larch will know he is sabotaging the feature if it is too quiet for hunters. He warns that the pain inflicted will be debilitating. When he activates it, Raven initially feels only a pinprick, but then agony explodes through her arm. She screams and begs to be killed before losing consciousness.

Raven awakens in Vale’s arms as he whispers apologies and kisses her. She checks her arm, which is red but intact. Gus confirms that he also passed out from the pain. Vale expresses deep remorse. Raven tells him to ensure that they escape before the features activate. Gus notes the difficulty of getting their group of six—Raven, Jed, Gus, Kit, Yara, and Momo—selected for one hunt. Vale proposes escaping at night. Raven suggests drugging everyone but them with concentrated ironroot, but they struggle to come up with a delivery method.

The next day, Jed proposes vaporizing ironroot through the ventilation system. Kit confirms that it is feasible, but they need a concentrated tincture and seven respirators. Raven agrees to write a coded letter to Gray, who confirms he can supply them.

In the workshop, a guard named Anya orders Raven to temporary kitchen duty on the warden’s orders. Raven signals Vale not to intervene. Anya leads her to a camera-less storage room and tells her to wait. An hour later, Gray arrives. Raven hugs him, surprised by her emotional response. Gray reveals that Anya is a Collective agent who arranged the meeting. Raven is shocked, recalling Anya’s brutality, but Gray explains that it maintains her cover. He provides the concentrated ironroot tincture and respirators, promising to meet her beyond the fence after the escape.

Vale enters, suspicious. After Raven introduces Gray, the two men share a tense handshake before Gray leaves. Vale wedges the door shut and explains he came to check on her. Their conversation turns intimate, and they have sex. Afterward, Vale admits he has dreamed of her since they met.

The next morning, Yara wakes Raven and reveals that the group has been betting on when she and Vale would sleep together. Raven admits she likes Vale but does not fully trust him because he keeps secrets. Yara jokes about poisoning him, prompting Raven to realize that is how Yara killed her father. Yara confesses she poisoned her father because he was abusive to her, her mother, and her younger sister. She then reveals her father was Endlock’s chief financial officer, and he devised the artificial food shortage in the Lower Sector to increase arrests and revenue. Feeling a thrill at the idea of exposing the truth, Raven promises they will reveal everything after escaping. Yara informs her that Vale is arranging for Kit to join the workshop so she and Raven can install the ironroot diffuser, and Kit has been using Vale’s private quarters to hack the security system.

Later, Larch and Councilor Caltriona Elder come for the hunt selection. Larch points Raven out to Elder, who mentions Raven’s parents by name. Elder remarks that “criminals raise criminals” (283), then speaks proudly of her dedicated son who works at Endlock. Raven connects the details: She recalls a news report about the rebel leader Eris Cybin killing Silas V. Elder, and she remembers Vale previously claiming that Eris killed his father. She realizes Vale’s full name must be Valorian Elder, making him the Councilor’s son. Numb from this revelation, Raven learns Elder has selected her as a target, along with Gus.

In the prep room, Raven sees an exhausted Vale and notes his resemblance to his mother. Vale discreetly warns her that Larch had the guards dig new camouflaged traps and trenches overnight to impress Elder.

On the grounds, Gus insists on using a stick as a crutch rather than accepting help, and he decides against hiding in the tunnels to avoid drawing attention. Distracted by thoughts of Vale’s identity, Raven fails to warn Gus about the new trenches. They enter a meadow with an out-of-place moss patch. Too late, Raven realizes it is a camouflaged trench. Gus falls in, and she hears bone snap.

Seeing that Gus’s leg is horribly broken, she knows he cannot survive. He makes her promise to protect Momo like she protects Jed. He then reveals a plan to kill Elder—lure her to him in the trap, and Raven can push her into the trench, allowing him to kill her. Raven agrees and hides while Gus shouts taunts. Elder appears. Raven sprints from hiding to tackle her, but as they collide, a gunshot rings out. Both women fall into the trench, with Elder’s body breaking Raven’s fall.

Elder is unconscious or dead. When Raven calls for Gus, there is no answer. She finds him dead with a chest wound. Overcome, she vomits and screams. Vale appears and holds her. Hearing approaching guards, Vale convinces Raven to play dead. He radios a cover story: Both inmates are dead, and Gus pulled Elder into the trench as she shot him. Raven realizes with horror that Elder survived. Guards remove Elder and Gus’s body. Vale carries Raven away, repeatedly telling her it is not her fault.

In the infirmary, Raven confronts Vale with the fact that he is the Councilor’s son. Vale admits it but insists that nothing has changed. Raven cries that he lied, and his mother killed Gus. From his silence, she realizes all her friends knew his identity and kept it from her. Vale explains that his mother wants him at Endlock to spy and investigate her suspicion that director Pharil Coates is cutting the Council out of profits. He confesses that he was afraid that telling Raven would make her hate him and refuse to work with him. Raven says she needs time and shuts down emotionally until he leaves.

Dr. Row examines the unresponsive Raven and diagnoses a concussion. Back in her cell, Raven recounts the hunt to Yara, Kit, Momo, and Jed, explaining that she forgot to warn Gus about the trenches. She details Gus’s plan and how Elder fired her gun just as Raven tackled her. Devastated, Momo runs out crying, with Kit following. Yara also leaves, overcome. Jed stays, holding Raven’s hand until guards force him back to his cell. Raven lies awake all night, haunted by guilt and Momo’s sobs from a nearby cell. The next morning, Jed silently holds her hand at breakfast, and she notices that Vale also shows signs of grief.

For days, Raven is consumed by grief and avoids everyone. All escape discussion ceases. After Pharil Coates calls an emergency board meeting to manage the fallout, Endlock spins Gus’s death as an inmate attack on a hunter, making Elder a hero and drawing more paying hunters. Hunts sell out, and rumors suggest that the board may replace Larch.

During a hunt selection days later, Raven is too lost in thought to notice Jed has been chosen until Hyde leads him away. In the workshop, tormented by visions of Jed dying, she smashes her thumb with a hammer. Vale’s radio crackles with Hyde gleefully describing watching a young inmate break his spine falling from a tree and get killed. Panicked, Raven shouts across the workshop, asking for the inmate’s number. To maintain cover, Vale sternly reprimands her. When the hunt ends, Yara comforts Raven, insisting that she would know if Jed were dead.

Later, Yara visits Raven’s cell. Raven apologizes for pushing everyone away and asks if they can trust Vale. Yara insists they can, arguing that Gus would never have risked Momo otherwise. Raven worries that without Gus’s medical skills, their group’s offer to the settlement is weakened, but Yara is determined to find a way.

Vale intercepts Raven and takes her to the camera-less infirmary, where Jed explains that he sprained his wrist falling from a ladder in the tunnels while escaping a hunter. Vale confirms that Kit is being reassigned to the workshop to replace Gus, and he will sneak Kit and Raven into his room to work on the wristbands.

Spotting antibiotics, Raven devises a plan: offer medical supplies to the settlement as their entry ticket. Vale agrees and suggests reassigning Jed to the medical stockroom to gather supplies discreetly. With just over a week until the new features activate, Raven sets their escape for five days away. Jed warns Vale not to lie again. In the corridor, Vale asks if Raven still wants him to come. She says she needs time to process her feelings but trusts him to help because Gus did.