The novel jumps forward to February 29, 2000. The Time Gallery in Houston hosts an exhibit commemorating the 1982 events on Katanogos. The show’s attendees are mostly Church members; hence, there is no alcohol or caffeinated drinks at the organizers’ request. Though much of the art arrived already sold, the gallery’s art-school-trained staff privately mock the pieces as amateurish.

The early guests retreat to the back patio, rather than engage with the five exhibit spaces, called Chambers. One exception, Alisa Groesbeck, returns from Chamber Three in tears, saying the art stirs memories, though those memories have nothing to do with the artworks’ subjects.

Music begins on the patio, playing songs that reference Kirk’s Cirque, Katanogos, campfires, and the story’s main figures. This drives more conversation about Pillars Meadow and the 1982 events. Food inspired by Sondra Gatestone’s and Ginny Ward’s (Old Porch’s estranged daughter) recipes is served, including the same canned peaches and beans consumed on Katanogos.

As midnight approaches, the dismissed gallery staff lingers, absorbed by the work. Cal Carneros, the gallery’s sociable owner, tours all five Chambers with art handler Shasta Roulette and Rico G. Chamber One covers events through October 27, 1982: Acrylics and napkin sketches depict a hatless boy and a taller, black-hatted boy with horses. Cal is deeply shaken by artist Joanne Willden’s mixed-media work showing Kalin March in a rainy parking lot, as well as by her campfire scene including Kalin, Russel, Landry, and a visible emptiness seated among them. Chamber Two (October 28) depicts Kalin and Landry ascending an impossibly steep slope. A small painting called “Unholy Us” shows the bloodied Porch brothers alongside Billings Gale. Chamber Three (October 29) includes replicas of trail gear and a display case holding what is claimed to be Old Porch’s thumbnail with dried blood. Chamber Four (October 30) features a bronze of Old Porch. Portraits of Navidad, Mouse, and Jojo appear across each of the Chambers. In Chamber Five (October 31), a painting called “Morning Landscape” shows a tiny Landry on a cliff with a small mist of red beside her head. When Shasta asks whether it is blood, Cal is overwhelmed. Shortly after, Rico collapses because he recognizes Billings Gale from “Unholy Us” as his own long-estranged half-brother.

Cal rushes to give a speech, but the gathering has dissolved. He speaks briefly with artist Pinegar Nelson, who painted a simple lemon cake from memory; her remark that she would not have painted it without the 1982 events deflates him. The next morning, there is a break-in at the gallery, though none of the art has been stolen. Cal decides to extend the show and plans a national tour. On March 1, the Time Gallery burns to the ground in a fire believed to be caused by damage from the break-in, destroying all the artworks inside.

A flash-forward to 2031 brings an elderly Cal to a new, high-tech exhibit in Portsmouth, New Hampshire entitled Untoppled Pillars. The show reproduces the original art from the 2000 show on screens and holograms, but features something absent from Cal’s exhibit: The ghost of Tom Gatestone is inserted into many of the works. A very old woman, called “The Wizard” by onlookers, guides Cal through the exhibit. She tells him that not everything lost stays lost. On the day of his own death, Cal dreams the artworks gallop free from the flames as horses.

Back on Sunday, October 31, 1982, Allison and Sondra arrive at the Grandview chapel. The first speaker delivers a sermon on Cain and Abel that devolves into a pointed glare at both women. Stake president Havril Enos follows with a warmer address. Listening, Allison privately accepts that Kalin has become his own unknowable person and grants him absolute forgiveness. Sondra suddenly experiences a mental health crisis and flees outside; on the curb in the slush, Allison tells her that their children are beyond them and that all they can do is wait.

In the church parking lot, teenager Darren Blicker, furious over being excluded from the Porch family’s helicopter trip, hurls an ice-and-rock projectile that strikes Allison in the back of the head. A second projectile strikes Sondra in the forehead. Neither woman retreats; Allison swats a third projectile away. Other boys, drawn in by the spectacle, throw more snow, laughing. Adults end the assault at 10:38 a.m. in what becomes known as the Grandview Church Snowball Fight. The painter Elsa Sarantopoulo later captures the moment in a work called “Accused,” which hangs in the Time Gallery until the fire destroys it.

That same morning, Old Porch receives confirmation that the Four Summits Ski Resort land deal has gone through. He cancels plans to attend church, instructs his remaining sons to arm themselves, and lies to his pilot that Kalin and Landry froze to death, so that they can fly the family over their new property instead. Separately, Egan, Hatch, Kelly, and Billings take snowmobiles around Katanogos’s back side. From a ridge, Egan alone spots Landry through binoculars and, without alerting his brothers, fires his rifle. Billings confirms that Landry was hit and knocked from her perch. When Hatch confronts Egan, the others deny any shot was fired, leaving Hatch disoriented. Old Porch then radios from the helicopter: He has spotted Kalin and the horses descending Coyote Gulch and is landing at Pillars Meadow.