By June, New Hope thrives. A greenhouse, smokehouse, and picnic grounds have been built, and gardens flourish with magick. Chuck and Max restore a shaky dial-up connection, allowing people to send emails. Arlys posts the Bulletin digitally. Jonah moves into Rachel’s room, and families settle into a new rhythm.

However, the peace shatters when Lana’s magick senses an approaching shift. She delivers a brief prophecy, warning that something is coming and that it will bring profound change. Though she insists that she is not a seer, she wonders if these visions belong to her unborn child and surmises that she may be channeling the baby’s prophecies. Chuck discovers a live website by a man named Jeremiah White; the site summons human “Purity Warriors” to kill Uncannys. Flynn recognizes their tattoos from Starr’s descriptions of her past. Meanwhile, Rove, the Mercers, and others like them suddenly flee, stealing trucks, food, and weapons. The town is better off without their hostility, but the remaining residents are vigilant for trouble.

Lana proposes countering fear with joy. On July 4, families hang lanterns bearing the names of the lost. Music and games fill the square, and Max and Lana share a dance. However, the communal joy collapses when the babies start crying, a scorched photo drops at Lana’s feet, and crows blacken the sky. These portents herald the Purity Warriors’ sudden attack on the gathering. In the ensuing violence, Carla and Manning die, and Rove, who is now a Purity Warrior, beats Chuck. Another New Hope resident shields a child, only to fall when a Purity Warrior shoots her in the back. Allegra and Eric suddenly appear, scarred and winged; they are working with the Purity Warriors.

Max orders Lana to run. Together, they push back Allegra and Eric’s dark magick, but when a black wave strikes at them, Max shields Lana and the baby with his body, giving up his life to save them. In the immediate aftermath of his death, Lana’s rage erupts, flattening their attackers. She sees her allies rushing in to help her but knows that her baby is the Purity Warriors’ target. She takes Max’s ring and belt and then runs into the forest, overcome with grief. Starr interrupts her escape, telling Lana that Max was “good” and that Starr can hear all the Purity Warriors’ hatred in her head. She tells Lana to run and protect the baby, promising to write Max’s name on the tree for Lana.

Lana flees along back roads for days, avoiding towns and circling crows. She scavenges clothes, eats little, and clutches Max’s ring on a chain. A dream of a gray-eyed woman urges her onward. She alternates walking with short drives in abandoned cars that she coaxes back to life with her power.

One early morning, she overhears Purity Warriors hunting her; they label her a demon and vow to burn witches and level New Hope. Lana lies still until they leave and then runs away. Her days dissolve into a blur of mere survival as she hunts small game, drinks from streams, and struggles through her days, avoiding settlements and trusting no one.

On a wooded rise, she finds a farm alive with crops, livestock, and greenhouses, so she seizes the chance to harvest vegetables, herbs, and apples, offering thanks at the graves of the people who once lived there, Ethan and Madeline Swift. In the coop, she finds an egg just as the farm’s current resident, Simon Swift, returns.

Simon, a former Army captain, offers Lana food as a gesture of goodwill and convinces her to come inside. She offers to work for him to pay for the food she took. Inside his house, she collapses when she finds the title of one of Max’s books. Along with his dogs Harper and Lee, Simon steadies her with a quiet meal and his unshakeable calm. He also accepts her identity as a witch without any qualms. Lana takes over cooking and tells him of New Hope’s fall and the Purity Warriors’ hunt for her. Simon tells Lana that she was running for roughly six weeks and that she is now in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Maryland. He advises her to stay until the baby’s birth in September, promising to protect her. She fears endangering him, but he contends that he despises people like Eric and Allegra. The two agree to take the arrangement one day at a time.

Lana accepts Simon’s refuge, eventually settling into his parents’ old bedroom. After a bath, she weeps in gratitude and thanks Madeline Swift (Simon’s mother) aloud for the comforts that the woman left behind. Sleep restores her, and she resolves to repay Simon’s kindness with labor. Deciding that she can help best in the kitchen, she cooks stir-fry, thanks Simon for the shower, and privately notes his grief.

The two fall into a routine. Lana cooks, cleans, and helps with crops while Simon gives her space. He suggests visiting the nearby settlement, but she refuses, terrified. Falling into a trance, she prophesies that Simon’s hands will receive the baby amid storms and lightning. He believes her.

A truck suddenly intrudes on their peace. Simon arms himself, and Lana creates an illusion to shield herself, conjuring the image of a stranger with a shotgun. Two strange men show Simon a picture of Lana, but he claims not to have seen her. They try to force him to give up some cattle, but he disarms them with brutal speed, killing one that tries to attack again. Lana admits that the dead man was one of New Hope’s attackers; she offers to leave, but Simon insists that she stay. He also pledges to defend Lana, her baby, and the farm. Despite the day’s violence, the two enjoy their first easy conversation as they relax on the porch in the dusk, and for the first time in weeks, Lana feels safe.

Lana refuses to leave the farm or meet outsiders because she is convinced that her safety depends on her silence. She settles into a rhythm of cooking, gardening, canning, and egg gathering, while Simon bales hay, cuts wheat, and tends to the stock. He brings seeds for dwarf citrus, and Lana coaxes them to sprout with her power. Simon accepts her gifts with awe, declaring that humanity’s prejudice is its worst enemy.

A tender moment unfolds when Lana presses his hand to her belly to feel the baby kick. Simon retreats, unsettled, but remains steadfast. As time goes on, passing groups bring grim news, saying that although the plague has ended, it killed an estimated 80% of the world’s population, and suicides and violence have raised the toll. Dark Uncannys now control New York, and fractured military commands have captured many Uncannys and humans for experimentation. Meanwhile, Purity Warriors hunt all Uncannys. Lana insists that survival depends on choices like Simon’s and Max’s, which involve protecting others and sharing.

Evenings pass in calm routine, and Simon studies a birthing guide to help prepare for the baby’s arrival. One stormy night, Lana’s water breaks, and Simon leaps into action. He carries her upstairs, times her contractions, sterilizes tools, and braces her as labor wracks her. After hours of agony, the baby is born, and Lana names her Fallon to honor Max. Simon, overwhelmed, places the baby in a pine cradle, but Fallon fusses. Simon lies next to Lana and holds Fallon against his chest, feeling that she already knows him.

On New Year’s Eve, Lana holds Fallon by the window. Max remains in her heart, but Fallon and Simon are helping her heal from her grief. She senses Simon’s love for Fallon and feels love for him as well.

A man on horseback, Mallick, suddenly breaks their peace as he pays tribute to “The One.” He knows of Fallon’s birth and swears that she will be safe for 13 years, at which point she must choose to train with him for two years in order to prepare for her destiny. He leaves Fallon gifts: a candle that only she can light, a crystal that only she can see, and a teddy bear for joy.

Simon vows that no one will take Fallon unless he and Lana agree to it. Lana affirms him as Fallon’s father, alongside Max, and asks that Fallon carry the name of Swift. Moving her wedding ring to her right hand, she honors Max while turning to Simon in love. As the year comes to a close, Lana, Simon, and Fallon embrace each other as a family. Fallon waves her hand and lights Mallick’s candle with magick.