“Lies, lies, lies! Every single word is a damned lie! Just how delusional are you people? I was happy? Happy? What the hell is that anyway?”

-Nil

Rebecca’s description of happy days throws Nil into a rage, one terrible enough to whip the puppet demons into a frenzy and get him killed. When the song from a Little Dreamer phonograph revives Nil on the spot, Avery insists on taking it along so he doesn’t have to wait days for the young man to come back to life on his own. There’s no use for a teacher that can’t recognize her old student unless he’s dead, much less one whose memory is all roses and rainbows, so Nil force-feeds Rebecca a potion that causes the old woman to hallucinate. Hilda Caspar, Dimitri’s mentor/partner, appears in time to witness the puppet demons abandoning their roles to snatch Rebecca away.

Hilda does her utmost to get Dimitri out of Harz, but how can he leave when his best friend isn’t what he remembers? Gennari artworks arrive at the school to make a delivery to the Laced Cradle mural that’s stationed there. Stolen dreams are funneled to the ground below and into the streets adorned by the Heaven’s Ladder mosaic. Following the adorned path means following out a magic circle that’s been woven throughout the entire city. Rebecca had recognized the pattern that would bring someone back to life, and that someone clearly isn’t Nil. He’s been revived already and not just once or twice.