As the assembled mages discuss what to do, Mammon teleports into the sanctum and Valkyrie begins to drive down. From the Chthonic Road Adele, Colt, and Mammon learn that the spirit of the Antediluvian and the calcified body are the same creature. They also learn that it has an army of ghost mages under its thrall. Lindenbrock quickly determines that the next most likely spot for it to escape is a graveyard several blocks south of the sanctum. Virgil and Valkyrie quickly alert the Guardians and Arrow as they prepare to face the undead monstrosity.
Piling into Valkyrie’s car and Colt’s truck they drive down in the early hours of the morning. Mammon comes up with a plan to trap the spirit of the Antediluvian in a pocket dimension and begin work on it, absorbing potent paradoxes in the process. The others ready themselves as the gateway opens. The emaciated form of the Antediluvian rises from the earth and vanishes before them. Adele realizes that it must have returned to its body. Virgil alerts the Guardians that it is now in the North Loop and rushes off. Adele calls her mother, the White Lady, and explains the dire situation. The ancient woman goes to gather her allies. Colt, meanwhile, is worried about the River Spirit and the foretelling that the Antediluvian will devour it. He alerts the Sentinels and heads to the river. At the same time, Mammon gives Big Sixteen a lift to the Censorium, planning to research the elder vampire for weaknesses. Along the way he calls Athaliah, who starts to call together the Council. Adele calls Kiril, warning him that it has awakened. Kiril, worried, heads to warn the Circle.
At the same time, Mammon and Big Sixteen arrive at the entrance to the city’s underground. Traversing a series of tunnels they arrive at the Censorium, which is in an abandoned subway station. As Big Sixteen works on relaying his findings, Mammon begins his research. He is distracted for a moment by the weird noises coming from behind a large door. Shelving the strange whispers he can’t quite make out, he returns to his studies. Much of the work is already done for him, outlining the Antediluvian’s known history. But he also finds a link to a series of strange stone carvings located in a museum in Gary, Pnakotic Stones, which supposedly detail a previous encounter with the Antediluvian.
Colt gets a call from Bourdelle, who numbly reports that the Circle are all dead, murdered in a horrible bloodbath. Reassuring the young Sentinel, Colt then turns to the water, calling the spirit of the Chicago River to him. Slowly the Lady of the River rises from its surface. Colt warns it that the Antediluvian has come. The spirit seems fatalistic about its coming destruction, but seems to believe there is still time. It tells him to look to his allies but offers no help from itself. When Colt questions his earlier visions, it claims that the Supernal reflects the Material. It also notes that the Circle of Four was the one who set the Antediluvian in place here.
Adele and Rota in the meantime come up with a plan to find the Antediluvian. Rota knows the true name of the ghost mage Titus and so they plan to have Athaliah scry him. Adele forwards the information to Mammon, who is able to relay it to his mentor just before the Council meeting.
As the Council deliberates, Adele and Mammon pack for the trip to Gary. They gather the others, filling them in on their plans. The White Lady calls Adele, telling her that Diana Coal’s shop was burned down, and at the last moment joins them in their trip to find out more about the Antediluvian.
Mammon calls ahead to the Gary Councilium, hoping to avoid a confrontation with Black Dog. Red Thunder answers the call and allows them access to the museum. But he will look in on them. At the museum, they find a police car parked nearby and a cop and one of the museum staff talking. It seems that there was a break in last night and a number of artifacts were damaged. After talking to the curator they decide to wait for the museum to open. Mammon eventually decides to impersonate an official and is able to learn the stones were shattered. Adele however finds the ghost of a Native American whose anchor is in the collection. The White Lady talks to him, learning that he does remember the stones and that he saw the feral vampires who attacked the museum. Rota then decides to pull the memory of the stones from the ghost’s mind and translate them. It seems that the stones detail a possible weakness of the ancient vampire. It did not follow the survivors of its attacks when they traveled north into the ice and snow. As payment for its help, Adele releases ghost from its Anchor and it descends into the Underworld.
Colt then begins to track the vampires behind the attack on the museum. Red Thunder checks in on them, a bit irate at the fact that they have deviated from the planned trip to the museum. He follows them for a while until they leave the city limits. Eventually they find an abandoned house where the creatures are hiding. Mammon remotely reads their minds, learning they are completely dominated by the Antediluvian. He also learns that some supernatural beings have been attacked including Diana Coal.
With this in mind they head to the burnt out wreckage of her shop. Colt is able to determine that vampires and ghost mages were involved. Diana escaped somehow but Mr. Pritchett died. Apparently he really was made of wooden sticks and his remains were almost entirely consumed. They decide to track down the killer, who seems to be ghost mage placed in a vampiric body. They avoid Detective Green who is canvasing the area.
Mammon calls Athaliah and learns that the Council has found Titus. The ghost mage seems to be possessing a Sleeper. The Arrow are moving in to apprehend him. They plan to exorcise and then question him.
The trail of their ghost mage leads to the docks. Once there they run into Diana who is fleeing their quarry. The ghost mage attacks them, flinging fire with reckless abandon. Colt shoots him in the head, which causes him to laugh manically. He then blows off the mad mage’s foot, which knocks him out. They quickly stabilize him and prepare to take him to a secure location. They determine the ghost mage was an Obrimos. Mammon reads his mind and learns that many allies of the local vampires were marked for death. In addition to Diana there are several Seers (including Mr. Johnson) and a Silver Ladder mage, Samson.
They use the ghost’s connection to the Antediluvian to scry it. They find it underground surrounded by a small army of ghost mages and vampires. The cabal alerts the Council. They learn the other attack was a failure and that Titus’s host is dead with several Arrow members hurt in the attempt.