Margo and Eliot have decided to move full steam ahead with their plans to use the Fairy Queen’s eggs as bargaining chips, leaving them at Brakebills with a fellow student to watch over them. Upon the High King and High Queen’s return to Fillory, they hatch their extortion plan, manipulating the Fairy Queen into a deal that would unearth the fairies presence to all of Fillory. Unfortunately, their plan is foiled by none-other than Fray, who reveals where the eggs are. The Fairy Queen gives the High King and his wife an ultimatum: return the eggs or their daughter dies. Fray's overconfidence gets the best of her, forcing the Fair Queen to reveal how little she thinks of the human girl. Emotionally rejected, Fray reveals that she is not the daughter of Eliot and Fen. This upper hand had by Fillory’s royalty doesn’t last very long, however, when the Fairy Queen finishes out her deal just before she drops Margo and Eliot into a firey mob of Fillorians.

Meanwhile, Penny and Kady attempt a reunion (and a break out) after Quentin and Poppy reveal that a Library creature and a friend of Kady’s can help them—or rather Penny—get to the Underworld to retrieve the lost key. Once they get Kady out of the hospital using disguises and a fire alarm, she goes to Harriet for help. But Kady hasn’t repaid her last debt, and so to make the score even, she must meet a dangerous demand: robbing The Library. Meanwhile, Alice was saved upon the return of Eliot, Margo, Quentin, and Poppy, but now she must face the reality that she could lose magic again after Fogg reveals she has to give it back. Julia, on the other hand, must come to terms with her responsibility for it. As Alice goes to dire measures—including getting bit by a magical creature—to preserve her recently acquired powers, Julia digs deep within herself to find ways to protect Alice before she nearly kills them both.