Ethan’s group gets caught in a storm caused by Thunderbird—a great beast that creates storms by flapping its wings. This makes Jennifer T. realize that the Summerlands are a world in which tales from her Indigenous American heritage are true, and she abruptly feels closer to her roots than she ever has. She leans out the car window to warn the bird that the end of the world is coming, but she falls. The bird rescues her, and she finishes her sentence, which echoes across all the worlds. In its wake, Jennifer T. hears a woman weeping. The moment passes, and Thunderbird drops Jennifer T. Her landing draws the attention of nearby faeries, who shoot at the flying car. One arrow strikes Cinquefoil, and the magic he uses to keep the car flying fails. Jennifer T. watches as “the station wagon [drops], slowly and then swiftly, to the ground” (233).

The faeries capture and imprison Ethan’s group in a cell with a fairy princess named Spider-Rose, taking all their supplies. The arrow that struck Cinquefoil was tipped with iron, which wounds him gravely, and the only cure is a piece of wood from the Tree of Worlds—such as Ethan’s stick, which the faeries took.