As S wanders through the cellar, searching for Vevoda, he hears a gunshot in the distance and a microphone screeching as it hits the stage, and he immediately realizes that Edvar VI has been assassinated. S is filled with guilt since he did not intend to kill him, but he moves past this thought quickly, concentrating on the task at hand. Outside, he hears the violent chaos of hundreds of deranged and poisoned people. Meanwhile, inside his own head, he hears the “voices pulse with ancient agonies” of the people who died in the cellar. He whistles to Sola, asking her if she has found Vevoda yet, and soon after she replies. “I’ve found him. Fourth level down. Two others with him.”

FXC’s final footnote

S describes the cellar as a place that “must have been the site of unimaginable suffering, of hearts and souls and lives stolen from the people that these voices once were.” FXC’s final comment is that while she sits in her office at the (fictitious) Winged Shoes Press on New York’s East 33rd Street, she realizes that “hearts and souls and lives themselves can be sites of unimaginable suffering.” Upon reading this, Jen writes, “we’re here together. She didn’t even have a chance like that.” Eric replies that FXC is happy for them, however, which implies that he met FXC and that she knew about his relationship with Jen.

Additionally, Jen contemplates the meaning of the phrase, “Words are a warning to the living…” Eric proposes that this is Straka’s “warning to Filomela for her safety,” while Jen suggests that Straka is warning FXC that he cannot give each other what they want. (A life together).