The Witch's Stronghold
- Clara hears her name being called and opens her eyes—which is shocking because she shouldn't be able to open them. After all, she's a puppet.
- Then, she realizes that her body is a normal size … which means she's turned back into a little girl again. She's amazed and hears the voice calling her again, telling her to come to the tower right now.
- She follows the voice and goes into the Tower Room to find an old woman sitting on a throne-like chair in the middle of the room. She tells Clara to shut the door so she can look at her properly.
- Cassandra introduces herself as Madama and says that Clara is safe from Grisini here; she invites her to look around the room.
- Clara does and finds lots of strange things, like dead animals, crystal balls, and large books of spells.
- Then, Madama tells Clara to go through the labyrinth on the ground. She does so and starts seeing memories play out before her eyes—memories of the Others' funeral, her birthday party, and more.
- When she starts thinking about the watercress that she didn't want to eat (which was the source of the cholera), she suddenly stiffens and freaks out. She doesn't want to think about that.
- Cassandra is impressed that Clara can resist her attempts to invade the girl's thoughts—she's stronger than she anticipated.
- Then, she pulls out tarot cards and tells Clara to choose one. She takes the hanged man, and Cassandra explains to her that it's because she's trapped, stuck as Grisini's puppet.
- That's when Cassandra pulls out the phoenix-stone and says that it has the power to heal or turn Clara back into her real self. But, the girl will have to steal it from her because that's the way the stone works.
- Even though she desperately wants to be herself again, Clara knows that there's a catch—and when she looks into Cassandra's face, she sees how haunted and unhappy the old witch is.
- She tells Cassandra that she can see this is a trap and that she knows Cassandra is scared and going to die because of the stone. Clara won't take it—she's not that stupid.
- Cassandra warns her that if Clara doesn't steal it, one of the other children will. She'll find a way to trick Parsefall or Lizzie Rose into taking the phoenix-stone, and then they will be cursed for life.
- Clara's vision swims and when it clears again, she finds that she is a puppet once more, sitting silently on the armchair in Parsefall's room.