Jade takes Miranda and Cedric to Earth to have a small talk about the future, while the Guardians and Elyon's inner circle learn about what transpired in the Infinite City.
- Arbitrary Skepticism: Caleb, not wanting to believe Jade and the Shadowkhan aren't Phobos' creations, dismisses the Land of Eternal Shadows and the Shadow People as mere myths.
- Armor-Piercing Question: When Tynar tells the Guardians and Elyon the truth about Jade/Kage, Elyon blames herself, and when the others tell her it's not her fault, Tynar disagrees to their shock. He then informs them that Kage told him they attacked her without letting her explain herself and asks if it's not true that Elyon acted like her brother. All the girls can do is stay silent in shame.
- Armor-Piercing Response: Caleb sneakily tries to justify his actions by saying the person who disobeyed Elyon's orders regarding imprisoning Jade had good intentions. Elyon rebuffs him by stating that whatever their motives, that person disobeyed her orders, and they are all paying for his mistake.
- Big "WHAT?!": The Guardians exclaim this when Elyon informs them that Kage has released Phobos.
- Call-Back:
- Jade reveals she took over Cedric's old bookstore in Heatherfield to use as a base on Earth.
- Jade brings up to Miranda their uneasy partnership.
- To explain how they can be of use to her, Jade reminds Miranda of how she nearly managed to land the Guardians in jail by framing them of Elyon's disappearance and brings up the fact that it was thanks to Cedric Phobos got Elyon under his thumb.
- Susan tries to avoid making wrong conclusions about Will's secrets because she doesn't want to cause her daughter grief like when they almost moved from Heatherfield.
- During her My God, What Have I Done? moment, Will recalls how Jade called her out of framing Raythor of treason.
- Jade's first meeting with the heroes is discussed, including the fact that Elyon decided to treat her as a guest until her identity can be confirmed, only for Caleb to countermand her orders by having Jade sent straight to the Infinite City. The latter serves as an Internal Reveal to the other heroes.
- Cassandra Truth: Caleb refuses to believe that Nerissa was impersonating the Mage all along even when everyone else reluctantly accept it and Jade's words in the face of what Tynar and Vathek witnessed during the jailbreak and having Nerissa's comatose body before them.
- Disappointed in You: While Tynar does not outright say it, it's clear that he is disappointed in the Guardians and Elyon's actions regarding Jade/Kage.
- Dispense with the Pleasantries: After entering Cedric's bookstore, Jade quickly decides to skip pleasantries and get down to business in the face of Miranda's snarky attitude and tells the shapeshifters to ask their questions.
- Dramatic Irony: Elyon orders Caleb to find the person who went against her orders and imprisoned Jade when she first arrived on Meridian, unaware that he's the guilty party.
- Dumbass Has a Point: Blunk surprises everyone when he brings to their attention the valid question of why Kage came to Meridian in the first place. He himself doesn't realize how good that question is until it's pointed out to him.
- Entertainingly Wrong: When the Guardians question why the queen of a fabled world of nightmares ended up on Meridian in shambles, they come to the conclusion that Jade must have been chased by something more powerful, a prospect which terrifies them. The readers know that Jade ended up on Meridian by accident after Drago banished her from her own universe, and nothing is chasing her.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Though Jade intends to ruin the Guardians' daily lives as retribution, she doesn't want to kill them.
- Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Miranda and Cedric stare back at Jade when she insists she helped them just because she wanted to, unable to believe she has no ulterior motives. Miranda in particular thinks that if Jade had left them to rot, none of other Knights would have noticed or cared. Both of the shapeshifters are also completely astonished when Jade tells them that she'll set them free once they've completed her mission for them.
- Evil Laugh: Lampshaded; when Miranda and Cedric gleefully agree with Jade's plan to mess with the Guardians, she's very tempted to let out one of these.
- Facepalm: When Jade asks Cedric and Miranda if they could believe she helped them just because she wanted to, she facepalms as they respond only by giving a blank look and glaring, respectively.
- Flat "What": Miranda stutters this out when Jade promises to set her and Cedric free.
- Foreshadowing: Susan's scene ends with the news telling that all of Heatherfield's stores have been robbed of food supplies while the security footage blackened for mere seconds.
- Get A Hold Of Yourself Man: When the Guardians come to Meridian, they're surrounded by a mob of villagers who're panicked from the Shadowkhan attack last night and desperately want the Guardians' reassurance that they'll make things right. Unable to get the villagers to calm down, Irma resorts to spraying the crowd with water. Though Will disapproves of this, it does make the mob pause long enough for her to ask questions.
- Hand Behind Head: After Irma has an outburst over how to explain to the Oracle their screwup with Kage, she rubs the back of her head while apologizing.
- Heel Realization: Elyon and the Guardians are deeply remorseful of their actions against Jade when they realize she was all along innocent of serving Phobos.
- Internal Reveal: Vathek and Tynar share with Elyon, Caleb, and the Guardians what they learned about Jade during the jailbreak. Elyon also learns someone went against her orders and sent Jade to the dungeon in Kage.
- It Makes Sense in Context: When Elyon describes the Bat Khan being batlike and able to both fly and shoot lasers from their hands, it sounds ridiculous to Cornelia.Cornelia: Laser…shooting…shadow bats?
- It's All My Fault: Elyon says this in her My God, What Have I Done? moment. Cornelia and Caleb try to tell her otherwise, but she doesn't try to shift blame from herself when Tynar confronts her and she learns someone countermanded her orders about Kage, acknowledging that factor doesn't make her own treatment of Kage any better.
- Loose Lips: When the villagers tell the Guardians that the castle was attacked by living shadows, Cornelia immediately asks out loud if that means Kage. The mob starts panicking again as their thoughts turn to Phobos returning, and Cornelia gets reprehensible looks from the others.
- Loud Gulp:
- This is Taranee's reaction to seeing Elyon's castle in its decimated state.
- Caleb swallows nervously when Elyon orders him to find the person whose disobedience of her orders played a role in making Kage an enemy.
- Some of the heroes gulp when they see the comatose Nerissa has no shadow.
- My God, What Have I Done?:
- This is the Guardians and Elyon's collective reaction when they realize they made Jade an enemy by antagonizing her on the false assumption of her being Phobos' minion. Elyon actually uses those words.
- Vathek is heavily hinted to have his own regrets about his treatment of Jade.
- Never My Fault:
- Defied by Elyon who completely takes responsibility for the Kage situation. Even when she learns that someone went against her orders about Kage, she does not use that to deflate responsibility for herself, admitting that it doesn't make her own actions against Kage any better.
- While Irma and Cornelia are horrified and feel guilty for their actions, they still try to justify themselves by saying that Kage acted threateningly in their first meeting and afterwards chose to continue fighting them on the Knights' side. This is trying to ignore the truth that the girls threw the first punch (with Taranee admitting it was understandable of Kage, who was alone and lost, to lash out in the face of total strangers' hostility), and they never questioned Nerissa's lies about the blue girl, giving her no chance to parley.
- "Not So Different" Remark:
- Jade sympathizes with Miranda and Cedric because she herself has also been mistreated due to being different.Miranda: Do you have any idea what it's like? To be prosecuted, to be hunted down just because you were born?
Jade: You seem to forget how I ended up working with you in the first place. - Caleb mentally notes that when Elyon is angry, he can see the family resemblance between her and Phobos. Tynar, meanwhile, outright tells Elyon that her actions regarding Kage are no different from her brother's own acts.
- Jade sympathizes with Miranda and Cedric because she herself has also been mistreated due to being different.
- Oh, Crap!:
- When Elyon makes it clear that she's going to punish whoever countermanded her orders back when Jade/Kage was first captured and threw her into the dungeons, Caleb's justifiably nervous since he's the guilty party.
- The heroes collectively have one when they conclude that if Jade/Kage really is a queen of the Shadow Realm, something worse than her is responsible for her ending up on Meridian.
- Paranoia Gambit: Jade tells Miranda and Cedric that she wants them to sneak around and play from the shadows to make the Guardians think there's someone over their shoulders 24/7 until their paranoia has been fed to the point they become puppets dancing to the duo's tunes.
- Parental Obliviousness: Averted. Will's mother Susan suspects her daughter is hiding things from her, but she isn't confronting her about it for the fear of being overbearing.
- Pet the Dog: Jade tells Miranda and Cedric that she bargained them out of Phobos' service so that they could actually start over once they've helped her destroy the Guardians' civilian lives.
- Revenge: Downplayed. While Jade told Phobos in Chapter 3 that she's not motivated by revenge against the Guardians, she thinks to herself that while she does not want revenge, she does want to get even with the girls for all they've done to her.
- "Shut Up!" Gunshot: When the villagers are losing it again, Taranee gets them to quiet down by launching in the air a fireball that explodes like a firework.
- Spiteful Spit: Caleb spits on the floor before informing the Guardians of what he believes to be Jade's lies about the Mage having been Nerissa all along.
- Tempting Fate: Elyon's thoughts reveal that she hadn't believed things could get worse after the Shadowkhan stopped their devastating assault, only to learn about the jailbreak.
- Two Roads Before You: Jade states that she aims to bring the Guardians' duties on such a severe collision course with their daily lives so that they'll have to choose one life over the other.
- Underestimating Badassery: When Julian worries what the five Shadowkhan tribes they have yet to see are capable of, Caleb tries to claim the Shadowkhan won't take them by surprise a second time. Julian admonishes his son for refusing to acknowledge they're standing there only because Jade didn't press the attack.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Tynar confronts the Guardians and Elyon for their treatment of Kage and assuming she was an enemy.
