Alex has worked at her family's museum in London her entire life. The museum is called the "Emerald Coat Museum," and it is full of death-related items. Most of these items are simply ephemera, but the emerald coat — the capstone exhibit — is what really draws visitors. The coat is said take the wearer to another realm, from which they can never return. Now, Alex guards the coat and its dark magic by herself — her Mom and Da are deceased, and her sister Josephine died while fighting in an overseas war. Alex once saw a girl try on the Emerald Coat. The girl convulsed underneath its fabric before dissolving into a heavy mist. Alex has always believed that her ultimate fate is to don the coat. One day, a young woman named Violet enters the museum. She initially stops by the museum for directions, but returns later to look at the exhibits. Alex walks her through the museum, and when they get to the Emerald Coat, she explains its powers, that it kills its wearers by transporting them to another realm. Violet is extremely skeptical that the coat is actually magical. Violet and Alex go to the opera together, and the outing helps Alex to realize that the world she's living in could be wonderful if she gave it a chance. After the show, Violet asks Alex why, if her fate is truly to go to the realm on the other side of the Coat, she hasn't gone there already. As Alex ponders this in the following days, she realizes Violet is right. Maybe this doesn't have to be her fate. She packs up her things, and when Violet arrives at the museum one evening, Alex kisses her and tells her that she's ready to go with her, away from the Coat. But Violet just looks past her and determinedly strides to the Emerald Coat, puts it on, and disappears. And Alex is left to wonder, day after day, when she will leave for the other realm, too. She waits and waits.