Tess is visiting her elderly grandmother Willow in the hospital. Willow is sick, will die soon, and Tess will inherit her magical powers. Willow is angry that Tess will be the inheritor of her abilities — she had hoped to pass her powers to a different grandchild, to her eldest grandson Lucas. As Tess leaves the hospital, she runs into Lucas, and he attacks her, verbally and physically, incredibly angry that she's getting Willow's powers and not him.

When Tess was thirteen, she spent weekends at her grandmother's learning about magic with her cousins. She'd spar with Lucas and she'd lose to him every time. She'd hear the history of her grandmother's bond with Rust, the god who gave Willow her magic abilities.

After leaving the hospital, Tess drives to Schmidt's Diner. Her friend Doreen brings her coffee and Tess sits down with Rust at a booth. Rust is a god from the reincarnated Pantheon who chose Willow as an acolyte to bring him worshipers. At the diner, he tells Tess that he can feel Willow slowly slipping away from him. He and Tess know that soon, when Willow dies, Tess will fully inherit Willow's powers.

Tess returns to her apartment and looks at the book that is responsible for her gaining Rust's powers. At a party at Willow's awhile ago, Rust left the book for Tess, telling her that he did not want to bond to Lucas. Tess took the book home with her, found the spell for binding Rust to her instead, and cast it.

Now, she reflects that this decision was a way of taking back her agency. Her family had never accepted her as she was — overweight, gay, and the least magically powerful of the family. Late that night in her apartment, she suddenly feels unsteady and lightheaded. When the feeling lifts, she glances knowingly at Rust, who now lives with her. Tess's cell phone rings, and she knows it's her mother, calling about Willow's death. Tess feels quiet and settled.