As they recover from their ordeal in the wilderness, Valencia, Issy, and Helena discuss what to do about the ongoing problems with the moon, which seems to still be injured and leaking in spite of their best efforts. They suspect that the blame lies with the cult that Aldonza and her Colossus lover Nin are spearheading, since its magical rituals involve sacrificing the moon creatures and widening the rift; having examined the situation from all angles, Helena posits that the cult is brainwashing its members, using the magical protein shakes and the rituals themselves, and that the participants likely don't understand what they're doing or have much control over it (in fact, they probably think they're worshiping Artemis as intended and don't realize that Nin's Babylonian influence is perverting the rituals). The girls don't want to hurt or kill innocent women who are being coerced into performing these rituals, so they decide that the best way to stop the cult is to sever Nin's control over it; and since Aldonza is the leader of the gym and the cult, they decide to start with her, planning to separate her from Nin and hopefully make her see the light about what's happening. Unfortunately, they can't get hold of Aldonza to even start trying! Issy's attempts to call as Valencia's representative and set up a meeting keep being trapped by people who try to trace the call and track them down, which frustrates them since they are literally trying to meet in person already. They finally manage to finagle a meeting for midnight at the construction site of the building that has been such a bone of contention between Valencia and Aldonza, and prudently decide to go over there early to investigate, just to make sure that the cult isn't setting a trap for them. On their way toward the construction site, however, the ladies are stopped by the small group of satyrs that keeps harassing them, meeting them on the sidewalk like cowboys at a shootout and refusing to let them go any further. Various insults and angry words are traded, with Valencia lecturing the satyrs on their behavior and informing them that they need to learn consent and respect for other people, but they become aggressive and belligerent, and one of them actually slaps Issy during the conversation. Seeing that they've attracted an audience (and legitimately upset by the interchange), Issy bursts into tears, and the girls' distress is so poignant that the satyrs realize their mistake as passersby on the street begin to intervene, harassing the satyrs for their behavior and offering to help and protect the three ladies as needed. The three leave the satyrs to the social consequences of their actions and continue on to the construction site, where Issy picks the padlocks and they break in to discover something strange: a huge flat silver area in the middle of the abandoned site, as slick and slippery as ice, made of some metal that even Helena can't identify. They ski their way to the center of the area, where a large, unfamiliar letter is embossed into the surface, and Helena realizes that it's some kind of magical doorway and asks the others to pause while she tries it. Placing her hands on the hot metal, they begin to burn and sizzle, but no matter how her horrified friends beg her to stop, she refuses to do so until she succeeds in breaking through... turning the spot they're standing on into a huge silver slide that drops them all down underneath the construction site. Below ground level, the girls discover themselves in what appears to be a huge, strangely-shaped temple; the main room has a large altar on it, surrounded by silver frescoes of divine figures hunting and chasing prey, and a man injured and near death lying on the altar. They resuscitate him and provide him with pain relief, and he explains that he isn't sure how he got here, but is surprised to be alive and is afraid of staying any longer, exhorting them to leave as soon as possible. They decide they can't leave without investigating further, though, so they leave the man to rest as they investigate one of two tunnels leading off into other areas of the temple. They follow the tunnel until they come to the end of the hall, where they hear tapping noises, and discover... two women, who appear to be members of Aldonza's cult, mining at the walls near a collection of what appear to be dead bodies. The two groups are shocked, and Valencia and Issy immediately try to assert themselves, Valencia demanding to know what the women are doing here, and Issy glowing with the subtle light of the moon to establish that she has a right to be on this site of lunar worship. But as Issy's moon powers radiate out of her, the walls around them shudder in reaction, and Helena abruptly realizes that the entire temple is a huge machine that runs on lunar energy, and that she could activate it now that Issy is feeding it with just a flick of her metaphysical finger... so, curious to see what will happen, she does. The two women fall down on their knees in front of Issy, who is still carrying the seaside hunter's silver bow and whom they have mistaken for Artemis, and the temple shudders as a terrible scream rings down the hallway. All three ladies rush back to the main chamber of the temple and are horrified to find that the injured man they left there has been torn apart by the temple itself, apparently almost exploded when the machine activated. Sick with guilt and horror and furious that such a thing even exists, Valencia and Issy use Helena as an interpreter to demand in Greek that the two groveling women go and get Aldonza, their leader, right now , because they are no longer willing to wait for midnight to address the terrible things going on.
