The story follows Cassandra to London in 2005. She’s baffled by her own quick decision to board a plane to see the cottage that her grandmother left to her and has brought the white suitcase on board with her. In it, Cassandra finds a notebook written by Nell in 1975. Nell says that she finally found her truth and that she plans to leave Brisbane and move to England. Cassandra realizes that Nell’s plans were derailed because Cassandra came to live with her grandmother just as she was packing to leave the country.

Cassandra switches her attention to the book of fairy tales and begins reading a story called “The Crone’s Eyes.” In it, a lost princess comes to live with a blind crone. The crone explains that her eyes were taken by her well-meaning father to prevent her from seeing the death and destruction in the world. She was to receive her eyes back on her sixtieth birthday but couldn’t meet the messenger who brought them because the princess arrived that night and needed her help. The princess vows to retrieve the eyes before the crone passes away. After many hardships and adventures, she returns with the eyes only to learn the old woman has died.