Grandma drops Conor off at his old house, and he confronts the yew tree by kicking it awake. Conor flies into a rage, accusing the monster of lying to him as well. The monster stresses that “[it] said if she could be healed, the yew tree would do it [...] It seems that she could not” (171). Conor will not accept this and demands that the yew tree heal his mother. The monster explains that “[it] did not come to heal her [...] [it] came to heal [Conor]” (172). Conor realizes that he knew this all along: his mother could not be helped, and she wouldn’t survive this illness. He begs the monster for help, and the monster recreates Conor’s nightmare and tells him that it is time to tell the fourth tale.

Conor protests, but the nightmare has begun. In the nightmare, Conor watches as his mother stands on the edge of a cliff, and a huge, horrible monster tries to pull her over the edge. Conor “[throws] himself toward her, toward her out-reaching hands as the dark fists pulled her over the edge [.