- Touchstone waits as the Dead start to chant all around them, forming into two lines. The Mordicant has also arrived for the party, and Touchstone and Mogget comment on Kerrigor's flair for a dramatic entrance.
- The Mordicant leaps forward and attacks Touchstone, who swipes at it, but the Mordicant retreats to the sound of Kerrigor's evil laughter.
- Mogget tries to awaken Sabriel, who is on the edge of Death formulating a plan with her father. Her father urges her to immediately take Touchstone and drag him up the stairs and out of the reservoir, and directs her to where she will find a Paperwing nearby. He says the Clayr will be there to instruct her, then finally, he asks for her sword and the bell Astarael. They both know this bell will banish him back into Death.
- Sabriel protests, but her father insists that it is his time. He echoes her earlier quote from the Book of the Dead: "Does the walker choose the path, or the path the walker?" (23.34), and he reminds her that "everyone and everything has a time to die" (23.36). After a final embrace, they head back into Life.
- Back in the reservoir, Kerrigor is madly cackling as Sabriel and her father return. Kerrigor apparently hasn't spent a lot of time making himself a believable human body for this occasion—he's seven feet tall with flaming eyes and a really huge mouth.
- Sabriel grabs Touchstone's hand and starts to drag him away; they make it out of the reservoir and then hear the sound of Astarael ringing in the distance. As they try to fight the urge to go into Death, Sabriel slaps Touchstone across the face, then grabs him and kisses him, trying to keep him focused on the present. It works really well.
- Sabriel tells Touchstone her father is dead, and they leave together for the West Yard of the palace.