Nora, reeling from the agony of the Book of Regrets, confronts a brisker Mrs Elm who urges her to choose a regret to undo and a life to “try on.” The library’s lights and endless shelves emphasize the vastness of her options.

Mrs Elm lays out the rules: each available life begins in the present moment; there are no pasts to read, only consequences. If Nora truly wants a life, she will remain there and the library will fade to an indistinct memory. The danger lies in the in-between; losing will here endangers her root life and could end her access forever.

Nora asks how to return if a chosen life is worse. Mrs Elm explains that full disappointment will bring her back, sometimes slowly, sometimes all at once. Armed with this mechanism, Nora is told to pick a specific regret to test.

Remembering Dan’s dream of a quaint country pub, Nora regrets leaving him and asks for the life where they stayed together. The shelves whirl; Mrs Elm retrieves a green volume titled My Life. Nora reads the opening line—“She walked out of the pub into the cool night air…”—and the text dissolves as Nora is transported, the library vanishing.