When Shadow first arrives in Cairo, IL, he meets a cat (Bast), a talking dog ( Mr. Bilquis is moved by Nancy's speech and kisses him deeply while Ibis looks on uncomfortably before proposing they have a drink. If a Black lady had died instead of Zorya Vechernyaya, Wednesday and Czernobog would not be seeking vengeance. Nancy tells them they cannot sit out this war and as African gods, it is on them to fight for themselves. Ibis acknowledges that he hears every voice and records their names from a bird's-eye view while Bilquis claims that their suffering is timeless and not sacred. Nancy understands oppression, exploitation, and human trafficking and how it has only evolved in America from slavery to prison, police brutality, and other traumas. Nancy wants to know the trade-off for joining the New Gods. World and confronts Ibis for not riding the carousel because he wants peace. Nancy confronts Bilquis for initially siding with Mr. They greet each other with affection before Bast the cat and Mr. Ibis is working on Lila's body in the preparation room of the funeral parlor when Bilquis arrives.

Shadow asks if anyone else is around and Ibis takes it to mean he is asking after Laura. Bast the cat enters and Ibis communicates with her via whistle. Shadow hesitates and stutters before replying that he did. Ibis is preparing Lila Goodchild's body for burial when Shadow walks in. He walks naked over to the mirror and sees that his wounds have completely healed but he has been left with claw marks on his chest and back. Shadow wakes up the next morning to Bast the cat at the foot of his bed. They finish having sex and she tells him to rest and let it go. She scratches at his chest and his back, telling him to let it happen. She licks at the wounds he suffered over the last few weeks and begins to ride him. She passionately kisses him anyway, explaining that Laura won't kill her. Shadow protests that Laura will kill her.

He hears a cat meow and a naked woman approaches him, telling him she is glad he came. Shadow is asleep in Ibis and Jacquel Funeral Parlor. Zeus sent Hermes to kill Argus and eventually Argus was reborn in America as the God of Surveillance. Zeus became lovers with the river nymph, Io, so Hera turned her into a heifer and sent Argus to protect her. Ibis uses a praxinoscope to tell Bast the tale of Argus, symbolized by a peacock.

The annotated american gods