Evadne was giggling, half laughing and half shoving as she tried to push Casadin out of the VIP hospital room. He, on the other hand, gripped both sides of the door frame like a child refusing to leave daycare.
"Leave already… you have to go back to school," she laughed, trying harder to pry him loose.
"No!!! I refuse. If you get to skip school, then I'm skipping too," Casadin replied dramatically.
"Lower your voice… someone's sleeping," she scolded with a whisper-laugh, casting a glance toward the bed behind her.
"I don't care!!!" Casadin shot back, overacting on purpose.
They kept bickering and playfully pushing each other until a head nurse finally walked over and gave them a polite but pointed look. She didn't scold them, she wouldn't dare, knowing exactly which families they came from, but the warning in her eyes was clear. Only then did the two troublemakers quiet down.
"Princess, you still owe me a movie date," Casadin reminded her with a raised brow, referring to the date that never happened due to yesterday's chaos. After the incident at school, Evadne was taken straight home by her overly protective parents and grounded in bed. The snake bite on her hand, though superficial, had been enough to nearly get her admitted.
"I know. But it's not like I canceled on purpose. Mommy and Daddy nearly dragged me to the ICU," she teased. "Let's reschedule for Saturday. That way, it won't just be a movie. We'll have more time. Okay?"
Casadin smirked. "You're bribing me with extra hours now?"
"Shut up and go. The head nurse might actually throw you out next time."
"Fine, fine. I'll call you later," he said, then leaned in and hugged her tight before placing a soft kiss on the top of her head. "Bye, Princess."
"Bye. Drive safe," she replied, watching him walk to the elevator before finally shutting the door and returning to the room.
"I know you've been awake for a while," she said plainly as she dropped back into the couch and looked at the hospital bed.
Hades opened his eyes and slowly sat up, facing her. The oxygen tube had already been removed earlier that morning after the doctors cleared him. His face was pale, his eyes haunted, but alert.
"The doctor said you can be discharged later today," she informed him without looking away. "Mom and Dad stepped out. Mom said she'll be back before discharge. And except for Casadin, no one else knows you're here. Mom didn't want it public, especially after the first responders logged it as a suicide attempt. So no, Cieryl and your friends won't be barging in with fake tears."
"You were the one who called 911. You were the one who told them it was a suicide attempt," Hades said flatly. There was no venom in his voice, just a quiet accusation, the sting of embarrassment barely hidden. Even though he knew, deep in his bones, that he owed her his life. That without her, he'd be a cold body fished out from the Hudson.
Evadne's brow arched. "Did I lie?"
He exhaled, slow and deep.
"No," he admitted.
"Then why the tone?" she shot back, crossing her legs and folding her arms. "What, am I supposed to apologize for saving your life now? Should I say sorry for dragging your sorry ass out of the river?"
"I'm not saying that," he muttered. "I'm just saying… you didn't have to call 911. You could've brought me home instead."
Evadne blinked, then scoffed. "Why the hell would I do that? Did I tell you to throw yourself into a river? You wanted to die, remember?"
"You helped me anyway. You already went that far, why not go the rest of the way?" he snapped, frustration leaking into his voice.
"I wasn't supposed to help you at all," she said coldly. "Why should I stop someone from committing suicide if that's their choice?"
"Then why did you?" His voice was raw, angry, desperate for a reason he couldn't articulate.
"Because you were screaming for help in your head," she answered, her tone steady, emotionless. "You were begging anyone to save you. And I may not be a good person, Hades, but I'm not so heartless that I'd ignore someone begging to live when I know I can do something about it."
Hades couldn't answer. He just stared at her. So did she.
After a long silence, he finally spoke. "I'm sorry," he said. "I'm sorry if I sounded ungrateful… after everything you did. I owe you. Just tell me how I can repay you."
"I didn't help you so you could owe me," Evadne replied flatly. "So you can forget about it."
"No, I insist," Hades said, firmer this time. "I don't want to be in debt to you."
He saw Evadne raise her brow at that. He realized a second too late how wrong it sounded.
"Then maybe next time," she said with a cold smile, "if you want to die, make it quick. So you won't have a chance to change your mind and inconvenience everyone else."
He blinked, stunned.
"You know what's better?" she continued, smile widening. "You can even tuck yourself in a coffin and have yourself buried alive, so it won't be messy for the people you leave behind."
"You don't have to be sarcastic," Hades muttered.
"Who says I'm being sarcastic?" Evadne tilted her head. "It sounds like a very considerate idea. And while you're at it, don't forget to leave a note. Saves people from wasting time looking for your useless body."
Something inside Hades snapped at her words, her smile, her infuriating calm.
"Instead of being snarky, shouldn't you be begging me to keep quiet about your secret?" he snapped.
Evadne's smirk sharpened. "And what secret would that be?"
"That you can hear thoughts," he said, his voice rising with accusation. "Admit it."
"Hades," she said calmly, "I can hear thoughts."
His eyes widened. He wasn't expecting that. He was bluffing.
"I… I can't believe it," he muttered.
"Exactly," she said, still calm. "No one would. I could deny it easily. And after your little suicide stunt? If you go around telling people that, what do you think they'll believe? That you're crazy. Mentally unstable. Suicidal."
She rolled her eyes, picked up a magazine from the table, and began flipping through it as if their conversation bored her.
Hades got off the bed. Walked over to the table where a glass of water sat. And without thinking, acting purely on instinct, he grabbed it and poured it over Evadne's lower half.
They both froze.
"What the fuck is wrong with you, you asshole?!" Evadne shrieked, shooting up from her seat, soaked.
"I…" Hades stammered, shocked at his own action. He didn't know why he did it. Maybe part of him wanted to provoke her. Maybe part of him wanted answers. Or maybe he just wanted to break through the wall she built.
"Did the oxygen to your brain run out or something?" Evadne snapped. "Maybe the doctors shouldn't have taken off your oxygen tube so soon."
"Why aren't you transforming?" Hades asked suddenly, confused.
"What?" she asked, utterly baffled now. She had stopped listening to his thoughts earlier, the endless pity loop had exhausted her. But she never expected this.
"Have you really lost your mind?"
"Aren't you a mermaid?" Hades asked seriously, his voice low and filled with disbelief. His brows furrowed, frustration bleeding into his tone. "Isn't that what you are? You kissed me, told me to breathe underwater, and I did. You pulled me out. You removed the SD card from my dashcam. So no one would know."
Evadne blinked once, then sighed. Her expression dimmed, not with guilt, but exhaustion. As if she were tired of being caught in something she didn't want to explain.
"And here I thought, since you were drunk, you wouldn't remember anything," she said quietly. "That's why I volunteered to watch over you for Mom... just to be sure"
"So… you really are a mermaid?" Hades asked again, voice barely audible.
Instead of answering, Evadne simply stared at him, and then she raised a hand and willed the moisture in her skirt to vanish. Just like that, the fabric dried as if it had never been soaked. Hades's eyes widened in horror.
"What the fuck…" he breathed, visibly paling.
"I was really hoping you wouldn't remember any of it," Evadne murmured, stepping closer with a calmness that unsettled him even more. "I thought removing the dashcam footage would be enough. Guess it's a good thing I insisted on coming to visit my 'boyfriend' today, to offer a little emotional support."
As she approached him, she began rolling up the sleeves of her button-down blouse, one slow turn at a time, like someone preparing for something far from innocent.
Hades instinctively stepped back. "What… what are you going to do?"
"I can't just let you walk around knowing what you know," she said, voice low but eerily calm. "Do you understand what people like me become, once the world finds out we exist? Lab rats. Specimens. Trapped in tanks, dissected for answers. I don't want to be one of those."
She tilted her head, smirking darkly. "So I have to erase your memory."
"What?" Hades blinked. "You… you're serious?"
"But here's the thing," she said, now standing right in front of him. "We can't just erase part of a memory. It doesn't work like that. So I'll have to take everything. Even your love for Cieryl."
She reached toward his forehead.
"Don't worry, Hades. This won't hurt… that much. As long as you don't resist."
"Stay the hell away from me!" he snapped, panicking, and shoved her.
At that exact moment, the door swung open. Jupiter, Angelina, and Langdon walked in, and Langdon moved swiftly, catching Evadne before she could hit the floor.
She gasped dramatically and began to cry in his arms, her shoulders trembling as she buried her face against Langdon's chest.
"Sweetheart? What's going on?" Angelina rushed over, concern etched deep into her face.
"Hades… did you just push her?" Jupiter's tone was cold, incredulous.
Hades froze. "I… Dad… wait, it's not what you think, "
Evadne wiped her tears with the back of her hand and looked up at her godparents with wide, watery eyes.
"Mom, Dad, please… please don't blame Hades," she whimpered. "It's not his fault. It was my mistake. I should've known he wasn't fully recovered yet. I played a stupid prank on him... He said I saved him last night at the river. That I took the SD card because I didn't want anyone to know I'm a… a mermaid."
There was a deafening silence.
Just as the doctor assigned to Hades walked into the room.
"I told him I'd erase his memory so he wouldn't tell anyone," she added, her voice cracking as she sniffled. "It was dumb. But I thought it was funny."
Hades could only stare at her, stunned.
"You told me the truth!" Hades snapped, voice raw. "You told me, you admitted you could hear thoughts. That you were a mermaid. Look at her! Her skirt was drenched, I poured water on her and she dried it up with her powers!"
He turned to his mother, eyes pleading.
"Mom, believe me. She's the one who called 911. She pulled me from the river after I tried to drown myself."
The room turned to ice.
Angelina's face went pale. Her voice broke.
"So it's true?" she whispered. "You… really tried to kill yourself?"
Hades looked away.
Her shoulders shook. "Were we really… that bad as parents?" she choked out. "So bad you'd rather die than come to us? Was it that painful to be our son? Do you hate us so much you'd put us through that loss again?"
Tears welled in her eyes.
"Are we monsters to you, Hades?"
The room turned cold.
Hades couldn't breathe. Not from fear but from shame.
He looked at Evadne.
She looked away then smiled.