Michael looked from Wez, to Mandy, then to his son, who pretended that he wasn't in agony.

"Dad," Rowan said. "I need Kaerius."

Michael nodded and motioned for Mandy to get in the car. She was hesitant but had no idea what was going on, so she had no choice but to follow her family and trust that they knew what they were doing. Michael had no idea what he was doing. Mandy had just told him that Wez was her brother, the person who cursed her and caused all the misery and pain. Did Wez know what Jack had done, or did he still think Mandy was cursed? Michael had to pretend like he hated her.

On the way to the car, Michael whispered, "Don't speak a word. Pretend like you don't know Wez." He got in the backseat with Rowan, acting like Wez was just an average Hunter.

"Do I heal like Kaerius now?" Rowan asked, trying not to move his wrist. When the car started moving, he couldn't stop it from bouncing against his lap. "He heals quicker. Won't Doctors find that strange?"

"Oh... yes. That's a good point." Michael tried not to stare at Wez. He didn't want him to know that anything had changed. "Have you told Kaerius that we're coming to pick him up?"

"I tried, but I can't hear his voice anymore. It's weird."

"It might be because you've hurt your head."

"I hope so," Rowan mumbled, watching his mother staring anxiously out of the window. She was avoiding Wez, leaning more towards the car door like she was afraid. She didn't look back at her son or Michael. Rowan wanted to speak to her and ask her if his mother truly didn't remember anything from when she was cursed, and if the mother he knew was gone forever.

When they reached the cliffs, Rowan wanted to get out to see if Kaerius was waiting for him, but his dad wouldn't let him. Rowan watched his dad jog down the path and around the bushes. Rowan hoped that Kaerius had gotten his message and wasn't still waiting by the rocks at his mother's house. Rowan didn't know how long it had been since the hunters captured him; a couple of hours maybe.

"Mandy, I thought you didn't want your hunters to hurt Rowan," Wez said, and Mandy turned to stare at him with a frown. Her expressions were not as cruel as the cursed Mandy. She didn't snap at him like she usually would.

"The hunters were working against her command this time," Rowan said before his mother said anything weird. He didn't want Wez to know what was going on, though Wez had helped him in the past. Rowan wasn't sure if he could trust him enough to let him know who Mandy really was. "She didn't know they were watching us. We just wanted to talk, and they assumed we wanted to fight."

"I see," Wez said, adjusting his mirror. "Ah, your father's back."

Mandy turned to watch from the back window. She wanted to look at Michael but stared at Rowan instead. Rowan saw her expression change to interest. Her eyes travelled around him like she was seeing him for the first time; like Rowan was still a stranger. Eighteen-year-old Rowan was a stranger to her.

Mandy's staring was distracted by Kaerius who yanked the door open closest to Rowan. Kaerius cupped his face when he saw that it was covered in dried blood. "Rowan hurt bad!" Kaerius said, turning Rowan's face left and right.

"Kaerius, my face was punched quite a lot, can you stop squeezing it please," Rowan breathed.

"Oh." Kaerius let go and hurried around the side of the car, so he could sit in the middle, sandwiched between Michael and Rowan. "We mend you?" Kaerius asked after Michael helped him with his seatbelt.

"Are we going to the hospital?" Rowan asked, scrunching his eyes shut when his vision blurred again. His heart felt a little less stressed now that Kaerius was right next to him, touching his arm and smothering him in his concern.

"I don't know if we should. You know how humans get around people who are not normal. You heal like Kaerius, which means your broken wrist should be okay in a few days or maybe even a week. I'm just worried about your head."

"Head feel... blocked," Kaerius said. "Rowan hurting. Head not right."

Nobody knew what to do, but Wez said, "I'll take you to Michael's house. If things get worse, let me know, and I'll take you to the hospital."

"Michael's house," Mandy asked, confused.

"Yes," Michael said sternly, and Mandy remembered that he told her not to speak.

Wez didn't even get out of the car when they reached home. He left before they even made it to the front door. Rowan was relieved to sit again as Kaerius gently lowered him onto the couch. When he was standing, he felt like he was both drunk and nursing a horrendous hangover. The room stopped spinning when Rowan rested his head against the cushions. Kaerius hovered over him, frowning deeply.

"Rowan hear Kaerius thoughts?"

"No."

"Rowan sleepy?"

"Yes."

Kaerius made a low concerned note and tapped his chin. "Rowan stay awake. Eyes open, you okay. Eyes closed- Rowan... maybe not good."

"I'll stay awake," Rowan whispered, watching his mother linger by the doorway to the living room. His dad clanged loudly in the kitchen, trying to find his first aid kid.

"Kaerius, did you get my message about the curse getting broken?" Rowan thought.

Kaerius nodded.

"Mum doesn't remember anything after being cursed. She thinks I'm a young kid. She thinks everything's still okay between her and dad. She has no idea that she spent the past 12 years hunting Thalassic Mortals."

Kaerius watched Mandy, and she watched him. Her eyes were not cold, hard, and full of judgement or hate. She stared how Rowan stared with attentiveness and a thoughtfulness. Her eyes made her approachable and kind.

"She look- nicer," Kaerius said as Michael entered with a big red box. He knelt by the couch and gave Kaerius some wipes to clean the blood from Rowan's face.

"Dad, I know you're used to ignoring her, but that was when she was... horrible. Why are you not like- jumping into her arms or something?" Rowan asked quietly, trying not to wince from Kaerius's touch on his bruised face. His actions were not gentle.

"Because I think she's a little freaked out, and by ignoring her, I don't have to explain because I don't know where to begin. Also, I'm looking after you first."

Rowan wanted to shake his head, but he was afraid it would fall right off his shoulders. "Kaerius," he said, giving in and stopping his soulmate from tearing his skin off. "Can you be gentle please."

"Sorry," Kaerius said and softly held the side of Rowan's face and started wiping away the blood with calmer strokes. The dried blood revealed bad bruising around Rowan's left cheek and eye. The cut on Rowan's head had stopped bleeding. Michael wasn't sure if it needed stitches. Rowan's broken nose was a little crooked, but that had stopped bleeding too. Michael made him wiggle his fingers on the hand that was attached to the broken wrist. Rowan could move them, though he almost cried when Michael started wrapping it up with bandages.

Kaerius wasn't sure how to comfort Rowan. Everywhere he touched him, he winced. His soul needed to make Rowan better. Kaerius was drawn to his soulmate like a shark to a rippling surface. Kaerius settled on holding Rowan's hand and stroking a light hand through his blonde hair.

"Almost done," Michael soothed, working as slowly and as carefully as he could. When he was done, and he couldn't do anything other than making them food and Rowan a hot drink, Michael turned to face Mandy who still stood awkwardly in the doorway, fidgeting and on the verge of leaking all her questions. "Do you believe that this is your son yet?" he asked.

Mandy wrapped arms around herself. "I don't know." She stared at the wooden floor for a moment. "Yesterday, I was twenty-nine, and I had a six-year-old boy, not a man." Her lip quivered. "Why-" She looked away to stop her tears from rolling down her cheeks. "Why is this happening Michael? You're older, and you're different."

"Dad," Rowan whispered, "tell her what happened."

Michael nodded and told her to take a seat. Mandy sat on the chair by the window, and Michael sat on the coffee table in the middle of the room. He didn't want to hug her yet, not until she knew everything that had happened to their bond.

Rowan and Kaerius listened to Michael talk about how Mandy suddenly stopped loving him, and they suddenly hated each other. He spoke of how Mandy suddenly said she hated her mother and she ruined her life and learnt to hunt from her brother and hated Thalassic Mortals. Michael mentioned her obsession with hunting the seas and making Rowan combat-ready. He said how she had turned human and couldn't see the supernatural unless she was sleep deprived, and how he had turned into a Thalassic Mortal who had to be in saltwater every four hours. Michael then talked about Rowan and how Mandy hated anything he did if it wasn't hunter related, and how cruel she was to him for all these years. Finally, he mentioned Jack and fairies, and vampires, and her brother, and how he was the one to curse her.

"So, you were cursed twelve years ago, and now that we've lifted that curse, you don't remember anything of that life. That's why you think Rowan's still a six-year-old, and why I'm different, and why you're so confused. This curse has pretty much made you sleep while this horrible Mandy took over." When Michael had finished explaining, Mandy's lips were pursed together, and her eyes didn't blink.

"We- um, we spent twelve years apart?" she asked quietly.

Michael nodded.

"And this- this curse. You remembered everything, and I didn't?"

He nodded again.

"Oh Michael." Mandy quickly wiped a tear away. "Twelve whole years."

Michael didn't bother wiping away his tears. He knew just by talking to Mandy that she was his Mandy, his soulmate, his wife. It had been so long since Michael had seen the woman he loved, but he remembered her like he only saw her yesterday. He was thankful that Mandy didn't remember all the hatred and the arguments and the loathing. She just remembered his love and their bond. "I've missed you so much," he sniffed.

Mandy then jumped off the couch, and they finally fell into each other's arms.