Apologies if you didn't get a notification for yesterdays update. I noticed that a lot of you didn't and I'm guessing Wattpad glitched or something. Hopefully you're notified about this one! Let me know! :)

- Sian

Rowan was sort of conscious when they pulled him out of the van. He was sort of conscious when they carried him through the old church and to the room Rowan fought in to get Kaerius. He was sort of conscious when they tied him to a chair. He vaguely remembered crying out when they fastened a rope around his broken wrist.

All these fragments of memories came back to him when he started to wake. Now, he didn't feel as though he would drift right back to sleep. He felt sore everywhere. The thumping in his head made it hard to open his eyes, but Rowan was determined not to go back to sleep. His neck was sore, so he rolled his head back and found himself staring at the ceiling.

"He's awake," someone whispered. "Let's go get Mandy."

When Rowan's head fell forward again, and his eyes opened enough for him to see the room in front of him, the hunters had gone, and Rowan was alone. "Dad?" he breathed. His voice echoed in the bare room. He sounded weak. "Kaerius?" Rowan couldn't hear his soulmate's thought, but he could feel Kaerius, and his stress wasn't helping.

Rowan could still taste blood in his mouth. The right side of his face was covered in dried crusty blood because Rowan's skin felt tight. Breathing was hard. Every inhale was effort and filled his chest with sharp pain. Rowan almost closed his eyes again, but the loud creak of the door made him look. His mother walked in, and the door closed behind her. She was alone and said nothing to him. She crossed her arms and walked until she was three metres away, then stopped and stared, and continued to say nothing.

Rowan weakly pulled his wrists against the rope. His broken wrist hurt only when he noticed it, puffy and bruised. He wasn't sure if he had the energy to speak to her, so he was thankful when his mother spoke first.

"They say that you're my son," Mandy said. "But you're not my son."

Rowan felt his heart shrivel. "I am," he whispered. "Mum-"

"No," Mandy snapped. "My son is a little boy."

Rowan stopped trying to pull his wrists free and looked up. His mother was staring at him like he was a stranger. Her eyes were confused, scared, uncertain. "Oh my god," Rowan whispered. "Jack did it."

"Who's Jack?" Mandy asked, stepped a little closer. "Where's my son? Where's my husband?"

"You don't remember?" Rowan tried to lift his head, but it rolled back, and the room spun violently. He thought he was going to be sick.

"Is this my brother's doing? Did he send you?" Mandy ran a hand through her hair. "You were in my home. Where's my little boy?"

"You don't remember being cursed?" Rowan looked up to her, wondering if he really looked so different from when he was a child. "Mum, it's me-"

"My son is only six years old!" Mandy shouted. "He's just a child. Where is he?" Her eyes watered, and she started to cry.

Rowan watched her crumple, and sob, and beg for him to tell her what was happening. All he could do was stare and process the fact that he was a stranger to her. When she settled down and gained her composure, she started pacing back and forth, fidgeting with a bracelet on her wrist.

"Kaerius, I don't know if you can hear me because I can't hear you, but I'm letting you know that Jack did it, he broke the curse." Rowan looked miserably at his mum. "She doesn't remember her life after the curse. She thinks her Rowan is some six-year-old kid. She doesn't know that I'm him."

Mandy suddenly stopped in her tracks and stared at Rowan. "You just used a mind-link." Rowan was astonished. "I felt it." Mandy stepped closer. "Who are you?"

Rowan wanted to tell her that he was her son, but he was grown up now, and she had been cursed for 12 years and didn't remember anything. "I'm... I was speaking to my soulmate, who is a Thalassic Mortal."

Mandy raised her eyebrows. "You're like my Michael; human but bonded to me."

"Yes," Rowan said, and it felt like he was speaking to a stranger too.

"Are they hunters out there? They can't be. They treated me like I was their boss. I just went along with it because I have no idea what in the Goddess is going on! I don't know where I am, where my family is, why I'm so- so- I feel like I've woken up from a ten-year nap. My head is so stuck! Nothing about today makes sense. I can't remember anything about my morning. Maybe they're pretending, and they know that I'm the sea goddess. If they're all hunters out there, maybe they're working for Michael's family. I thought we were rid of them when we moved. By the looks of it, you're no friend of theirs."

Rowan now understood who had given him his nervous babbling.

Mandy spun when the door opened again. A smug face looked at Rowan, and he remembered her. Rowan had fought her and won when they captured Kaerius. "Is he not talking?" the woman asked. "I can make him talk if you want."

"Where's Michael?" Mandy asked.

"In the room upstairs-"

"Bring him to me."

The woman's smirk altered, and she glared at Rowan before leaving them alone again.

Mandy turned to face him. "Are they all hunters?" she asked.

"Yes."

"Are you a hunter?"

"No."

"Good."

Rowan never thought his mother would be glad about that. "My dad will explain everything," Rowan said quietly, feeling a wave of dizziness fog his vision. He scrunched his eyes shut and clamped his jaw when the pain in his wrist and nose felt like they were on fire. He heard Mandy step a little closer.

"Why were they calling you my son?" she asked, and Rowan wondered if she could tell, but refused to believe it. Her mind was looking for a six-year-old. He didn't blame her for not believing him. He looked up to her and opened his mouth but couldn't seem to say it, not when he knew she wouldn't believe him.

His dad was brought into the room shortly after. Michael completely ignored Mandy and ran to his son. "She seriously has you tied to a damn chair," he muttered and fumbled with the rope at the back of the seat.

"Dad," Rowan whispered, watching his mum's shocked face. "The curse-"

"We need to get you to the hospital. The amount of blood coming out of your head is concerning."

"Dad," Rowan whispered again. "Jack did it." Michael paused and stared at him. "She's not cursed anymore."

Slowly, Michael turned towards the mother of his child, and the woman who he had spent the past 12 years hating because of fairy magic. She looked both surprised and relieved to see him. The only other time she looked like that was when she took Rowan on his first hunt, and it all went horribly wrong.

"Michael," Mandy said with a strange frown. "You look..."

"Older?" Michael stood up straighter. He had no idea what he should do. He knew what he wanted to do. He wanted to run up to her, hold her, kiss her, and tell her that he loved her. Michael hadn't felt that way since the curse began. The curse made them hate each other. Not anymore.

"Y-Yes. Why?"

Michael's heart ached for her, but he turned back to Rowan and continued to untie him. "We need to get our son to the hospital."

"Oh, Goddess! Is he hurt? How bad is it? Where is he?"

Michael stopped and looked at her strangely.

"She thinks I'm six," Rowan whispered, and Michael then understood, but how could he convince her that her six-year-old son was now an eighteen-year-old young man who was taller than her, stronger than his dad, with a deep voice and shaved regularly.

"This is your son," Michael said, keeping it straight to the point.

"You have another son?" Mandy asked, eyes turning wide.

"No, this is Rowan-"

"And he's called Rowan too!" she yelled.

"No, Mandy, no." If Michael stepped even a foot closer to her, he'd run into her arms and never let her go. Right now, Michael had to be patient and alert and focus on helping his family out of a dangerous situation. "I look older, Mandy, and so do you, because we are older. Look at yourself." He pointed to one of the windows that had a mirrored strip through the middle.

Mandy was curious enough to look, and she gasped and covered her mouth. Michael finished untying Rowan and helped him to his feet. Mandy continued to stare at herself in horror. All her sleepless nights, bad diet, and overworked lifestyle had aged her enough for her to notice.

"How is this possible?" Mandy asked, touching her cheeks and her hair. When she turned back around, her eyes fell straight to Rowan. She looked him up and down and shook her head. "He can't be our son. Our Rowan is so small." She moved closer. "But you've got Michael's eyes." She shook her head again. "No. I can't have lost this much of your life. I picked you up from primary school only yesterday."

"You didn't," Michael said, trying desperately to blink away his tears. Rowan wobbled, and he held onto him tighter. "We need to go. Tell them you're taking us to the hospital and ask for someone called Wez. He'll take us."

Mandy only stared at Rowan with her mouth open.

"Mum," Rowan breathed, and she put a hand over her mouth again.

"Mandy, look at him, he's covered in blood and hurt. We have to get him out of here," Michael spoke sternly, but every time Rowan looked at him, his eyes were full of affection.

Mandy eventually nodded. Her hands trembled, and Rowan felt sorry for her. He couldn't imagine the turmoil in her head. "Someone called Wez," she mumbled before going to the door. Hunters were waiting outside the room. "Um... we're going to the hospital." She looked around, and Rowan thought she was going to start crying until she said, "We need Wez to take us there."

The hunters looked at Rowan and Michael but said nothing, they only stepped aside, though they didn't need to say anything for Rowan to know that they hated him. If only they knew they were standing right next to the Goddess of the sea.

Awkwardly, they walked through the old church with all eyes on them. By the time they reached the doors, Mandy had learnt that scowling made people look away.

When they were outside, Rowan saw Wez standing by his car, and was thankful to see him.

Wez opened the backseat when he saw the state Rowan was in, but as soon as Mandy saw Wez, she stopped.

"Mandy, we need to go," Michael said, avoiding the eyes of the hunters who watched them.

Mandy looked uncomfortable and rooted her feet to the stones. Michael called for her again, but still, she didn't move. Wez didn't stare, he got back in his car and gave Rowan some water and told him that they'd pick up his Thalassic Mortal on the way. "That's Wezarian," she whispered, "my brother."