The peaceful atmosphere grew tense as the two sisters stared at each other from opposite ends.
"Dad? What do you mean, Dad?" Ferda asked, shocked by Lolly's response, trying not to raise her voice.
"That's what Luva told me," Lolly said innocently.
Unable to contain herself, Ferda blurted out, disturbing the quiet atmosphere,
"What! I mean, Dad wasn't even there that day, and who the heck is Luva?"
Just then, Jerry appeared, flipping on the lights with sleep still in his eyes. Yawning, he asked, "Girls? What are you both doing here?"
They both turned towards him, heads down, as if they had done something wrong. Ferda then raised her face and stared at her dad's sleepy expression. Summoning courage, she asked,
"Dad, where were you the day Clovet died?"
Then suddenly, without warning, Lolly interjected, "And why were you already at the hospital that night?"
Jerry froze for a moment.
"You girls should head to bed, you have school tomorrow." He ensured they went to their rooms and settled into bed before returning to his own room.
Lolly turned to Ferda, who lay on the bed opposite hers, and said,
"If Dad is as innocent as you claim, why didn't he answer the questions?"
With that, she turned to face the wall and closed her eyes.
Ferda turned to her other side, spending the entire night pondering Lolly's words.
The next morning, Bia was in the kitchen preparing breakfast when Ferda entered.
"Good morning, Mum," she greeted.
Bia noticed her daughter's eye bags and red eyes, signs that Ferda had a difficult time sleeping.
"Good morning, dear. Couldn't sleep?" She asked as Ferda nodded and started washing the dishes.
"Um, Mum, do you know who Luva is?"
"Yes, she's believed to be the ancient gatekeeper to the underworld," Bia replied, dishing out food onto plates as Ferda froze at the spot.
"The underworld gatekeeper?" Ferda muttered to herself, reflecting on the previous night and Jerry's reaction to Luva's name.
"Why do you ask?" Bia questioned, placing the plates on a tray. Her voice snapped Ferda back to reality, and she continued washing the dishes.
"Well, Lolly kept mentioning her name. She said she saw Luva take Clovet from the hospital, and she thinks Dad had something to do with Clovet's death," Ferda explained. Bia paused, turning to look at her.
"What?" Bia was shocked to hear this.
"Her theory is that Dad was already at the hospital that night. And last night, she said Luva told her," Ferda said. "She's been acting strangely lately. It's really freaking me out."
Not wanting to believe any of it, Bia said,
"I think she's still grieving the loss of her sister. We all are."
"But ever since Clovet died, she's been acting really strange and creepy," Ferda whispered.
"Just give her time. She'll come around," Bia assured her, setting the table for breakfast.
After breakfast, Jerry dropped the girls off at school and went to work. Bia stayed home, clearing Clovet's side of the room, finally accepting that she was gone.
...
Back in the shadow realms, on the southern border, Shem took refuge in his old, dilapidated cabin in the middle of nowhere. It was where he had settled five years ago after Eva's death. The place still bore scars from the attack years ago when Zhedra had ambushed him.
He set down the spellbook and staff he had taken from the shrine and began cleaning up the place. When finished, he brewed a small pot of coffee and sat down on a half-broken wooden bench, poring over the spellbook in search of a way to defeat the dark forces.
Two years ago, Shem had promised Eva on her deathbed that he would protect Zack with his life. Now, he had no intention of breaking that promise. "I'll find a way, Eva," he whispered to himself. "I won't let them take Zack from us."
...
Later that day, when school was finally over, Ferda and Lolly were on their way home as usual when they bumped into I and Lila.
We stared at each other in surprise for a few moments before Ferda broke the silence, asking in disbelief,
"Zack? You're alive?" Her eyes widened as she stared at me blankly.
Lolly, unable to take her eyes off me, pointed and said,
"You!"
"Hey guys," I waved, opting not to joke around because I knew they were still grieving Clovet. Though I didn't know what happened to her, I couldn't risk being blamed for it.
"You died!" Lolly exclaimed, shocking both me and Ferda. "How are you..."
It was quite obvious that I had died that night, feeling Zhebell's dagger draining the life out of me. Just as I was about to reunite with Thail in Hades, I woke up in the hospital. Did I have nine lives or something?
"Well, I thought so too," I said, trying to convey my own surprise.
"You're an exchanged soul" Lolly whispered, then gasped aloud. "That's it—Clovet's soul was exchanged for yours!" She burst out.
"What?" I and Ferda exclaimed in unison.
"Okay, what's going on here?" Lila, who had been confused from the start, asked.
Ignoring her, I turned to Lolly.
"What do you mean?"
Lolly was about to respond when Ferda, fed up with it all, interjected,
"Okay, enough, Lolly! You're acting really strange. First, you think Dad's responsible for Clovet's death, and now Zack's an exchanged soul? Seriously?"
"But that's what Luva said," Lolly innocently replied.
"Luva?" Lila asked, surprised. "Isn't that the gatekeeper of Hades?"
Suddenly, a piece of my memory rushed back, remembering lying atop the water when I regained a little consciousness.
"Oh no, what has Dad done?" I muttered to myself.
"Lolly, stop this," Ferda yelled.
"But why are you seeing Luva?" Lila asked, staring into Lolly's eyes.
"Come on, let's go," Ferda said, dragging Lolly away after apologizing to me.
"There's something wrong with that girl," Lila muttered suspiciously.
I could only watch them leave, unable to stop them as I tried to process what Lolly had said. I really didn't want to believe that Jerry had anything to do with Clovet's death.