For the first time in what felt like forever, there was no voice whispering my name.
No footsteps behind me.
No copy of Axel standing where Axel wasn't supposed to be.
No Hollow.
Just morning.
I stood in the kitchen with both hands wrapped around a mug of coffee I hadn't actually touched.
Across from me, Axel was staring at the same mug like it had personally offended them.
“You've been looking at that for five minutes,” I said.
They blinked.
“What?”
“The coffee.”
“Oh.”
They looked down.
“I forgot I made it.”
I smiled despite myself.
“That's reassuring.”
“I'm recovering from supernatural trauma.”
“You're also staring at coffee.”
“It's complicated.”
I laughed quietly.
It was strange.
Laughing felt strange.
For weeks, every sound had meant something.
A door closing.
A floorboard creaking.
A voice coming from another room.
Everything had been a warning.
Now there was nothing.
And somehow, that scared me more.
I looked toward the hallway.
The house was quiet.
Too quiet.
“Do you think it's really gone?”
Axel didn't answer immediately.
“I don't know.”
I hated that answer.
“You said it was cut off.”
“It is.”
“But that's not the same thing.”
“No.”
They looked at me.
“The Hollow was connected to us. We broke that connection. That doesn't necessarily mean the Hollow itself stopped existing.”
My stomach tightened.
“So it's still out there.”
“Maybe.”
“Great.”
“I know.”
I took a sip of coffee.
It was cold.
I made a face.
Axel noticed.
“You're drinking cold coffee?”
“I've had a difficult morning.”
“It's nine-thirty.”
“Exactly.”
They smiled.
For a second, everything felt normal.
Then Axel's expression changed.
Their eyes moved toward the living room.
I followed their gaze.
Nothing.
“What?”
“They forgot.”
“Who?”
“My mother.”
I frowned.
“What did she forget?”
Axel stood.
They walked into the living room.
Their mother was sitting on the couch, staring at an old photograph.
“What are you looking at?” Axel asked.
She looked up.
“This.”
She held the photograph toward us.
It was old.
Really old.
A younger version of Axel stood beside their mother.
And beside them was someone I recognized.
Seraphine.
I stared.
“She shouldn't be in that photograph.”
Their mother went pale.
“I know.”
Axel took the photograph.
“Mom.”
“I remember her.”
“You said you didn't.”
“I didn't.”
She touched her temple.
“Yesterday, I couldn't remember her name.”
My chest tightened.
“Why?”
Their mother looked at me.
“I don't know.”
Then she looked back at the photograph.
“But I remember now.”
Axel's fingers tightened around the picture.
“What changed?”
Their mother shook her head.
“I don't know.”
I looked at Axel.
They were already thinking the same thing.
The Hollow.
“It isn't attacking us anymore,” I whispered.
Axel looked at me.
“No.”
“It’s attacking memory.”
Their expression hardened.
“It never stopped.”
The room suddenly felt colder.
I looked at the photograph again.
Seraphine's face seemed strangely blurred.
Not physically.
Just...
Wrong.
Like my mind didn't want to hold onto it.
I blinked.
And for one terrifying second, I couldn't remember her name.
I knew she was important.
I knew I'd seen her.
I knew she'd helped us.
But the name was gone.
Then Axel grabbed my hand.
“Athena.”
I looked at them.
Their eyes were frightened.
“Say my name.”
“What?”
“Your name.”
“Athena.”
“Again.”
“Athena.”
Their grip tightened.
“Athena Marlowe.”
I swallowed.
“Axel Valen.”
Their shoulders dropped.
The panic faded slightly.
And I understood.
The Hollow wasn't trying to kill us.
It was trying to erase us.
Not our bodies.
Our memories.
Our names.
Our connection.
Everything that made us capable of finding our way back to each other.
I looked at Axel.
“We have to end it.”
They nodded.
“I know.”
“No.”
I stepped closer.
“We have to end it together.”
Axel's eyes softened.
“I wasn't planning on doing anything else.”
I knew that wasn't entirely true.
And I knew we'd have to talk about it.
Soon.
Because I could already see the answer forming behind their eyes.
The answer they weren't going to like.
The answer I was going to hate.
The answer that had been waiting for us since the beginning.
And I was starting to realize exactly what the Hollow wanted us to sacrifice.
Not our lives.
Something much worse.
Us.