"You don't remember the lake?" Adam tried.
"The lake?" Morris echoed.
"Yeah. The wreck."
Morris let out a short laugh.
"What wreck?"
Adam's jaw tightened almost imperceptibly.
He pushed off the dresser.
"Bro. The boat. The sir—"
He stopped himself.
The word hovered unsaid.
Morris squinted at him.
"You okay?"
Adam's pulse ticked up.
"You seriously don't remember?" he pressed. "You and me. At the water. The whole thing."
Morris's confusion deepened, but not in a performative way. His brows knitted together naturally.
"Adam, I think you had a crazy dream," he said lightly. "Or you hit your head. Did you hit your head?"
Adam's fingers twitched.
"No."
Morris chuckled.
"You're acting like we fought sea monsters or something."
The irony struck like cold water.
Adam searched his friend's face for any hint of recognition. Any flicker. A subconscious twitch. A hesitation.
Nothing.
Clean.
Blank.
"You don't remember meeting… anyone?" Adam asked carefully.
"Who?" Morris replied.
Adam hesitated.
He studied him again.
The room felt too still now. Too quiet. Even the faint hum from the courtyard seemed distant.
"Sirena," Adam said finally.
The name hung between them.
Morris's expression did not change.
"Who's that?" he asked.
Adam felt the floor tilt beneath him.
He swallowed.
"The girl. At the lake."
Morris shook his head slowly.
"I didn't go to the lake," he said. "I told you. I crashed early. I was dead tired."
Dead tired?
The phrasing sent a chill down Adam's spine.
"That doesn't make sense," Adam muttered.
Morris stepped closer, concern replacing confusion.
"Adam," he said more seriously now. "Are you good? You look pale."
Adam ran a hand over his face.
His arms.
He glanced down instinctively.
No puncture wounds.
The skin was smooth.
Last night the siren had pierced him. Her claws had broken flesh. He had felt it. The pressure. The burn. The sting of saltwater inside open wounds.
Morris had seen it.
He promised to ask about it this morning when Adam woke.
Except… would he?
Adam's breath hitched slightly.
That memory was clear. Morris kneeling over him. Panic in his voice. Asking how his pierced arms were unpierced.
But if Morris did not remember last night…
Then that conversation had never happened.
Or had it?
His heart began to thud harder.
"You're messing with me," Adam said quietly.
Morris raised both hands.
"I swear I'm not. Bro, you literally didn't come by my room last night. I remember texting you and you didn't reply."
Adam's mind raced.
Text.
He reached for his phone almost mechanically.
His fingers trembled slightly as he unlocked it.
No missed messages from Morris.
No late night conversation.
No trace.
Morris laughed nervously.
"You sure you didn't binge some horror movie before bed?"
Adam barely heard him.
His thoughts were unraveling thread by thread.
He remembered the blast.
The green explosion tearing through water. The pressure wave ripping through the lakebed. The lower half of the wreck splitting away.
He remembered Sirena cupping his face.
Her thoughts in his mind.
Her voice like liquid glass inside his skull.
He risked his life to save both of them.
Both of them.
She had said that.
He closed his eyes.
If Morris did not remember… if those memories were gone…
Then someone had removed them.
But who?
And how?
Morris stepped closer again, placing a hand on Adam's shoulder.
"You sure you didn't just have the most cinematic nightmare of your life?"
Adam looked up slowly.
Nightmare?
It would be easier if it were.
He forced a small, hollow laugh.
"Yeah," he said faintly. "Maybe."
Morris relaxed slightly.
"Listen, if you're stressed or something, just say that. You don't have to invent sea creature battles."
Adam's mind reeled at the casual dismissal.
Invent.
Sea creature battles.
He searched Morris's eyes again.
Nothing.
No buried memory clawing at the surface. No hesitation. No suppressed flicker.
It was as if someone had taken a blade and cleanly carved out every moment from the second they reunited by the lake to the aftermath of the explosion.
Every shared breath underwater.
Every scream.
Every second of terror.
Gone.
Adam felt cold despite the warmth filtering through the window.
"But you don't remember feeling anything?" he tried once more, desperate now. "Explosions. Shockwaves. Anything weird?"
Morris shook his head slowly.
"Nope," he said gently. "Slept like a rock."
Like a rock.
Adam swallowed hard.
He stepped back.
"Yeah," he murmured. "You probably did."
Morris gave him a playful nudge.
"Go get your cap before you start hallucinating dragons too."
Adam managed a weak smirk.
"Yeah."
He turned toward the door, but paused just before stepping out.
"Hey," he said without looking back. "If something crazy did happen… you'd tell me, right?"
Morris laughed.
"Obviously."
Adam nodded once and stepped into the corridor.
The door clicked softly shut behind him.
The hallway felt longer now.
Colder.
He stood still for a moment, staring at the stone floor.
It was impossible.
Memories did not just disappear.
Unless…
Sirens communicated through thoughts. Implanted impressions. Altered perception.
If they could enter a mind.
Could they also erase?
His pulse quickened.
Sirena had said she was in his debt.
But debts in ancient waters were never simple.
And she had dragged herself back into the lake.
Had she done this?
To protect them?
To protect herself?
Or was there something else at play?
His thoughts snapped to another memory.
The hooded figure atop the castle tower.
Watching.
Gone after the interaction.
Adam's stomach tightened.
What if it wasn't the sirens?
What if something else had intervened?
Someone who could reach into a mind and quietly remove pieces.
He felt suddenly very small inside the castle's vast interior.
Like he was walking inside the ribcage of something ancient and awake.
He flexed his hands slowly.
His strength was still there. The subtle hum beneath his skin. The echo of something unnatural coiled in his veins.
Last night had been real.
The explosion had been real.
The wreck was half destroyed.
Physical evidence remained.
So why was Morris untouched by memory?
Adam exhaled slowly, trying to steady the rising panic.
This was not random.
It was intentional.
Targeted.
Clean.
And if someone could erase Morris's memories…
Could they erase his?
The thought landed like a stone dropped into deep water.
He swallowed hard.
The sun outside still blazed. The courtyard still roared with laughter.
But inside the castle, something unseen had shifted.
Another mystery had quietly unfolded.
And this one felt far more dangerous than sirens beneath dark water.
Adam stood alone in the corridor, the weight of realization pressing into his chest.
Someone had rewritten reality.
And he had no idea who held the pen.