Chapter 35

Evie confronts Helena, the cousin she has not heard from in years, inside the playhouse cell. Helena says she works there, and Evie’s hurt quickly turns to anger because Helena vanished from Evie’s life without explanation.

Evie jokes about why she and Trystan are imprisoned, then shifts to the real reason for their presence in Heart Village: they are searching for Evie’s mother, Nura. Helena recognizes Evie from the wanted flyers and admits Nura once stayed in Heart Village for a few months, roughly two or three years earlier.

Helena explains that she had moved to Heart Village after her father remarried. Nura came to Helena instead of her brother because Uncle Vale likely would have returned Nura to Griffin. During that time, Nura asked about stars and the knowledge Helena had learned from her father, but otherwise seemed ghostlike, muttering about wanting to disappear and be swallowed by midnight.

Evie is shaken by Helena’s description because it matches Evie’s memories of Nura fading from a vibrant mother into an emotionally hollow person. Evie recognizes the same habit of burying anguish in herself and fears inheriting her mother’s breaking point.

Helena assumes Nura’s guilt over killing Gideon drove Nura mad, but Evie corrects her that Gideon is alive. Trystan quietly supports Evie while Helena teases him about being trapped behind rusty bars despite his reputation for terrible magic.

Evie asks Helena to release them and appeals to their family bond, but Helena refuses. Helena reveals that the apparent fools upstairs are not truly in charge: the Deadlands Theater belongs to Helena, and Helena is the boss.