Chapter 40

Realizing LaLa was right, Evangeline recognizes the mirth stone has been saturating the Hollow with false happiness, intensifying her feelings for Jacks. Though she longs to keep the bliss, she questions its reality, secures the stone behind the tavern clock’s glass, and delays acting while she steadies herself.

At breakfast, the charged pull toward Jacks remains. He arrives relaxed and affectionate, and their easy intimacy tempts Evangeline to stay. The comfort conflicts with her knowledge that the mirth stone is manipulating them, making the happiness feel counterfeit.

When Jacks draws her close, Evangeline forces herself to pull away and tells him their feelings are influenced by the stone. Jacks bristles, clearly wounded, insisting her emotions are not just from a rock. Evangeline refuses to be Petra—clinging to magic to sustain what should be real—and reveals she found the stone in the clock.

Jacks tries to stop her, desire and anguish warring in his expression, but Evangeline insists the truth matters. He reveals that Chaos located Apollo and is keeping him safely locked in his castle, where Apollo cannot hurt Evangeline or be harmed. Evangeline counters that such confinement is not living, just as their enchanted peace is not living.

Acting before Jacks can intervene, Evangeline opens the clock, retrieves the mirth stone, and thrusts it into an iron jar, choosing reality—and the hard path toward truly saving Apollo—over the seductive, enchanted ever after.