"I don't know," Joel says and he can't hide the hurt or disappointment in his voice. He really had thought they were becoming friends and having that conversation with her in the forest that day had felt a bit like a knife twisting in his ribs. Somehow he'd found himself caring for her and she doesn't understand friendship. She only understands magic.

"She said she wanted to bring wild magic back to Siren Cove," he says. "And when I tried to explain to her that she can't speak for all magic users, that she can't alter memories or violate people in such a way, she just... she doesn't understand." Which doesn't excuse it at all, it just makes it frustrating to try and communicate, but he wants to. He still wants to talk to her, he wants her to be able to understand why he'd been so hurt. "I don't know. Nerium has never really had the sort of life either of us have had. Even with all the awful things we've been through, at least we've been relatively normal and she's never had that. I'm not excusing what she did, I'm just... I'm trying to understand why she doesn't understand."