Episode 21: The Thing Inside Elio
Safehouse Recovery Room – 2:09 a.m.
Elio lay curled in the medical bed, small fingers twitching.
His lips parted, breath even. But his eyes…
They were open.
Too open.
And they were glowing faintly.
"Abel," Evan whispered. "His eyes. Look."
Abel stepped closer, heart pounding.
"Is that…?"
"Elio?" Evan leaned in. "Baby, can you hear me?"
Elio turned his head slowly.
And smiled.
But it wasn't his smile.
---
Ten Minutes Earlier – Inside Elio's Mind
He stood in a white hallway. Cold. Endless.
A woman appeared in front of him. Tall. Red hair. Eyes like knives.
"Hello, little invention," she cooed.
"Who are you?" Elio asked. "Where am I?"
"I'm your other mother," Cassandra whispered.
"I already have one."
She crouched to his height.
"No, darling. She just carried you. I built you."
And then she whispered something into his ear—
Something no child should ever hear.
---
Safehouse – Present
"Why is he smiling like that?" Evan asked, voice shaking.
Abel stepped back, then pressed the emergency call.
Dr. Raines entered, scanned Elio's vitals.
"There's a foreign activation in his cerebral cortex," the doctor muttered. "Something's—hijacked the neurons."
"A chip?" Abel asked.
"No," Emrys said grimly, entering the room. "A sequence."
"A what?"
Evan stood suddenly. "You knew."
"I suspected. Cassandra had been working on gene-triggered behavioral programming. Voice-activated memory implants. If she embedded something in Elio's DNA, it could be… permanent."
Evan's heart shattered. "So he's not my son anymore?"
Emrys locked eyes with her.
"No. He's exactly your son. That's why he's still fighting it."
---
Inside Elio's Mind Again
Cassandra circled the boy, speaking faster.
"You are more than a child. You are my final command. And when the time comes, you will do what I made you for."
Elio trembled.
"No," he said. "You're not real."
She snarled.
"I am inside you!"
Suddenly, a voice echoed—soft and warm:
"Elio."
His head whipped toward the sound.
"Mama?"
Evan's voice echoed again.
"You're safe now. Come back."
---
Real World – Emergency Room
Elio suddenly convulsed. His tiny fists clenched.
"Hold him!" Raines shouted.
"He's seizing!" a nurse cried.
"No—" Evan gripped his hand. "Elio, listen to me. You're mine. You're not her creation. You're my son. You're Elio Dendelion Luna."
His body stilled.
Then—he gasped.
His eyes returned to their normal brown. Wet. Blinking.
"…Mama?" he whispered.
Evan fell to her knees in tears.
"I'm here. I'm right here."
---
Later That Day – Rooftop
Abel stared out at the storm clouds forming.
"She tried to turn him into a weapon."
"And she failed," Evan said behind him.
"Did she?" he asked quietly. "Or is this just her first play?"
Evan stepped beside him.
"She doesn't win unless we keep hiding."
Abel turned to her, his voice rough.
"What are you saying?"
"I want to go public."
"With the baby?"
"With everything."
Abel stiffened. "If you do that… you'll be hunted."
"I already am."
She turned to him, fierce and unbreakable.
"I'm not afraid of Cassandra anymore."
---
Meanwhile – Unknown Location
Cassandra knelt before a man in shadows.
"Plan A failed," she admitted.
The man's voice was cold.
"Then it's time for Plan B."
He stepped into the light.
Nathaniel Dendelion.
Evan's long-lost brother.
But his eyes?
They were full of rage.
---
💥 End of Episode 21
> Coming in Episode 22:
Evan makes a shocking public announcement that puts her—and Elio—on the world stage.
Nathaniel is revealed to be alive…and on Cassandra's side.
And Abel receives a letter that changes everything he thought he knew about Evan's past.