Back in her room, Melanie was on the phone with her parents. 505 listened in since Melanie turned on the speaker.
"Please tell me you won't let Black Hat do this!" Melanie pleaded.
"Melanie, you've gone so far down the wrong path that this is what we might think is best for you," her mother Faucheuse replied.
"But I don't want to stay here all summer!" Melanie pleaded. "I want to go home! Is there anything you can do?! Can't you just homeschool me?!"
"You know your father and I work five days a week," Faucheuse replied. "And clearly... our methods of trying to train you haven't been working."
"But I don't want to live at Black Hat manor," Melanie pleaded. "Is there any way you could get them to let me go home?!"
"Mija, we've done what we can to help you," Señor de la Muerte replied as sensitively as he could manage. "Maybe we could've accepted you not choosing to actively be a villain, but you turned out to be a hero. Perhaps we were too soft, or we were foolish to not check in with the school from time to time…"
"I never intended to do anything against you guys," Melanie said with tears flowing out of her eyes. "I just wanted to do something different than being a villain. Why is that so wrong? They're threatening to never let me leave Black Hat Island ever again. That means I would never see you or my sisters or anyone else ever again. I can't go on vacation with you when you finally take time off. We can't talk in an environment that isn't monitored. We could possibly never be together as a family again. We would spend the holidays apart. Is that really what you want?"
Faucheuse sighed and said, "Let's talk to Black Hat."
Melanie smiled widely until her father added, "And let's see what he has to say about this."
Melanie's face fell as her mother said, "Maybe we can get him to let you leave for vacations."
"We can only hope," said Señor Santa Muerte.
Melanie began sniffling out loud unaware that her parents could hear it over the phone.
Señor Santa Muerte sighed audibly.
"Look at what you did," Faucheuse snapped at her husband before speaking comfortingly to her daughter. "Honey, please don't cry. We'll see what we can do. Okay?"
505 sat next to Melanie and put his arm around her shoulders.
"Okay, Maman," Melanie said calmly. "I love you."
"I love you too, Melanie," Faucheuse replied.
"Te quero, mija," said Señor Santa Muerte.
"We'll talk to you tomorrow," Faucheuse said. "Okay?"
"Okay," Melanie replied sadly.
Her parents hung up leaving Melanie alone with 505.
As a few tears fell down her cheeks, Melanie felt herself being scooped up and being held in 505's arms. She relaxed into his chest and let herself cry.