On Thursday afternoon, Tova’s last day of work, Janice Kim and Barb Vanderhoof arrive with a fish-shaped retirement cake. Over coffee, they discuss Tova’s move and what will happen to Cat. Though professing to be a dog person, Barb warms to Cat as he purrs in her lap, and she agrees to consider adopting him. They jokingly choose cake for supper.

That night, Tova undertakes her final cleaning shift at the aquarium. She reflects on once preferring solitude but now missing companionship, thinking Cameron should be there. Making a farewell circuit, she says goodbye to the exhibits and worries when Marcellus is nowhere to be seen. In the pump room, the newly rescued female octopus curls in her barrel as Tova fears Marcellus may be gone.

After leaving her key card on Terry’s chaotic desk, Tova heads for the exit and spots a crumpled shape blocking the door. A tentacle moves: Marcellus, pale and drying, lies on the floor. Tova wets his skin with tank water, fetches a mop bucket filled from his tank, and helps the exhausted octopus climb into it.

Where Marcellus lay, Tova finds a glinting class ring: Sowell Bay High School, Class of 1989—the same ring Cameron had thrown into the wolf eel tank. Turning it over, she reads the engraving inside: ‘EELS.’ The initials match Erik Ernest Lindgren Sullivan, and Tova realizes the ring belonged to her son.