Heavy stains speckled Nadia’s wrinkly jeans. The dark skin under her eyes drooped slightly as she yawned. Still groggy, Nadia tried to press the wrinkles out of an overused T-shirt. When she sniffed a section of greasy hair her nose wrinkled in disgust. It reeked of fever perspiration. Upon lifting her arm and sniffing an armpit, she found it was ten times as bad. The click of the doorknob caught her off guard. Arms slammed down on her thighs so hard her shoulder popped. The door squeaked at Dew’s entrance.

“When did you get here?”

“Unfortunately, I’ve been here but a short while. You managed to lose us quite skillfully, but we eventually figured out how to find you. Josh has been taking care of you the past few days. How do you feel? That’s all that really matters to me right now.”

“Like I just got over the flu,” she rubbed her throat, “And I smell worse than ever. How much time have I lost?”

“Three or four days at the most, according to Josh. Don’t you think it would be a good idea to take a bath?”

“I was just going to ask Swabert for the key to the bath house. You noticed so quickly, do I really smell that bad?”

“No,” Dew protested as he pulled the bag of salts and herbs Bradox had given him from underneath his kimono, “I could never be offended by your scent. I only want you to wash the fever out of your system. The mystic who cured you gave me these. Sprinkle those in your bath water to dispel the curse permanently.”

Dew took Nadia’s hands and carefully placed the bag in them, as if they were made of delicate china.

“You’re saying I was cursed?”

“The mystic who cured you didn’t say so, but it was fairly apparent as soon as he removed the dark energy trapping your spirit.”

“I’m just glad it’s over, did you catch this guy’s name?”

“His name was Bradox.”

“The same Bradox who cares for Nostrum’s wife?”

“Yes, the very same.”

A shiver went up Nadia’s spine.

“Are you sure this bag is safe?”

“Be assured, I checked through it carefully and found nothing other than a collection of natural healing ingredients. It’s a very expensive mixture, and he said it was vital if you wished to be fully restored.”

“Then I suppose I don’t have much of a choice?” she took the bag.

The inn’s moldy old bathhouse wasn’t completely strange to Nadia, as she had already used it twice in the time she had spent here. A redbrick basin lined on the inside with smooth red tiles sat atop a step in the center of the room. The clean water filling the basin was heated by a fire underneath it. This was the first time she would bathe in new water; the last two uses had been taken after every other woman in the village had bathed, and she had accepted that in order to bathe privately.

The herbs and salts from Bradox’s bag dissolved quickly in the steaming water, giving it a lilac scent. A small white bead went unnoticed because it immediately sunk to the bottom. She placed her folded jeans and shirt in a narrow shelf. With a relaxed sigh, she slid into the tub slowly and sat on the ledge with her legs folded so water reached her neck.

How in the world was she supposed to summon Ambrosia when she couldn’t even get on the same continent as her temple? She thought about stealing a fishing boat, but that would be useless; those little boats weren’t designed to traverse a thousand miles of deep water. Maybe the best solution was to go home, buy a speedboat, and bring it back. If only she could buy some extra time from her dad; if only she could fly over that much ocean. This was a great time to get sick too.

The loss of the past few days was a major setback. At this rate, summer vacation would be over by the time she had enough money to reach the Tramen Fohar continent. Her father would never let her ditch school. Even the need to reverse an impromptu sex change wouldn’t convince him, and she didn’t even want to think about working through the eleventh grade as a girl. Only a month of vacation time was left, so pulling something off now would be a miracle. To think she had traveled over a thousand miles in a week only to be stopped because these stone-aged morons didn’t know how to build a boat.

Nadia puffed her cheeks then sunk underwater completely, blowing bubbles as she sighed. At the bottom of the bath water, the white coating of a bead dissipated; bubbles fomented from its thinning surface.

----------------------------------------

Half-dried mud coated the bottom of Darrell’s jeans and covered his sneakers. Clothes were moist from last night’s rain. His skin pale. He had enough tethers to put his horse in a rented stable. Awlena or her horse was nowhere to be found. He searched the village on foot for any sign of her, without luck. Sunlight broke through the clouds, but the cool morning breeze chilled moist clothes. The village inn offered the prospect of refuge. The hearth glowed beneath a giant mounted clam. Swabert, apron sullied with fish entrails, came from the kitchen with his usual blithe gait.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

“Can I help you sir?”

“I’m looking for a man in a white kimono, with a sword over his back, about this tall,” Darrell held his hand in the air, “Or a slender young woman in traveling clothes with long black hair, his sister. She’s about this tall.”

Swabert gave the matter some thought, “A kimono? I’m not sure. Though there are quite a few in white garb. What might this man’s name be?”

“Dew Nenkyo. His sister’s name is Awlena”

“Ah, I’ll ask about. Would you like to rent a room?”

Darrell held out a few wilted leather tethers, “What can I get for this much?”

“I see. Let me fetch you a biscuit and some hot cider while you wait. On the house.”

Swabert set the teaming mug on the counter next to a plate with a hard tac biscuit. Darrell took a huge swig only to spit the entire mouthful over the counter.

“You didn’t tell me this stuff was spiked.”

“Spiked!” Swabert snapped as he cleaned the mess with a rag. “There’s no spike in that cider. It’s the finest brew in the village.”

Darrell lifted the mug slowly and took a cautious sip.

“It’s fine. I just, never really, had anything quite this strong, ever. Do you have any water? Any juice? Milk?”

“Ah,” Swabert shook Darrell’s shoulder playfully, “It’ll put hairs on your chest, boy.”

The stuff wasn’t half bad after he got used to it. It reminded him of the one time he had stolen a sip from his dad’s whiskey bottle. Dad would be jealous, this stuff had way more kick and burned all the way down. Darrell polished off the mug with a sense of smug satisfaction before asking if he could afford a second. It was half finished when he heard a scream from a narrow hall. He stumbled from his stool while grasping the bar’s ledge.

The furniture took kicks as he bumbled toward the hall. He slammed his shoulder into a door with no lock, so he fell, slid his nose against the brick floor. A dab of red trickled from the skinned edge as he pushed up to look around. Nadia peered over the edge of the bath as he rolled on his back. His cheeks were bright red.

“Hi Nadia, everything okay in here?”

“You! How!? Excuse me! I’m taking a bath here!”

“I heard a scream from the bar.”

“I thought I felt something on my foot, that’s all. Sorry, I didn’t know I was that loud.”

They stared. She pushed herself out of the tub and sat on the ledge. Long loose swim trunks and a water bandeau graced her form. This was a public bath after all.

“Are you happy enough to leave?”

“Bud I finally finded you! Can I have some of that wader? They didn’ gimme me any wader.”

A translucent creature with long tendrils along its body grew behind Nadia until the top bumped the ceiling. Darrell stumbled backwards.

“Are you deaf! Or do I have to beat some hearing into you?”

Darrell raised his open hands in front of his chest, “Nadia, ged out of the tub! There’s something behind you.”

She felt a soft slime rub her foot. A soft whisper encouraged her to slowly turn. Translucent flesh dripped over her. It bent forward, then lunged for her neck. She submerged. It flailed in multiple directions. The stretching form slapped Darrell in the face. Nadia jumped on the edge of the tub. The tendrils jabbed from both sides while she dodged. Darrell threw a stool, only to have it lodge in the creature and slowly sink into the large bath. Nadia dodged another whip while Darrell took a slap to the floor. She tip-toed across the ledge of the bath while playing jump rope with the swirling tube until she hopped down and fed it another stool. It bounced into the bath.

The outer membrane of the creature’s growing coils slapped Nadia against the wall. They whipped at her like water from a fire house as she put her arms up. A crouching dodge escaped the blows. Tendrils beat themselves into the wall as they burst like water balloons. Nadia crawled to the bath and hopped into increasingly shallow water. A stool blocked the drain so she tossed it away, but tendrils lifted her by her arms then secured her ankles.

“The stopper, drain the tub!”

Darrell laid sprawled across the floor with red welt across his cheek. A tendril slid around Nadia’s neck and squeezed. The pendant glowed slightly but she had nothing to grab onto. Fist pulled against the tendril wrapping her wrist while feet kicked against the tendril wrapping her ankles. Nadia tried to dive toward the ledge of the tub for leverage but the creature kept her in the air. Darrell forced himself up.

"Awaaaaaaa," it whispered.

The drain! He jumped over the ledge and felt around the bottom franticly. The creature ignored him as its every limb wrapped Nadia. It focused on tightening around her neck. Why did everything here want to strangle her? Darrell found a pad. Underneath it, a cork flush with the smooth floor plugged the tub. A rusted lock in the center only allowed it to be removed by key. Darrell stuck his finger inside and pulled, but it wouldn’t budge.

“It needs a key! Why does it need a key!?”

Swabert entered with a long metal key bar and tossed it to Darrell, “Use that to open the plug. Hurry, I’ll try to buy you time,” He balanced himself on the ledge and pried his fingers into the liquid whip wrapping Nadia’s neck. She grabbed his arm. It was just the leverage she needed to thrust her own arm free. She kicked an ankle free, but she couldn’t turn without twisting her neck. Worse, she felt herself blacking out. Darrell’s hands shook as he placed the key into the cork, turned, and pulled three times before it popped out. He fell back and hit his head, but the drain opened wide enough to suck water out of the bath.

"Shhhhhhh."

The creature weakened, then withered. It dropped Nadia, who fell in the bath and rolled over top of Darrell. As the water tendril shrunk to earthworm size, it slid down the drain to a waste-water aqueduct. Nadia caught her breath in gasps as she rolled to her side while rubbing her neck. She pushed to her feet with her hands against her knees. Darrell pushed himself straight back against the edge of the bath.

“Are you okay?” Swabert asked.

“I think so?”

“Haven’t seen a whispering bath spirit in an age. Apologies. I should have been more cautious seeing as you were washing off a curse.”

A towel landed on top of her. Darrell pushed himself out of the tub, laid over the wooden boards, and fell asleep in his soaked clothing.

“Is he a friend of yours?”

Nadia nodded as she dabbed her hair with the towel.