Camilla didn’t understand why the cook was so determined to hold a grudge against her. Yes, she had abandoned her. Briefly. For all Camilla had known, the woman had been dead! There was no point in waiting for a corpse.

“I know,” said Balbinus. He looked over his shoulder. “But if you don’t stop complaining and start walking faster, he’s going to catch up.”

Camilla swallowed, then started speed-walking. Gnaeus was like a particularly persistant mold. Every time she thought she’d gotten rid of him, he just kept showing up, harp and all. How could a man move that fast with an instrument?

She wouldn’t mind sticking with the cook. At least the food was… fine. Well, better than Camilla could manage. But that morning, she’d woken up to the woman kicking her awake and telling her to ‘clear out’. Apparently their deal was already over.

She stopped and held out a hand for Balbinus as they approached a set of lily-pads. They looked almost deliberately set out as a path.

“You first,” she said. “That way I know they’ll hold my weight.” Everyone knew the lilypads were meant to be a path in the second ring of the temple- at least, that was what the guide Camilla had purchased had told her.

After the maze, and the disaster that had been, though, Camilla was taking everything with a grain of salt. What if the temple had changed the system since the guide had been written?

“Why don’t you test,” he offered. “You’re lighter.” There was a clanging of harp strings. He sighed. “Fine! I’ll go.”

At least there was sunlight, Camilla reflected. She watched as Balbinus hesitated, then stepped forward. “Move quickly,” she offered.

Too late. He’d put his entire body weight on the lilypad. It collapsed under him. She watched as he disappeared under the surface of the water.

Oops. He was carrying most of their supplies. She leaned over the edge, holding out a hand. “Come back! I’m here!”

She frowned. He wasn’t coming to surface. “Balbinus!”

There was movement under the water. Had something grabbed him? A splash- a flash of light- she reared back as something pushed out of the water, a few paces away.

Balbinus! He was holding onto one of the far lilypads, heaving for breath. “This one isn’t real!” he said. “It’s got a platform underneath!”

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“What?”

“Just trust me!”

Camilla bit her lip, then looked back. Chances were, she had to go deeper to find her Councilman. He wouldn’t have given up like Herminius. And Balbinus wouldn’t lie to her. Would he?

“When have I ever lied to you,” he said. “You’re losing time!”

He was right. They’d been through too much together for her to lose faith in him now. Camilla straightened her pack, then jumped forward. Her foot caught on the lilypad, half-slipping- but something closed around her ankle. Balbinus’s hand.

“I’ve got you,” he said. “It’s steady, yeah?”

It was. It was too steady. Camilla felt her heart rise in triumph. “They put platforms in the water! You realize what this means?”

“We were meant to come in through a real door, and not the moat?”

“They don’t expect us to swim,” she said. She glanced over. “Oh, I bet that’s one.”

The lily-pad was too big to be real. She could tell it was dying, just a little. As if its roots were constrained. She jumped forward. Her foot sank, but caught. Another platform! She laughed, turning back. “Come on! It’s simple, really.”

The water was wide, but Camilla saw the path stretching out for her. Of course! Lilypads wanted shallow water, and this was deep. They were fake! A path meant just for her. She jumped from one to the other, blood rushing. She no longer heard Gnaeus behind her. Just like it had always been meant to be, she and Balbinus were exploring the temple. She would find her employer, and he would be proud; he would know she was worthy.

Balbinus would be there too. Maybe he would help replace her pen (she had gotten it back from the cook, but it was bent! How rude, honestly).

She glanced back. He’d made it out of the water, and was following her path. She stopped to wait for a few minutes, impossibly standing on top of the water in the center of the water. It was almost like magic.

She glanced down. What was that? It was like something glimmering in the water. Something moving. But- surely not. Fish weren’t that big… she thought she saw something green and shining. She stepped back, nervous. Were there monsters in the water?

“Camilla?”

She looked back up. “Oh, yes. Of course. Sorry to hold us up.”

The other side. Hopefully there would be evidence of the rest of their group there. Her councilman was probably at the center of the temple already, but Herminius was surely falling behind. They might as well look for him. She put a hand up and scanned for her next lilypad, then jumped.

There were other plants at the edge of the water, too. What looked like large reeds, moss, little vines falling in the water. It was nearly overgrown, the flower boxes full of plants. Even trees had managed to live here. Surely it took an army of priestesses just to fertilize and trim them, although she couldn’t think of a more boring job.

She wondered if it had all been made to disguise these little stepping stones. Camilla wouldn’t put it past Teuthida. The Squid Goddess was known to be tricky.

Camilla, however, was trickier. She’d always come in at the top of all of her classes. There was no plan she couldn’t follow, and exceed.

That guide was the best thing she’d ever purchased-

Her foot landed on the next lilypad. It fell right through. There was no supporting platform. Only a leaf and a vine. Camilla felt herself suspended in air for a moment, everything halting, before all she knew was the cold water.

Curse you, Teuthida!