Chapter 70 - The Hot Springs
So… what if she was attacked by a ghost and got a little cranky?
Celeste carefully placed one foot in front of the other, balancing herself on the railing running alongside the hill. The warm breeze played with her hair, now tickling as far as her shoulders. The street, broad and lined with palm trees as tall as Alolan Exeggutor, basked in the reddish sunset light, turning the pavement into a canvas of elongated, dancing shadows. In the sky above, Bug-types seemed to have entered a state of frenzy, which was out of place in the calmness of that town, but pretty all the same.
She felt better now. Like she could truly enjoy her time in Cinnabar.
Celeste leapt off where the railings ended, landing on a dark cobblestone ledge that offered a breathtaking view of the town. Earlier, in her panicky state, she hadn’t noticed, but the entire Cinnabar was built upon these stones. From buildings to statues, even the reception desk at the Pokémon Centre where they were staying, everything had obsidian in them. Or basalt. Or some other volcanic rock she couldn’t name. Celeste liked her fun facts, but she never found rocks all that interesting.
She smiled at two women sitting nearby, dangling a ball of yarn in front of a small Meowth, then called Aria and the others to check out the view. There were even those binocular thingies there in case they wanted a closer look.
Fishing a coin from her pocket, Celeste chirpily unlocked one and scanned the town. She started with the footpath they’d taken, stretching from the beaches and mansions on the north side, winding up toward the Pokémon Centre and on to the volcano’s base. Even without the binoculars, the lookout provided a stunning panorama. Rooftops glowed cinnabar red in the fading light, and closer to the ocean, a modern shopping mall with vast glass windows sparkled under the lowering sun.
She zoomed in on the mall, giggling as she watched people bustling in and out of the visible stores. She even stuck her tongue out when she spotted a Castelia Cone stand—these days, ice cream was Ice Boutique only.
“This must be the mall Delia mentioned…” Celeste smiled, noticing neither Delia nor Lori seemed interested in the sights but were happy to wait around. “Good thing they’re not running off without me this time,” she muttered, glancing upwards to Aria, who had lazily settled back on her head. “Hey, think we can spot the gym?”
The Eevee let out a yawn while Celeste scanned around some more. She recalled from the tourist map it was supposed to be somewhere west. A bunch of buildings and houses rose in the distance, but she had no idea how gyms in Kanto were supposed to look. She knew the ones in Galar were big and imposing, and… well… she grew up in Hammerlocke. There was nothing more imposing than a big ass castle with dragons. But here, nothing screamed big stadium with fire monsters.
She glanced up to the Volcano.
Well, almost nothing screamed that.
Imagine it, though? A gym in a volcano?
Celeste chuckled, her gaze drifting towards the white sandy beaches and then back to the mansions sprawled over what was no doubt supposed to be public space. Each one bigger than the last, they were certainly a piece of paradise—for those who could pay, that is. Maybe she should take a sightseeing tour. Rich people were often tacky, and she would enjoy laughing at their bad taste.
Oh, but you are rich and privileged, Cee. You were on TV.
She’d heard it a million times. Sometimes she even tried denying it. But the truth of the matter was she was rich. Only not that kind of rich. Her parents… eccentricity… it payed off. So yeah, Celeste got the big house, nice hotels and fancy school as part of her sheltered life experience. But she also got the lonely kid whose parents were always out working. All the while, she had no servants, butlers, or whatever else lined up. Private plane to Ballonlea when she had to stay with Opal? Nope. She got put on the train like everybody else. Not even first class.
But… she also couldn’t really say she never experienced this kind of wealth.
Her parents weren’t gazillionaires, but her family was very well connected.
She recalled this one time, when she was six or seven, that Opal was off-region and her parents couldn’t find her another babysitter last minute. So they took her to a dinner-party on Mr Stone’s Galarian villa. Yes. That Mr Stone. It was big and luxurious, more than any place Celeste had ever seen, no doubt. Strangely, all she could really remember about it was the wall of fossils and how Mrs Stone made Celeste touch her belly to feel her baby kicking.
Both things really creeped her out.
“Cee,” Delia’s voice pulled her from her daze. She gestured to the dimming light in the sky and the street. Not rushing her, but gently calling her attention so they’d keep moving.
Her friend’s smile was light and excited and Celeste couldn’t help but to notice it. She’d thought it was just relief at first, then she figured Delia must be really happy to be back in Cinnabar, but it wasn’t that either. Delia seemed freer somehow. Like a weight had been taken off her shoulders.
Maybe Celeste had been too harsh when talking about Luan after all…
“Right, sorry.” Celeste peeked in the direction they were going. Above them, not too far, the sides of a traditional Johtonese building’s roof could be seen, and behind it, the hot spring’s steam rose almost entrancingly. She touched the bandages on her arm. This was the first time she wore short sleeves since the caves, and she got a plastic film from the centre to protect her wound, despite everyone telling her there was nothing to worry about.
She shook her head and grinned. The last time she visited hot springs, she got her bones healed. This one probably didn’t have that magic Moltres sprinkle, but hey, she barely felt any pang of pain since getting to this island, so who knows?
She skipped to her friend’s side and grinned.
There really seemed to be nothing to worry about.
—*——*—
“We’re here.”
Lori pointed to a small flight of stairs, flanked by statues of Arcanine on either side. She wasted no time going up, the soles of her flats tapping against the stone.
Because yes, Lorelei was wearing flat sandals for the first time ever, and this was not supposed to be a big deal because “who wears heels to a hot spring?”
You do, Lori. You wear heels to the beach. In the jungle. In the middle of the fucking ocean.
“Cee?” Delia called, already making her way inside the glass doors.
Celeste shook her head and let herself smile. Everyone was relaxed, and there was nothing wrong with that. She was going to relax, too. She had taken that nap and now she was going to relax even harder. There was nothing to—
Something tugged on Celeste’s leg.
“Huh? What’s wrong, Aria?” she looked to her side and didn’t see the Eevee there. Her smile faltered slightly when she realised her Pokémon stood a few feet away, blissfully trotting inside the building. She turned to her leg again.
There was nothing there, just the shadows cast by the lanterns hanging from the Arcanine statues. It was blue hour and—no ands and no buts. Celeste glanced at the lanterns again. They were these traditional Johtonese lanterns, resembling little wooden houses. Instead of dwelling on the tricks her imagination was playing, she chose to focus on the cosy warmth this place was supposed to give off. Night was falling, and the temperature was dropping—they had chosen this time for a reason—but now she realised she was in for a treat. The springs would be so pretty under those lights.
She took a step forward.
And then she felt another tug.
It couldn’t possibly be her imagination!
With her feet planted back on the ground, Celeste scanned her surroundings once more. Pretty lanterns, warm summer breeze, leaves rustling in the wind, and cherry blossoms—wait seriously? Cherry blossoms in this summer-like winter? Weren’t they a spring-time bloom?
She shoved the thought away and marched forward. The tugging continued, and she knew the only thing by her feet was her own shadow—which… she’d rather think about how the seasons were out of whack than that.
At this point, it’d be ridiculous to deny there was something there. So… that was exactly what she was going to do. Yes, she kept repeating to herself that she wasn’t afraid of ghosts… they were just unnerving sometimes. Maybe if she ignored whatever was in her shadow (not that she was admitting there was anything there), it would leave. Or at least go back to staying quiet and not tugging her leg.
She looked at the door and the stairs. Past the statues, just five steps up. Four now. The tugging increased, but Celeste still refused to look. Deep breath. Three steps, the tugging got even harder. And now just tw—
Her back foot barely bulged from the ground.
This was enough for Celeste to freeze. Before her heart even began to pound, she turned her head and glanced down at the long shadow stretching from her feet. It flickered as the lanterns swayed in the wind, but otherwise, there seemed to be nothing there. Just her silhouette on the pavement.
Could she still convince herself this was a trick of her mind and keep on walking? Maybe it was her own brain keeping her from moving? This line of thought would be more comfortable, wouldn’t it?
Facing the door again, she counted under her breath, “One, two…” and on three, she pulled her leg up with all her might, spinning to face the direction of her shadow as she did so. It was very brief, but she saw the darkness coiled on her ankle lift and lose its grip as she tumbled back down to the first step.
It was hard to tell, but this felt like the same shadow that helped her out on that day back in the prison. And if that was the case…
She closed her eyes and remembered that day as best she could. The fire. Her pleading. And the shadow, extending from her feet towards the lock on her cell. It had saved her then.
And if it saved her… it couldn’t be a malicious (possibly murdery) spirit like the Dhelmise.
Right?
Celeste stared at her shadow again, moving an arm and watching it match her movements, just as it was meant to. She racked her brain for her Ghost-type knowledge. The Gengar line stuck to shadows, didn’t they? Maybe this tugging and stuff was a prank? Ghosts liked pranks. So did Aria… and this didn’t feel like her Eevee’s pranks. Plus, the eyes… she’d seen its eyes in the prison. They weren’t Gengar eyes.
“If you’re trying to scare me, you’ll have to try something different…”
Still nothing. She must look like an idiot, staring at her own shadow. She turned back to the door, wondering if she should just go, and for a moment, her focus fell on her reflection in the glass.
That gave her an idea.
Still focused on the reflections on the glass door, she began to stand back up. “If you don’t want me inside, then you’ll have to stop me,” Celeste said. Like clockwork, as soon as it thought she wasn’t looking, her shadow sprouted a pair of eyes, and its arms stopped moving in coordination with her. Instead of remaining by her sides, its hands reached for her ankles. She was about to turn and bust it, but…
Those eyes.
Red and yellow like she’d seen before. But not amused or evil. What she saw there was worry. Fear. Hesitation. Those weren’t the eyes of a monster, but the eyes of a shy little Pokémon.
Empathy and frustration aren’t feelings that mesh well, though.
She stopped trying to move and let out a puff of air. “Are you afraid to show yourself? Is that what this is about?” she asked, still staring at the reflection on the glass door. The ghost in her shadow didn’t answer. “If you’re sticking around, don’t you think a hello would be nice?”
Celeste should probably be more gentle, but… she’d been having a hard time lately. She was jumpy, blowing up easily at everyone, and somehow coddling a ghost in her shadow didn’t feel like a big priority. Of course, if it wanted to be friends, she’d be all for it… but it just wanted to tug her leg and hide… And occasionally save her from mortal danger.
Argh! This was not the time for complicated, conflicting thoughts. This was the time for soaking in water and nail all the relaxing.
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“You don’t have to stay in my shadow, you know?” Celeste pulled her leg harder, watching the reflection of the ghost gripping her tightly. “Seriously,” she pulled again. “I need this, okay? Just stay out if you’re afraid to go in.” Another pull, and she saw the ghost was starting to let go. “Just go away!”
Her leg finally moved.
Thank Arceus.
She saw the ghost was still there on her next step, but its tug was smaller, and by the time she reached the door, her shadow was back to mimicking her movements perfectly.
She felt a little bad about it.
But honestly? Why would a ghost even have a problem with hot springs? Could there be other ghosts around? Something it was weak against? Water couldn’t be the issue. For the past two months, all she’d seen was water. Maybe the heat? No… it hadn’t seemed bothered in that prison fire. It must be something…
Something… else?
Celeste stopped on the other side of the door, seeing Delia and Lori sampling bath salts while a clerk filled out some forms.
The man behind the counter... he wasn’t tall, but not short either. His skin was tanned… but not much. He wasn’t fat, nor thin, not buff, and he didn’t have any notable features. He was… average. Like a person out of a textbook.
Celeste swallowed hard. “Jude…?” She recalled his name tag from the coast guard uniform.
He looked up at her, and as if he could read her thoughts, he said, “I work here part-time.”
Seemed perfectly reasonable.
She glanced at her shadow again, and it didn’t even flicker in the light. Approaching the desk, Celeste felt the hairs on her neck prickle. “I… have a voucher. But my friend doesn’t…”
The clerk barely looked at it. Instead, he simply gestured to the door, his dull eyes never leaving hers. “There is nothing to worry about. It’s all settled.”
“No… but… I mean… we’ve only got two vouchers, and…”
“It’s all settled,” he insisted, not moving a muscle. “Please, leave your troubles behind, and enjoy your stay. Here… It’s paradise, after all.”
—*——*—
Celeste wasn’t thinking about it.
She wasn’t.
No way.
Nope.
No…?
She marched out of the changing booth and smacked right into Lori.
“Are you oka—”
“I’m not thinking about it!”
Lori and Delia exchanged looks and, somehow, decided to giggle. It wasn’t funny. It…
“Hey, relax.” Delia placed a hand on her shoulder and gave her the warmest smile in the world. “Remember what that clerk said? This place is like…”
“Paradise,” Celeste hissed. “Also, that clerk’s Jude…”
Delia blinked at her. “Is that his name?”
“You can’t be serious?” She was really holding back a yell. “Please, tell me you recognise him, Lori. From the coast guard post?”
With another chuckle, Lori shrugged. “All I know is that we are wasting precious hot spring time.” She said, walking out of the changing stations, beckoning the others to follow along.
And oh boy.
As soon as they stepped onto the warm volcanic rock, Celeste kind of got the whole paradise thing. The Johtonese theme was clear everywhere she looked, with lanterns casting their dim glow over the steaming pools, and wooden slabs holding a small roof above one of them. Though she’d never been to Ecruteak, Celeste was sure the structure would’ve been right at home there. In the background, she could see the volcano rising, framed by blooming cherry blossoms, placed there to create a picture-perfect view.
Maybe they did something special here to make them bloom at this time of year?
Huh. If she put her mind to it, she could really find some explanation to all the weirdness.
As Celeste walked around, the sound of a fountain gave way to her friends going into the water. She took in the scent of minerals and flowers and decided she was going to relax no matter what. With a quick move, she released Powder and Pat, instructing the Slowpoke to stay away from Delia’s Shelly. He probably heard her, but didn’t really acknowledge it. Instead, he lumbered forward and slipped into the water with the biggest smile and a long moan. Aria splashed in right after him, making a mess of water everywhere, while little Powder sniffed the air and carelessly trotted up some rocks, staying as far away from the steam as possible. Lori had only let Perl out, and she quickly joined Powder. Her other Pokémon were either in the Centre or simply too big or too cold for the hot springs.
Finally, Celeste dipped her toes in, feeling the initial warmth seep through her skin, and soon slid even her injured arm down into the water. The heat enveloped her, soothing and gentle, like an embrace she didn’t know she needed. Tiny bubbles rose, fizzing softly against her skin.
It was perfect.
She giggled, and the steam curled around her features. Celeste needed to hold on to this feeling. She wasn’t the grumbly, overly responsible, and stressed type. Tired. That’s what she was, and why she was acting weird. That’s why she was seeing things. But here in Cinnabar, even her stiffer friends could let loose and relax. She could too. And once she did, she’d feel more like herself again. Celeste let herself imagine exploring the town, going to the mall, training, having gym battles, and making tons of friends. Her stay on the island would be great. The only big questions she’d try to answer here would be which mansion in town was the tackiest or what the most traditional dish in Cinnabar was. Nothing about ghosts, strange floaty things, or anything of the sort.
The warmth seeped deeper, unknotting each tense muscle one by one. She let her heart flutter as Pat floated belly up beside her, his pink skin glowing in the shimmering water.
“You know, when you guys talked about Cinnabar before, you never made it sound…”
Lori opened an eye. “Perfect?” Her face was now covered by a face mask she’d got at the reception, her hair tied into a knot on top of her head. She and Delia had got new pretty swimsuits on their visit to the mall, while Celeste… well, she wasn’t prepared for summer, so she had to make do with a pair of shorts and a swim top.
Not that she cared about it… but suddenly she felt a bit too aware she was the youngest of them all. Delia would turn sixteen soon, and Lori was already a legal adult. Celeste would have to wait until the first day of spring to be fifteen.
She sank deeper into the water.
Would it get easier when she turned older?
Would she be able not to worry about things instead of just pretending not to?
“I guess perfect is a word for it,” she said.
When Pat drifted near her again, Celeste grinned and forced her mischievous side out in place of whatever the hell this brooding was. She grabbed his tail, and after a few seconds, he opened his eyes, startled. That’s when she pulled him closer and…
“Belly Rub Attack!” Her very own special move.
Pat guffawed, making bubbles in the water as his tummy rumbled, and his tail swished. It wasn’t often she got an actual laugh out of him, but when she did, it was the best! She didn’t know yet if she’d ever manage to be in sync with him, talk to him, or even teach him any actual psychic moves. She knew Bruno was wrong, though. The pair of them were just right for one another. They brought out the best in each other.
That was one thing she really didn’t have to worry about.
Probably.
Time passed with little conversation, and Delia eventually dozed off. Celeste’s fingers were already pruning when she found herself rubbing her own eyes. She could see shadows under the warm light and steam, and they all behaved normally. Thankfully.
She was hugging Pat when her first yawn came.
Finally, she felt truly relaxed.
Celeste dropped her head onto his and decided she’d let it all go.
All the worry.
All the doubt.
She closed her eyes.
Just for a little bit.
—*——*—
She opened her eyes to the sound of bells.
Or was it bells?
The world tingled, and a haze clouded her vision, making everything harder to understand. Celeste tried to rub her fingers over her eyelids, yet the simple act of lifting her arm was tough. It felt like she was bathing in cement, or like she hadn’t fully woken up yet. She lazily whirled her head around, her thoughts still not fully catching up to the situation. The warm lantern lights had gone off, and wilted cherry blossoms floated in the water. On the sides of the pool, snow had gathered, marking an entirely different season.
“Did we go back to winter while I was asleep?” she asked, fighting off a yawn. The answer took its time to reach her, and when someone spoke, it wasn’t Delia or Lori, but a murmur that pierced the veils of time and her own mind.
“Autumn is almost over, but I remember it snowed earlier this year. It was a whole thing. Everyone was afraid it meant Articuno wasn’t done after what it did on Four Island.”
Celeste’s eyes snapped wide and her vision settled on a form sitting on the rocks on the other side of the pool, just a few feet away. None of her friends were around. None of the Pokémon. It was just Celeste and... She wanted to call the person in front of her a stranger, but that would be as absurd as saying your own reflection was unfamiliar. She was aged up, injured, and clearly tired, but the woman was, by all accounts and purposes, Celeste herself.
The… let’s call her older Celeste… picked a pebble and flicked it around her fingers before sparing a tired glance at her younger counterpart. “You remember when a Gyarados attacked you and I stopped it?” she suddenly asked.
Celeste could only blink.
“Well, you don’t. Obviously. But you have context, and I know that when you stop panicking, you’ll do the math.” The older one kept her eyes on the pebble. “You were probably going to die and Celebi… I don’t know what that prick was thinking. They probably freaked out and acted rashly. Turns out putting your future self’s conscience in your past self’s body has all sorts of nasty side effects.”
“I… don’t…” Celeste tried. She could only stare at… herself. Her older self’s hair had grown longer, and the blackness around her eyes was not just from lack of sleep. It looked like someone had punched her recently.
“Once upon a time, many years from now, I defeated an evil lady and broke down the world,” the older Celeste snorted. “Been trying to fix it ever since. Turns out the best way to mend a broken vase is not to break it to begin with and—”
The sky flashed green, making the older Celeste look up and curse.
“You said I had time…” she grumbled at the clouds. Then she finally turned to actually face her younger self.
Celeste had never thought much about her own eyes. Hazel, yellow, gold. People often had a hard time identifying the colour of her irises. Once, someone said her eyes were like honey. Yellow and sweet. Her older self didn’t have honey eyes. Hers flashed golden like lightning piercing a storm.
“Sorry, but it seems like you’re not even getting the footnote version of events,” the older Celeste said, pinning her younger self down with her gaze. “Celebi once told me changing time was a nasty thing, and that I, a human of all things, couldn’t possibly account for all the possibilities.” She tossed the pebble down with a flick of her wrist. It clattered over the rocks, setting off a chain reaction as smaller pebbles tumbled and scattered. When the first pebble hit the water, it sent a ring of ripples spreading outwards. The secondary rocks followed, each creating its own series of small waves, until the entire surface of the pool was a dance of intersecting ripples. Her older self watched the water for a moment before finally saying, “I was angry when that prick told me that, of course. I—”
The sky flashed again, and the older woman put her arms up in contempt.
“I’m trying to do it fast! Sheesh,” she turned back to Celeste, who at this point could only stare. “The very express version is that I really couldn’t account for everything. Ripples, you know?” She pointed to the water. “This should be on me, really. I figured you’d be on your merry way back to Kanto before the tragedy on Four Island. But we do like to meander, don’t we? I got so nervous when I saw you taking that boat to Four Island. The whole time you were there, I was shouting at Celebi to put me in your body so I could make you board the next ferry out before Articuno attacked.”
She chuckled and shook her head, no doubt at her younger self’s bewildered expression.
“The Gyarados incident… those side-effects I mentioned? My timeline, my memories are bleeding into yours. Been trying to keep you out, but no luck. See, the human mind can’t really hold two timelines, so you forget most of what you see… and… Well… it’s uncomfortable for us both. I really don’t want you in my head.” The older Celeste smiled sweetly, in the way Celeste herself often did when she was being fake as hell.
“Celebi said it would break your—our—mind if we did that mind-swapping trick again. Especially since my body…” she paused, shuddering. “Anyway… You and your new friends saved Four Island… somehow… I really didn’t account for it. I also didn’t account for the fact that a tragedy sometimes makes people rethink their life choices.” Older Celeste swept her hands around. “Which brings us to this…”
The older woman waited for a moment, just staring at Celeste’s reaction. Which involved lots of blinking and questioning her sanity and whether there were some sort of fumes in the steam making her very trippy. In the end, all she could say was, “Who… who’s Celebi?”
Older Celeste’s face fell, and when the green light flashed again, it seemed to do so out of spite rather than urgency.
“I... I’m sure Mum and Dad mentioned...” the older woman began, but quickly shook her head. “Whatever. Look, you won’t remember most of this anyway, and we don’t really have time. If you want a proper conversation, you gotta find your way to this shrine in Ilex Forest, but that’s a problem for another day. Right now, me and the green prick are using all our chips to talk to you without them noticing which—”
The air and the pool rippled. Not with green light, or any colour. But like something was piercing through, lifting the barriers of Celeste’s mind and slowly piercing it, blending shapes and thoughts into something unrecognisable. The older version of Celeste noticed it too, and in an instant, she was up and jumping into the water.
“Celebiii!” she dragged out the last syllable with urgency, and with a green pulse, the ripples slowed ever so slightly.
Celeste herself just took a step back, somehow recoiling at her approaching older self. Wasn’t there supposed to be a rule about not touching? Wasn’t there supposed to be tons of rules against all… this? She didn’t want her mind to be more broken and—
“Relax, I’m not taking over you,” the older Celeste said, gripping her counterpart’s shoulder. “I’m not totally sure what’s going on in Cinnabar, because it never happened in my timeline. I... know what’s causing it, though. They’ll keep us away... so... if you think on the bright side you might get to sleep at least...” She chuckled at that.
“The... wriggly, twig-like things?” Celeste asked.
“They won’t affect you as long as you’re with—”
The green light flickered, and the world trembled. “Shit. We’re really out of time.” Older Celeste bore her eyes right into her younger self’s soul, as if she could somehow imprint information in some place she wouldn’t forget. “Blaine usually helps us out, but you need to confront him. No matter the timeline or the circumstances, I’m sure he always hides his—”
The rocks began rumbling, and the bells from the beginning tolled louder. Celeste saw the woman towering above her speaking, but she only saw her lips moving. No sound left her mouth. The louder the bells became, the hazier the world turned. Already, her mind grew soft, and the events of this strange dream evaporated into nothingness. A new sense of dread filled her heart. This version of herself was alien. A stranger, who she had trouble recognising.
Yet.
This stranger was her. From the way she laughed to how she distracted herself by fiddling with a pebble. From how she tried to sound in control to how she clearly panicked when she realized she wasn’t. This older version of herself moved with the rumbles of the world—whatever that world may be like—and reached for what she could with the entirety of her soul because, like Celeste herself, she wanted to take it all in.
A distorted reflection of herself was still a reflection of herself.
She didn’t want to forget.
More than that, she knew deep in the pit of her stomach that she needed to keep something from this conversation when she woke up. She put all her attention on the words her fading counterpart was speaking. Older Celeste must’ve noticed it too, as her face quivered under the pulses of green energy.
“Bug, dark, and ghost,” the older woman’s voice boomed. “That’s the thread you follow. Those are the ones you trust. Bug, dark, and ghost.”
This... was too cryptic. Celeste felt the grip on her shoulder loosening and her heart pounded faster. What was she going to do with bug, dark, and ghost? Talk about Blaine! She tried yelling. The Gym leader sounded like a much better lead. The words caught in her throat, as the last remnants of her older self vanished before her eyes.
“Wait!” she finally managed.
“Sorry, no can do. Policy is two hours per visit.”
Celeste blinked at the rippling empty pool extending before her. On the edges, she saw Delia and Lori drying themselves off, and her Pokémon seemed to be happily chatting on the other side.
“Please, I must ask you to leave,” the voice behind her spoke again. It was the coast guard turned hot spring clerk, Jude. His gaze was impassive.
“We can come back some other day,” Lori spoke, wrapping her towel around her chest.
“But...” Celeste rubbed her eyes. She couldn’t remember what she was going to say, but an overwhelming sense of dread took over her. She was still trying to shake her thoughts back into place when she joined her friends on their way to the changing rooms. “Bug, dark, and ghost...” she muttered.
Why was that important?
Lori laughed. “Planning ahead for the next gym?”
“Huh?”
“Just relax, you deserve it.” She grinned, motioning to a changing booth. “Take paradise when it’s offered to you. You can worry about this when we leave.”
Celeste ran a finger over the pricking hairs on the back of her neck. “Right... Nothing to worry about...”