thing in me tensed. Warmth flowed from my palms to my nails, then froze in the air as it fell to the ground. Drip, drip. I smelled it in the air. My jaw hurt, too. I couldn’ t be alone. There had to be someone. Someone in the shadows. I would find them. Nobody would get through me. Sharks in the waters, but they were my prey. Eyes shifting down the streets. Breath haggard to a snarl. I couldn’ t afford to blink. One lapse is all it takes. Tunnel vision. Heartbeat faster than my feet. I could almost feel it. I didn’ t realize how far ahead of them I had gotten.“ Tennessine!” Street lamps like spotlights. Silence like curtains. A patchwork stage. I stared at them from the limelight-specks in the darkness.“ There’ s nobody here,” Mercury called.“ We’ re safe.” Something growled inside me. I thought it was my heart, but realistically, it was my stomach. I unclenched my fists and they started towards me. Wolfram gestured above my head.“ Sign behind you.” I whipped around. How could I have been blind? Cabins 101-
113, Cabins 114-125, Front Desk, Restaurant, Gondolas, Lift, Hot
And to think, we would never have known.
Springs. Hot springs, yes! Hot springs, to the right. Carved into the old wood, hanging from old wrought iron chains, a happy ending. I grabbed their hands and tugged them along. I laughed. The path ahead blurred as I ran. Soon, I heard it. The wonderful sounds of flowing water crashing over rocks. Then, the steam in the air spiraledli into the night sky. When I saw the rocks, my heart nearly jumped from my chest. I charged through the snow. The pathway led into another building, but I didn’ t care. Mercury and Wolfram let go of my hands. I stood at the edge of the water and spun around to face them. I was breathless. The two looked past me, dumbfounded.
“ Mercury,” I panted,“ Wolfram!”
They looked at me, then back at the pool. Or maybe the moss on the rocks, or the vines on the sides of the waterfalls, or the bubbles rising from below. I knew they had never seen anything like it before in their lives. They knew steam; they knew the gurgling and rolling of water in pipes, but not water. Not clear, blue,
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