Chapter 158: Magic Tricks in the Bath

Ren rushed toward the water with the grace of a drunken penguin.

Her foot hit the slick, wet limestone edge of the pool. Friction left the chat immediately.

“Whoa!”

Her legs flew out from under her. She flailed her arms, trying to grab onto something—air, a vine, dignity—but gravity was faster.

SPLASH.

Ren didn’t just fall into the pool. She cannonballed directly onto Vex.

“Oof!” Vex grunted as a naked, mud-covered female missile slammed into his chest.

They both went under in a tangle of limbs and bubbles.

For a second, the world was silent, warm, and blue. Then, they breached the surface, gasping for air and wiping water from their eyes.

“I am so sorry!” Ren spluttered, coughing up a mouthful of mineral water. “I slipped! I thought I felt a Muck-Mite biting my butt!”

She frantically paddled backward, putting as much distance between them as the small pool allowed.

Vex floated there, blinking water from his long lashes. He looked like a drowned cat, his vibrant orange hair plastered to his skull.

“You are a distinct threat to my relaxation and well-being,” Vex stated, wiping his face.

Ren ignored him, sinking lower into the water until it reached her chin.

The heat was instantaneous. It wrapped around her shivering body like a heavy, warm blanket. The aggressive aches in her joints began to dull, and the shivering finally stopped.

Around her, a cloud of brown muck bloomed in the crystal-clear water.

“Ew,” Ren whispered.

But before she could apologize for turning his spa into a swamp, the water rippled. The brown cloud swirled and vanished, sucked away by the natural current and filtered out by the magic of the spring. Within seconds, the water was pristine again.

Ren sighed, a long, rattling sound of pure relief. She leaned her head back against the smooth limestone rim and closed her eyes.

“Oh, sweet mother of moisture,” Ren groaned happily.

She could feel the tension, the sorrow, and the terror of the night melting away. It felt so good. It was just as luxurious as the private pond in Syris’ palace.

’I hate this world,’ Ren thought, drifting in the warmth. ’But the baths? The baths are top-tier. They are the only redeeming quality of this hellhole.’

She was so caught up in her moment of zen that she didn’t notice the silence stretching on.

Across the pool, Vex was staring.

Now that the layer of muck was gone, Ren’s skin was glowing. The hot water made it look supple, soft, and freshly exfoliated. Droplets of water clung to her collarbones and the curve of her chest, glistening like jewels under the bioluminescent lights.

Vex’s throat bobbed as he gulped, barely holding on to restraint.

He quickly turned away, reaching for a natural sea sponge he had left on a rock ledge from a previous visit.

Ren opened her eyes.

She saw Vex’s broad, muscular back turned to her. It was smooth, unblemished, and rippled with lean power as he moved. He was aggressively scrubbing his bicep with the sponge, looking very busy.

Ren bit her bottom lip.

She was clean-ish, but the phantom smell of the pit still lingered in her nose. She needed soap.

She checked her inventory. She had multiple bars of Lavender soap. But if she suddenly manifested a bar of processed hygiene product out of thin air, wouldn’t Vex get suspicious?

He must’ve wondered where she got the first one she gave him from. Ren assumed he thought she might’ve found it somewhere.

’He is the King of Liars,’ Ren worried. ’He knows everything. He’ll ask questions.’

But then she smelled her own shoulder. It still smelled faintly of wet dog.

’I need the soap,’ Ren decided. ’And I owe him a bar anyway.’

She needed a cover story. A lie so vague, so unprovable, that even Vex couldn’t pick it apart.

“Vex,” Ren called out.

Vex stopped scrubbing but didn’t turn around completely. “Yes, Little Rose?”

“I am going to do something… strange,” Ren warned him.

Vex glanced over his shoulder, raising an eyebrow in curiosity.

“But before I do, I need you to promise not to ask how I do it. Don’t ask where it comes from. Don’t ask anything,” Ren said seriously.

She took a deep breath.

“Because I don’t remember,” Ren lied. “I have no memory of my life before I woke up in this forest. So if you ask, I can’t answer.”

’Genius,’ Ren thought, mentally high-fiving herself. ’The amnesia card. It’s classic. It’s un-fact-checkable. It’s fool-proof.’

Vex turned fully to face her. His expression was unreadable for a moment. Then, his eyes widened slightly as a memory surfaced.

“Is this…” Vex started, his voice dropping to a hushed whisper. “Is this the ’skinny dipping’ you mentioned before?”

Ren blinked. “What?”

Vex looked deadly serious. His orange eyes were filled with a mix of morbid curiosity and genuine horror.

“Are you going to take off your skin?” Vex asked. “Is that the strange thing? You said you wanted to dip your skin?”

Ren stared at him.

Then, she burst out laughing.

“Bwahahaha!”

She laughed so hard she splashed water everywhere. She laughed until her ribs hurt, and she started coughing again.

’The irony,’ Ren thought, wiping a tear from her eye as she looked at his confused, handsome face. ’I told him I would never skinny dip with him. And here I am. Naked. In a pond. With him. And he thinks I’m about to peel myself like a banana.’

“So… the skin stays on?” Vex clarified, looking relieved that he wouldn’t be witnessing a gruesome self-flaying.

“Yes,” Ren assured him, calming down. “My skin is firmly attached. And even if I could take it off, I wouldn’t. That sounds painful and gross.”

Vex let out a breath he had been holding. “Good. That would have been disturbing. Even for me.”

He leaned back against the edge. “So if it is not a shedding of the skin, what is the strange thing?”

Ren took a deep breath.

“Watch,” she whispered.

She held out her empty hand above the water.

Pop.

A small, circular bar of soap appeared in her palm. It was a soft, pastel purple, smelling strongly of lavender fields.

Vex’s eyes went wide. He stared at the object that had materialized from thin air.

“What…” Vex whispered, stunned. “Is that… magic?”

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