The landscape changed yet again as they descended down the other side of the mountain. A strange, uneven field of volcanic rock spread out below them, like there were thousands of creatures moving beneath the earth, blanketed with golden moss and pocketed with rainwater.

As they crossed the strange plateau, chasing the sun as it sank into the western sky, the air began to thicken with warm steam.

“You guys smell that?” Illya asked, stopping to sniff whatever the steam had brought with it.

Now that he mentioned it, the air did have a sort of sulfurous stench to it.

“What are you—”

A smile cracked Illya’s face. “What’s the one thing you wish we could have right now?”

“Food,” Khepri and Hector answered at once.

“A real bed,” Hassan groaned.

“Wine,” Anton offered.

“Some quiet,” Beru said.

Ephyra rolled her eyes at Illya. “You shutting up would be pretty nice.”

“Fine, the second thing you wish you could have?” Illya asked.

“Illya, just tell us what you’re—”

But Illya didn’t need to tell them because at that moment they reached the edge of the lava field, where it dropped off into a short cliff, below which a patchwork of pale pools of milky blue water exhaled clouds of warm, sulfurous steam. Formations of the same black rock that made up the mountain separated the pools from one another, forming little caverns and jutting towers, and waterfalls that cascaded from one pool to the next.

“The one thing we could all use right now,” Illya said with a grin. “A bath.”

Hassan looked elated, Khepri cautiously excited. Even Ephyra looked less annoyed than usual. Jude was concerned about everyone dropping their guard when they knew the Witnesses were still tracking them, but even he had to admit a bath sounded nice. They’d been traveling for almost three weeks, and they’d had little opportunity to wash themselves in anything aside from freezing cold water.

They ate dinner and Jude set up camp as the others dispersed into the pools and the sun set over the jagged peaks ahead, turning the milky blue water a blushing pink.

Jude took the first watch, which he’d been doing the last few nights to avoid the awkwardness of laying inside the tent with Anton, stewing in silence. Tonight, as the others stumbled off to sleep, he stripped out of his clothes and waded into the springs, making sure to keep his sword nearby.

The water felt nothing like the river in Kerameikos. Not just the temperature, but the texture, too, was different. It felt denser, heavy with minerals and salt as Jude moved through it, steam rising off his skin and spiraling into the night sky.

He breathed it in, turning his face to the stars and letting his mind drift to the thought that wouldn’t leave him alone, the secret Anton was holding back.