A hot bath or shower would do the trick. And since Justine was busy running around shrieking, I got first use of the bathroom. I guess there are some benefits to having people think you’re nuts.

I locked myself in, then drew a bath and eased in. The water was hot and the shape of the tub was perfect. Slowly, I warmed up. I can’t say I totally relaxed, but it did feel nice.

My mind bounced around and settled on Graham. He’d been so scared the night before, standing in Cordus’s foyer. I remembered the look on his face. He didn’t think Cordus was going to give him a true second chance. You could see it.

But he’d really helped us on the way here. Without his weird luck, the green man would’ve caught Justine north of Stevens Point, maybe killing one or more of us, too. If it’d gotten her then, Williams never would’ve been able to keep a shield on her long enough to reach Cordus. Apparently I could give him enough power for an hour or two, but for twelve? Surely not.

And Graham had nearly let Williams drain him, too. Well, maybe he didn’t have a choice. Kara had said it was hard to limit what someone took, once you let them in.

I sighed and shifted in the tub. I felt bad about Graham. Yeah, he’d been up to something, but after what I’d seen Cordus do to the green man the night before, I wasn’t sure I blamed him. If you worked for a monster, betraying your boss was understandable — maybe even laudable.

But the way Graham went about the betrayal had endangered others. That was profoundly selfish. I shouldn’t make him out to be some noble freedom-fighter.

Then again, he hadn’t intended to endanger anyone. He’d assumed no one would find out about the strait.

But what about lying to me and trying to seduce me? If he’d been on the up-and-up with me, the thing with the strait might seem more like a one-time lapse, less like a larger pattern of deceitfulness.

Damn.

The bath had relaxed me too much — it had let some stuff come up that I really would rather not have thought about. After all, what could I do?

There was a fluffy white robe hanging on the door. I got out and put it on. The fresh scent was comforting. I wondered if Graham had a fresh, fluffy robe in his room.

Jesus, my brain needs an “Escape” button.