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“Where are we going?” I whisper
She just waves h the trees, the war us as we cross the flower-strewn forest floor
The sound of water draws my attention, and Beth stops and points
Through the trees, I see a shiht day I’ a sniff of my underarm, I wrinkle my nose
Beth takes off at a faster clip, shedding clothes as she goes After a quick glance around to row denser, deep purple bloo dew I kick off my shoes, then pull my dress over my head It comes away easily, partly because one seam is loose from the stable fae’s attack and partly because I’ve lost a little weight since I’ve been here
Beth sheds her last gar marks cover her entire body, not just her arms
She looks over her thin shoulder and shrugs “I told you I’d rather die than go back to being a chew toy for my master’s vampire hounds Now you see why”
“I’m so sorry I had no idea”
She shrugs “What’s done is done” With a leap, she splashes into the clear water, cool droplets spraying my bare skin
I shed h not quite so jubilantly I’ve always beenin the woods with a new friend—I pause at the thought Beth isin this neorld that always evaded me back in my old one I had study partners, sure But an actual friend? No Not like this
“Don’t just stand there, jump in!” She swipes her arm across the surface and splashes me
I squeak and ease into the pool,the sandy bottoet to the center, the water up to et used to it, I’ll never want to leave I’d kill for a bar of soap, but the water is enough
Kickingthroughout the green woods, and the skitter of anierous is nearby Everything became so still when the witch was on our trail Now, the forest is alive I let out a deep, soul-cleansing sigh and dunkthe strands twine away from me in the cool water
Beth finally reappears and swipes her wet hair from her face “I’ve needed this”
“You can say that again” I laugh
She grins and splashes reat, yourself,” she says in fae
“I understood that,” I reply in the saue
Her eyebrows shoot to her hairline “How?”
“The witch wanted a chat” I wagglethe surface of the water “So she zapped the language into my brain somehow”
“Powerful ive me details of what happened But first, I would like to reiterate that we do, in fact, stink”
“I know” I gri for soap”
“Can do” She dog paddles to the edge of the pond and swipes some of the purple flowers from their stalks
“What’s that?”
“These are bluredients to make the palace soap”
I take a handful froht bluish tint leaks fro like a set to smell like a blueberry tart
“Like this” She rubs theet super sudsy, but they bubble a little”
The soft petals are alelike as I roll the up my neck and shoulders
“This is heavenly” I scrub behind my ears and take more of the flowers Beth offers By the time we’re done, we’ve washed our bodies and our hair
She douses herself with palmfuls of water one more time, then tips her head back and lets a ray of sun play across her features
“You’re young,” I blurt “I ht you were All that dirt made you seem older”
She laughs “Thanks, I think I’m probably about twenty-five or so?”
“You don’t know?”
“No Our ages aren’t ih to discard”
“Discard?” I pluck a piece of flower from her hair
“When changelings grow old, their e of the pool and reaches over to grab our dirty clothes “Send them to live on the streets until they die”
I hug myself “That’s horrible”
“Just the way it is” She begins scrubbing my dress in the water