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  “Will…will it hurt?” Harper asked.

  “Some have complained that it stings or burns the skin.” The attendant spoke casually, as though this was no big deal. “But others feel hardly any pain. It depends on how impure you are to start with.”

  Now Harper really looked unhappy.

  “So it’s a skin irritant and you want me to wade in there naked? Can I at least have some kind of a swim suit or something?”

  “Forgive me, Empress, but we are all naked before the Goddess,” the attendant said primly. “I am afraid you will not be welcomed into her presence until after your skin is coated in the cleansing slime and your true intentions are brought to the surface. She Who Alters cannot help you otherwise.”

  “Fine,” Shad growled. “But if my Empress goes into that multicolored slime pool, I’m going with her.”

  But this time the bathing attendant was absolutely adamant.

  “No—I am sorry.” She shook her head firmly. “I know you were permitted to go into the sauna and the shower with your mistress but it is absolutely against the rules for anyone but the supplicant to the Goddess to enter the Cleansing Slime.”

  Shad tried reminding her again how much they had paid and Harper pointed out that the attendant had been told they should be given whatever they wanted but this was apparently the place where the owlish attendant drew the line.

  “You don’t understand,” she said, peering earnestly at Harper with her wide, unblinking yellow eyes. “Allowing a non-supplicant into the Cleansing Pool might cloud the understanding of She Who Alters and interfere in the altering process.”

  Shad frowned. “How can you be sure of that? Has it happened before?”

  “Well, not in my lifetime but—” the attendant began but Harper interrupted her.

  “It’s all right, I can do it alone.” She stopped Shad with a look when he started to protest. “It’s okay, Shad. I’m a big girl—I can wade across a pool of melted crayon slime by myself.”

  “You don’t know what might be in there,” Shad pointed out, scowling. “Or what might happen. This is a huge pool, Harper. I don’t like the idea of you going in alone.”

  “Well, it doesn’t seem like we have much choice.” She sighed. “It’s okay—you can walk along the side of the pool as I wade through it. We’ll get to the other side at the same time.”

  Shad tried to change her mind—he wanted to call the social secretary and challenge the rules, which seemed to be extremely arbitrary to him. But he could tell he wasn’t getting through. The bathing attendant wouldn’t budge and Harper just wanted to get this over with.

  At last, he grudgingly agreed to her plan that he would walk along the side of the pool while she waded through the multicolored muck. But he swore to himself he would keep a close eye on her.

  They had come too far for him to let down his guard now.

  * * * * *

  Harper sighed in relief when the big Kindred finally agreed to let her wade through the Cleansing Slime by herself. Not that she wanted to go alone into the melted-crayon-looking muck but it was time to move forward and get this over with, she told herself. It was hard enough to get her courage up to go into the strange pool in the first place without having to keep herself geared up for it indefinitely.

  It won’t be so bad once I get in, she thought, hoping she was right. It’s probably nice and warm. Or warmer than the shower, anyway, she hoped. She would die of hypothermia if she had to wade through the huge pool and the slime was as icy as the needle sharp spray they’d just been pelted with.

  “You never told me how deep it is,” she reminded the bathing attendant who was waiting on the steps which led down to the vast pool.

  “It is never deeper than you can tread, my Empress.” The attendant bowed her head and swept an arm towards the pool. “Behold—it is your way to She Who Alters. Once you have passed through the slime and reached the other side, you will be instantly transported into the presence of the Goddess.”

  “Okay,” Harper said uncomfortably. “And that’s where I ask her to change me?”

  “It is unnecessary to make any request out loud. She Who Alters will divine your needs the moment you are in her presence and will alter the one thing about you which needs most to be fixed,” the attendant explained.

  “She will? How will I know she’s done it?” Harper asked.

  “You will feel her power within you.” The bathing attendant got an almost rapturous expression on her round face. “It is immense and all-encompassing. It is a good thing she can see your problem without need for your explanation, as you will be struck dumb by her glory,” she added helpfully.

  “Um…okay,” Harper nodded.

  I guess that’s why it’s so important to fulfill all physical needs and strip away all the unnecessary stuff before you see her, she thought. If you don’t even get to ask for what you want.

  “And what happens after the, uh, Goddess alters me?” she asked.

  “Then she will send you back to where you belong. Do not worry—your clothing and items of value will be sent with you,” the attendant added quickly, as though she got asked this question a lot.

  “All right. Thank you.” Harper nodded but she was still uncertain. She assumed that She Who Alters would send her directly back to the golden space yacht since that was where she belonged. But would she even get there? Wouldn’t she be transported back to the beach on Earth with no memory of Shad or her adventures with him the minute she was no longer a ten’sora and the past was altered? She wished she knew for sure. But since there was no way to be certain of anything, all she could do was get started.

  Still, if she was going to be transported immediately into the presence of She Who Alters the minute she reached the deep end (or would that be the dark end?) of the pool, and from there most probably back to the beach where all this had started, it meant this was the end of her adventure.

  Which meant…

  She looked at Shad. “I…I guess it’s time to say, uh, goodbye.” The words stuck in her throat but somehow she forced them out.

  “Kallana…” He took her in his arms but what more was there to say that hadn’t been said in the steam room?

  “I love you,” Harper whispered, clinging fiercely to him, her bare breasts pressed against his hard chest, her arms around his neck as she stood on tiptoe to reach him.

  “I’ll find you,” he muttered hoarsely into her neck. “I swear by the Mother of All Life, I will find you, Harper. No matter how long it takes.”

  Harper wished she could promise to wait for him but if she had no memory of him after they reached the end of the loop, how could she? Instead she kissed him passionately with tears in her eyes and pressed herself against him, wishing this moment never had to end.

  Eventually, though, the bathing attendant cleared her throat tactfully.

  “Forgive me, Empress, but the Cleansing Slime is ready to receive you now.”

  They clung together a moment longer and then, reluctantly, Harper untwined her arms from around the big Kindred’s neck. She could almost feel him struggling internally with himself but finally, Shad let her go.

  “Be well, Harper. Until we meet again,” he said, almost formally.

  “I’m not gone yet,” she reminded him. “You still have to walk beside me, on the side of the pool while I wade through the slime.”

  “I’ll be with you every step of the way,” he promised.

  “I know you will.”

  Blinking back the tears which made her eyes blur and her throat tight, Harper turned back to the owlish bathing attendant.

  “All right,” she said thickly. “I…I’m ready.”

  “Very good.” The bathing attendant nodded. “Then proceed down the steps and into the Cleansing Slime, Empress. A word of caution, however…” She held up a long, skinny finger which seemed to have too many joints to make her point. “You must go straight down the center of the pool. Do not allow your feet to leave the path or The Watchers