The Chapter With A Salty Bath

Liane’s tongue was heavy in her mouth. She tried to form words, but her voice wouldn’t come out. She had made a mistake. This wasn’t how her plan was supposed to go. The rainforest had distracted her from her goal. Her emotions had gotten the best of her. Now Claire was looking at her like she was a phantom come to haunt her for not seeing her dad before he died. In some ways, she was right.

It appeared Claire was also struggling to speak. Liane couldn’t blame her. As far as Claire knew, Liane was a stranger she had only met today, yet somehow knew about her dad and their relationship. She needed to say something to explain what she had said before Claire could tell her to leave and never come back. Or worse, before she figured out the truth.

She opened her mouth to speak, but a sudden downpour cut her off.

Only a few minutes ago, Liane would have been ecstatic to experience rain in a rainforest, but not anymore. Now it was an interloper getting between her and her daughter.

Claire was a blur through the sheets of rain, and the water streaming down her EMI umbrella didn’t help. She was soaked anyway, so dismissed the umbrella. The cool water was a shock that helped clear her head. Without her umbrella in the way, she could see that Claire’s mouth was moving, but the meddling rain refused to let her hear.

Without warning, Claire turned and walked into the forest. Liane started after her in a panic, but slipped and fell in the mud. She hastily righted herself, but Claire had already disappeared. She rushed after her, pushing her way through thick growing flora and constantly tripping over undergrowth. The thick air quickly left her out of breath, and she had long ago lost her sense of direction. It had been dark to begin with, and the rain made it worse. She just kept pushing forward in hopes of catching sight of Claire, until she took a step and all at once everything shifted.

Liane stopped. She squinted against the sudden sunlight. She panted hard, trying to catch her breath, and was relieved to find it less strenuous on her lungs here. She was still surrounded by a dense forest and could still hear the rain, but it wasn’t nearly as dark, and no drops fell on her.

She turned back and could see a sheet of water just behind her. Miniature rivers streaked down the spot Liane had just crossed through, making it look like a pane of glass. She stuck her hand through and the chilling rain met her.

“That’s the EMI barrier.”

Liane jumped. She spun around to find Claire waiting for her.

“We crossed into the tropical forest section. The rain made it hard to hear each other, don’t you think?” Claire asked with a forced smile, “I um… I'm sorry I left you behind back there. I just needed a minute, but I’m good now. Maybe we could talk?”

Claire waited, fidgeting in place. Liane was still panting. She swallowed hard, trying to wet her dry throat and mouth. She tried to say something, but a sneeze cut her off and made her shiver. Despite the heat of the rainforest, the rain itself had been icy, she had been drenched by it.

“Yes, but maybe we could go somewhere warm and dry?” Liane offered. Partially, she wanted to warm up, but mostly she needed time to think of what to say.

“We could go to the warm ocean section,” Claire suggested, “There’s a beach we could sit on, and you can wash off in the water if you like. You’re sort of covered in mud.”

In her rush to follow Claire, Liane hadn’t noticed, but looking now, she realized she was filthy. Her uniform was now more brown than yellow and blue, and worse was torn in some spots. Considering humans didn’t work as delivery drones, Aurelia likely had the uniform custom-made and would be giving her an earful about her mistreatment of it later. But that was a problem for later.

“Lead the way,” Liane said.

Claire nodded and did just that. Liane followed her through the forest. Though it was still muggy, it was noticeably cooler. The canopy overhead was less dense, letting more light in, while the undergrowth was thicker. They often had to force their way through tangles of leaves and vines taller than they were.

Liane kept a few steps behind Claire as they went. She wanted to avoid talking for as long as possible so she had time to formulate an explanation. She had openly admitted to knowing about Claire’s relationship with her dad, and that she had refused to see him before he died. Claire had barely mentioned her dad; there was no way she could have extrapolated their relationship from that alone.

Liane thought as hard as she could. She deliberated, contemplated, and pondered as they passed through the savanna, scrubland, and desert, but it was no use. She had no idea how to explain her inexplicable knowledge of Claire’s personal life. The best idea her stupid self could come up with was to avoid the topic all together by constantly changing the subject, but there was no way that would work. Besides, talking about Liam was exactly what she needed to do to get Claire to retract her restraining order.

Faster than Liane liked, they reached the ocean section. Blue water stretched out before them, with a sandy beach covering the perimeter. A handful of tiny deserted islands popped up from the ocean here and there. Desolate and isolated, Liane imagined they were the exact kind of island she would find herself on if she didn’t think of something fast.

Claire stopped halfway to the waterline. She turned to Liane, but before she could speak, Liane interjected, “I’m going to wash off,” and hastened past her to the water.

She rinsed in the salty water, cleaning the mud off of herself as slowly as she dared, with Claire watching her from the shore. After meticulously scrubbing off every speck of mud then the top layer of her skin in an effort to extend her thinking time, she knew she was pushing her luck. She could see Claire was getting antsy and if she delayed much longer, she was likely to march into the water and drag her out. Yet despite the extra time she had bought, she was no closer to having an explanation for Claire. Her only idea so far was to blame Aurelia.

Aurelia knew Claire and Aurelia knew Liam, therefore she could claim Aurelia had told her what was going on between the two of them. If Aurelia had to take the fall so she could repair her relationship with Claire, then so be it. The System hadn’t sent her to a deserted island yet, so she still had a chance to fix things. Claire didn’t know the truth.

Liane steeled her nerves. She got out of the ocean and rung the water from her clothes and hair. She marched to Claire and planted herself in the sand beside her. She opened her mouth, ready to foist all the blame on Aurelia.

“I figured it out,” Claire said before Liane could utter a single word out.