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“Are you dressed yet?” Apollo hollers through the door.
I growl, “Apollo, did I say you could enter? Nope, I didn’t. Hold on!” Crossing over into the bathroom, I search for my clothes. The floor is slick from steam. My feet are having a hard time gaining purchase on the stone surface as I hurriedly gather my things.
My foot misplaces its step and I tumble into the tub.
SPLOOSH.
My head cracks against the mosaic floor of the tub. The air from my lungs tumbles toward the sky.
Time feels frozen in the water.
Opening my eyes wide, everything feels cloudy.
Above I see lights and colors but the water blurs everything outside its grasp.
Pulling at my arms and legs, I feel like a broken puppet, unable to move my limbs. I remain immobile at the bottom of the water.
The burning of my lungs is a raging wildfire.
No matter the pain, my body won’t listen. Won’t move.
Here is how I die.
How the girl who cheated death returns to Hades. He'll probably die of laughter knowing this is how I died… Or he'll be upset at how I wasted his gift to me.
If someone dies naked, are you damned to live in the underworld without clothes for the rest of eternity?
A dark shadow stands above me.
Here he comes, I brace for death like I'm meeting an old friend.
I feel arms reach around me once more, pulling me from my doom.
Coughing and spluttering water from my lungs, I treasure each of my breaths. I stare into the eyes of my red-haired friend. “Arista?”
Rubbing the side of my head, I feel a large lump already beginning to form.
“Pandora, what in Gaia’s name are you doing,” Athena’s voice shouts. Blinking rapidly, the serene face of Arista transitions into Athena’s frantic face.
I reel backwards in shock. “What in Hades?” Looking down, I'm wearing my clothes, sans the bathrobe.
Thank the gods for that.
“Where’s Apollo?” I exclaim as I search the room for him.
Styx knows that I don’t want him seeing me like this.
That would make everything harder.
My clothes hang heavily over my frame. Feeling like they’re weighed down with marble blocks.
“Probably in his study,” Athena answered with a voice full of confusion. “Why are you holding your head like that? Did you hit your head?”
Ignoring her questions, I clarify, “So he isn’t outside my door.”
“No. I was out there when I heard a loud sploosh. I came into you lying prone at the bottom of the tub,” Athena replies in aghast. “Now, did you hit your head?”
Ignoring her, I feel my thoughts spiral.
