The funnel poured out into a spacious, high-ceilinged room with ugly brown tiles, cool to the touch of his bare feet. Its centre housed eight benches that created a square that faced the four walls, each featuring rows of doors inscribed with white numbers.
Now he was in this final chamber, the chlorine smell increased to almost nauseating levels. He’d visited swimming pools several times following the years since he’d almost drowned, and always left ashamed he hadn’t made it past the shallow end.
But you’re not swimming today, you’re simply…. standing.
The wait on the bench was agonisingly slow. Various names were called out over the loudspeaker, each instructing the traveller to enter anumbered chamber. Cinn studied the faces of the people near him. Some seemed tense, but nobody else was having the near panic attack he was.
“Cinnamon Saunders, chamber four.”
He didn’t even have enough energy to cringe at his real name.
As he forced his unsteady legs to take the handful of steps to the numbered door, a voice called out his name, and he turned to find Darcy waving at him from the entrance, she and Julien in their own stark white robes. Shoulders untensing somewhat, Cinn smiled to himself; Julien had talked their way into the Baths after all. Of course he had.
However, Julien still looked pissed off, and a fissure of annoyance crackled through Cinn. Why had he insisted on coming if he was just going to sulk the entire time?
He had no more time to ponder the mysterious workings of Julien’s mind, because now he was in the tiny chamber, no bigger than a cupboard under the stairs in width, and the heavy iron was closing automatically.
The four sides of the chamber were lined with metal so shiny, Cinn could see his reflection. He scowled at the robed, wide-eyed fellow with tangled hat-hair. Positioning his feet exactly on the two red crosses on the tiles, he straightened his posture, and waited, a pool of anxiety eating at his stomach.
A tinny voice filled the small space. Cinn couldn’t see a speaker in sight.Motecraft?
“Starting displacement sequence. Stand by.”
From thousands of miniscule, pinprick-sized holes near the bottom of the chamber, a liquid started pouring in, wetting the bottom of his feet. The lukewarm fluid was… strange. It was clear like water, but with a slight haziness to it. Once it had reached his knees, Cinn marvelled at the light airiness of the fluid splashing against his skin. There wasn’t a single hint of chlorine now—instead, the liquid held a vaguely earthy, floral scent.
Everywhere the fluid touched, his skin tingled with a not unpleasant sensation; it was almost like being tickled with a feather. The liquid rose higher and higher, until it had reached the hem of his robe. To his utter surprise, the material completely disintegrated upon contact with the Aerofluid, dissolving into it without a trace. He watched, fascinated, as the water level rose quicker and quicker now, and took his robe with it.
It was when the fluid reached his chest that the panic started.
Memories of battling for his life against that cold, murky river resurfaced, and he recalled those horrible, horrible moments where his body forced him to swallow the dirty water instead of breathing air.
Fighting against the nervous shake in his leg, Cinn took manual control of his breathing to slow his rapid heartbeat.It’s not even water. You probably can’t even drown,he lied to himself.It will all be over within seconds, he continued, even though he hadn’t the faintest clue.
He bit into his lip so hard, a metallic tang filled his mouth.
The Aerofluid reached his collarbone. A tiny involuntary moan crept out of him, and the red panic button, easily within reach, tempted him.
However, he’d look simply ridiculous to Julien and Darcy if he backed out now and didn’t join them on the other side.
Plus, he’d have to leave the chamber completely naked.
Yes, that sealed the deal.
The rising fluid paused at his neck, exactly like the woman said it would.
“Please audibly confirm you wish to proceed.”
Terror gripped him with a vice-like fist. “Wait! Nobody has actually told me where I’m going yet!”
The bored, monotonous voice declared, “Chambers one to five are rigged up to our portable receiver baths.”
“Huh? What?”
“Sir, are you ready?”
No!“Yes?”
Squeezing his eyes shut and praying he didn’t open them to find himself in the Atlantic Ocean, Cinn inhaled the largest lungful of air he could, imagining his lungs were a balloon that could always inflate thattinybit more.
