CHAPTER 82

It wasn't a hair, but a thin crack. She watched in horror as a thin bead of black pressed through, then ran up the side of the vial toward her fingers.

"No no no no no!" She stood and ran for one of Death's teacups. When she placed the vial inside, it leaked but was fully contained. Letting out a sigh of relief, she set the cup down. The vial continued to fill the cup, and when it was half full, she frowned.

The vial shouldn't have that much ooze in it.

She grabbed a bowl and poured the ooze into it. It stuck to itself, leaving the coffee cup clean behind it. The bowl was filling itself when she found a pitcher to transfer it to, the vial somehow releasing far more of the tar-like substance than it had contained.

"Fuck fuck fuck..." she muttered in horror as she ran out of the kitchen holding the pitcher. Kisa was standing in the foyer when Beth ran past and up the stairs. The biggest vessel in the house was in Mike's bathroom, and Beth poured the pitcher into Naia's bath, hoping that the nymph would forgive her.

As she watched the tub fill itself with goo, she shook her head in disbelief as it continued to fill. Leaning over the ever-rising tide of black, she realized just how sleepy she suddenly was. Blood was running down her arm again, dripping bits of crimson into the inky depths of the ooze.

That can't be good. She let out a giggle, then felt gravity lose its grip on her as she tilted forward into the tub. She heard Kisa calling her name, but didn't have the strength to answer. The darkness was surprisingly warm, and all she wanted was to curl up and go to sleep in it.

In her semi-conscious state, she felt her magic rise up and surround her. Thousands of needles pierced her flesh, and then there was a bright green light.

"Beth!"

She felt the hard slap across her face, and opened her eyes to see Kisa sitting over her. Beth squinted, trying to will the world into focus, but she had lost too much blood.

"Hey." Her voice was slurred, and she felt like she was drunk.

"What the hell is that?" Kisa muttered in horror, her eyes on the tub. From where she was lying, Beth couldn't see anything.

"Is it Naia?" she asked. Her brain was faring no better than her body. "Did we beat the Apocalypse?

"I can't move you, hold on." Kisa dashed out of the bathroom, leaving Beth on the floor. It could have been seconds or hours, Beth had no way of knowing. She did, however, see a dark shape moving just below the edge of the tub.

A pair of hands appeared on the edge, and what looked like a head appeared.

"Peek-a-boo." Beth laughed when the tub monster dropped back down. It shifted about, making sloshing sounds as it moved to the far end of the tub and repeated the process. This time when it appeared, it looked like it almost had a face.

"You remind me of that fan in the basement," Beth declared with a giggle. A little voice in her head warned her that she was bordering on delirium, but what did she care? "Are you here to steal my face?"

The dark mass contemplated her, then began to brighten. The darkness seemed to burn away as a bright green light formed inside of the thing in the tub. Beth immediately felt a strange sort of synergy with it.

"Stay back!" Kisa shouted as she ran into the bathroom. She was surrounded by rats, and they all surrounded Beth and tried to drag her away.

The thing in the tub spilled over, turning briefly into flowing liquid as it scattered the rats and coated Beth's body. There was a sensation of warmth, followed by a tingling in her arm. She opened her mouth to breathe, but there was no air.

"No!" Kisa was screaming now, her voice muffled by the ooze that covered Beth.

They say that drowning isn't a bad way to go, Beth thought. But frankly, I prefer not to go at all.

Air suddenly flooded her lungs, and she gasped for air, her throat suddenly raw. Kisa, the hair on her body sticking out, knelt down by Beth.

"Are you okay?" she asked. "What just happened?"

"I don't know." Beth lifted her arm to look at it. The tingling sensation had passed, and the wound in her arm looked like it had scabbed over. When she touched the wound, she realized that it wasn't a scab, but some type of sticky residue. Most of the dizziness was gone now, but she still felt disoriented mentally.

The temperature in the room dropped, and Cecilia appeared, her hair floating wildly around her. Lily followed next, her face a mess of bloody scratches. Both of them stopped on the edge of the tile, disbelief on their faces.

"Lily!" Beth put her hand to her chest and sighed in relief. "You're okay!"

Lily opened her mouth as if to say something, then just shrugged. "I'm at a loss."

"What happened down there?"

Cecilia looked past Beth, then at her. "Um...it wasn't much I could help with. Kind of scary, actually, I didn't really know what was going on, so I just screamed a lot. My voice can disrupt spirits, so it weakened them."

Lily sneered. "Boogie men in the shadows, by the way. Same guys that grab your feet from under the bed, no idea why there were so many. Some type of Babylonian demon in the painting. An actual nightmare of Shadow People. Yes, that is what I'm calling a group of those bastards. Have only seen one or two at a time ever. There were almost twenty of them, trans-dimensional pricks!" Lily actually spat on the floor. "Those things were actually locked up somewhere in the Vault, and someone or something let them out. We need to talk to Romeo about the shit in that room when he gets back, there's no reason half of that stuff even needs to exist."