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That was what finally had me tearing up.
Until a pair of honest-to-God flip-flops were dangled in front of my face.
I looked up. “How—”
“Shop around the corner,” Pritkin told me, about the time that I noticed his nice, clean, flip-flop-clad feet.
“You got a bath!” I accused, staring at them.
“Sponge.” He nodded at a discreet sign on a nearby wall. Which had an arrow pointing down a hall and a curly script that read Bathrooms.
And I realized that I had something else to take care of. “Be right back,” I told him, grabbing the shoes.
“Wait.” That was Caleb, staring at the sign suspiciously. “How do we know what’s in there?”
“What?”
“There’s a toilet in there,” Pritkin told him, looking vaguely amused. “Many of the demon races have bodies, you know.”
“And what if one of those bodies attacks her?” Caleb demanded
. “Or some spirit does?” He glanced around unhappily. “This place is crawling with threats.”
“Not for us. Once the trial started, we came under the council’s protection. And I believe you remember their security staff?”
Caleb scowled, but he didn’t seem satisfied. “I’m going with her,” he announced forcefully.
“You are not,” I told him, equally forcefully.
His eyes narrowed. “Then John goes. I don’t care which of us it is, but you go nowhere by yourself. Not here.”
“I just told you we’re under protection,” Pritkin said, looking at his friend impatiently.
“Yeah, the council’s protection. Why doesn’t that make me feel better?”
“It should. Nobody is going to test them, particularly not in their own building. Cassie will be perfectly safe.”
Caleb hiked up one of the straps holding some of the eighty pounds or so of weapons he was carrying. “I know she will. Because she’ll be with me.”
“This is ridiculous,” I told him.
“I’ll stay outside the stall—”
“You’ll stay here!”
“This is not up for discussion.”
“I agree.”
Caleb crossed his arms and glared at me. I glared back. Something squelched between my toes, which grossed me out and pissed me off in about equal measures, because I should be washing it away by now.
“This place isn’t as dangerous as you seem to think,” Pritkin told Caleb, trying again.
Caleb transferred the glare to him. “Did you get hit over the head?”
“Yes, several times—”
“Thought so.”
