Huge plumes of steam curled up from the baths as the fire lizards skittered and scrambled away from Wynona's overturned bucket and stumbled, in a panic, into the water. Her face hot with shame, she hunched forward, picking the bucket up and setting about to re-gather the lizards as the last few women trickled out of the baths. 

As she worked, the curls of steam billowed up from the springs in huge plumes. Soon, the air was so dense with the misty heat that the day itself seemed hazy, even though it wasn't. She reached out, magic glowing in her palm, and gathered up one of her lost lizards from where it floated, stunned, in the bank. However grim she might be feeling, she was grateful for the incandescent light that the fire lizards gave off through the crag-patterns in their black scales. They glowed like dying embers in the steam, so at least they were easy to see. 

She pressed on, focused on finding all the lizards again. It wasn't especially challenging, but anxiety made bile rise in her gorge more than once. The steam never thinned out — that scared her. Had she broken the springs somehow? And what if one of the women complained to Keiba about how all this had happened? Wynona's heart sank as she pictured what Loch would say, and what would happen when they all got back to HQ. She'd lose her provisional license and have to spend the rest of her life wasting away on Claybay, she was sure of it. 

Sweating in the steam, she chased down the last of the lizards, the pale blue of her magic fading away as she dropped the last, stunned reptile back into her bucket. Whatever small hope that she'd harbored of covering her own tracks diminished as she shuffled for the exit. The steam had gotten so thick that she had to feel along the wall to find the door. Even as she walked back towards the courtyard, the steam flowed down the path in dense curls, almost as high as Wynona's knees. 

She didn't understand how or why dropping the lizards could have resulted in this, but it felt somehow like the huge veils of steam were her fault. An indelible mark against her ability to be a successful Slayer. 

What if she had broken something permanently? 

Her stomach ached with the sting of shame. Having to go back to Claybay was bad enough, but returning as a failure was intolerable. She wanted to cry. Taking a deep breath, she braced herself for the absolute worst as she reached the courtyard — Loch's disappointment, or Keiba's anger and blame, maybe — and she gripped her bucket handle so tightly her knuckles hurt.  

All for nothing, it turned out. Trent was the only person in the courtyard, shrugging out of his uniform coat. He was sweaty too, his hair sticking in curls to his forehead, but his expression lightened with relief when he saw Wynona approaching. 

"Hey! There you are," he said as she got close. "Zale came and cleared out the men's baths, and when Loch and I finished up, Keiba said she'd had to shut down for the day because of some people getting spooked by the lizards on the women's side?" 

Wynona grimaced, fear icing through her insides. "I dropped my bucket and some of the lizards got out," she said. 

"Oh. But you got them all again?"

Wynona glanced at her very full bucket. "Yeah. I don't know what to do with them though." 

Trent rubbed a hand through his hair and rocked up onto the balls of his feet. "Well, Loch's in the gift shop with Keiba and Zale. I think they're just waiting for you to bring in what you caught."

He started for the little shop but Wynona hesitated, glancing around the courtyard. Even out here, the steam seemed thicker. The hairs on the back of her neck pricked up with worry. She tried to convince herself she was just imagining it, but as she tried, she remembered Trent talking about Yura as they watched the sun come up that morning.

I read it lives under one of the nearby villages — the book said the steam vents on its back are what heat the hot springs.

And all of a sudden, a new anxiety congealed in her gut, leaden and heavy. 

"What is it?" Trent asked. 

"Nothing." Wynona shook her head, trying to set all  thoughts of sea monsters aside. Trent had said that no one was even sure if Yura was real. She forced herself to square her shoulders. "Let's go in." 

Together, they made for the gift shop door. Wynona's stomach queased as she wondered if spilling the lizards everywhere had somehow disturbed Yura. But that didn't make any sense, she thought. What could little lizards do to rouse a sea monster?  Better to stay calm. If she acted normal, at least she might not get in trouble.

Following Trent, she stepped through the entrance door. Inside, Keiba stood at the gift shop counter, talking to Loch. In front of the counter, two more buckets full of lizards sat waiting. 

"There you are," Keiba smiled as Wynona and Trent entered. "I was getting worried." 

Wynona wondered why Keiba was so nice to them where most of the townspeople seemed so hostile. Maybe Keiba was just used to seeing and working with Slayers? Loch did say that Slayers came to help every year. Even so, her friendliness made Wynona's cheeks sting with guilt. She forced a weak smile and held up her bucket. 

"Nothing to worry about. All done." Her whole body trembled with a sick, barely-contained sense of anxiety, but Keiba seemed to take it as a sign of fatigue rather than as proof of guilt. 

"You wrung yourself out in there, huh?" Keiba smiled. 

Wynona forced herself to stand still, to not rock back and forth from foot to foot with some minor anxiety as she recalled all the women running from the baths. It was a simple accident, and if Keiba wasn't angry, then she had nothing to feel guilty about.

"I'm just hot," she answered, setting the bucket down and undoing the top few buttons on her uniform. "I shouldn't have worn my jacket into the springs." 

"I heard you had a mishap," Loch remarked, watching her.

Wynona's shoulders tensed with worry. Maybe she didn't have anything to feel guilty about — but that was no guarantee that she wasn't actually in trouble with Loch or with HQ if Loch reported her. She fought the urge not to hunch in on herself. "I dropped a few lizards while I was working? And they got away into the baths." Loch frowned and she rushed to add: "I caught them again! See?" She toed her bucket gently.

"It's all right," Keiba reassured. "People get spooked by the lizards — and rightly so. You'll get burned if you touch them. But no harm was done, and the baths are clean." 

She smiled at Wynona again, like she was grateful for the help, but all Wynona could think of was the steam in the baths, growing denser and denser.  In spite of herself, she glanced nervously at Loch.. He was still watching her with a small frown, but he said nothing. Wynona wished she could take his silence as a good sign, but the slow churn of anxiety in her belly wouldn't let her.  At her side, Trent looked between her and his brother with some amount of confusion. To Wynona, it felt like there wasn't enough air in the room. She forced herself to take a deep breath and looked back to Keiba, scratching the back of her neck. 

"Um. Happy to help," Wynona said. "I don't know what to do with the lizards, though." 

"I'll take care of them," Zale answered, emerging from a doorway to the gift shop's back room.

"You're sure you don't need help?" Loch asked, but Zale was already getting two buckets on one arm. 

"I'm fine," he said, coming to scoop up Wynona's bucket with his free hand.  "You three should get some rest."

"Can we look around the shop first?" Trent piped up. 

"Of course," Keiba agreed, stepping out from behind the counter. "Just close the shop doors behind you when you leave. We won't be back til the morning."

"Not a problem," Loch reassured.

Just as Keiba and Zale reached the door, the whole building rattled. In reality, it must not have lasted a long time, but to Wynona it felt like a drawn-out death knell. Of the village, maybe. Of her own career, definitely. She'd let all those lizards get into the springs and they'd woken Yura and now the whole island was going to explode for some reason. That's what all the steam was about.

Except Keiba laughed when the shaking stopped.

"You should see your faces," she said. "It was just a little quake. We get them all the time."

Wynona felt at once faint with relief and terrified at the concept of earthquakes as a commonplace occurrence. It must have shown on her face, because Keiba winked at her.

"It's all right, really," she said. "Have a good night."

Together, she and Zale disappeared through the door, buckets in hand. Loch watched them go, then frowned down at his own uniform.

"I'm going to the inn," he said. "I need to clean up." He narrowed his eyes at Wynona and Trent. "Don't break anything."

"We're not going to break something," Trent retorted. "I just want to look at the books." 

"Sure." Loch sounded entirely unconvinced. "Don't stay up too late, either. We have to be ready to leave pretty early."

Wynona watched him go. When he pulled open the door, there were no monsters outside, but the steam still laid in a thick blanket over the courtyard ground. A fresh wave of anxiety washed through her. 

Once Loch was out the door, Trent gave the damp arm of her jacket a tug.

"Wyn, what is wrong?" 

Wynona grabbed his hand and dragged him to the bookshelves, her heart hammering. "I think I woke Yura," she hissed.

"You…what?" Trent looked at her with disbelief.

"When I dropped the lizards — or, after, I guess, a bunch of steam started coming out of the baths. You can see it outside, still. It's just everywhere, and you said that Yura had steam vents on its back." 

"Wyn," Trent looked entirely bewildered. He freed himself from her grip and set both hands, gently, on her shoulders. Her jacket squelched a bit under his touch. "Take a deep breath. No one even knows if Yura's real." 

"You think Yura's real!" she insisted, shrugging his hands off of her. 

"Yeah, but I'm just one person." 

Wynona glowered. "Keiba also said Yura is what heats the springs."

Trent sighed, tugging a hand through his hair. "Okay, sure. But you just dropped a bucket. The book I read said that Yura's been asleep for hundreds of years. I'm sure other people have dropped things in that time — why would your bucket be different?"

"Trent," Wynona insisted, glaring like that would get him to understand. "Listen to me. There's so much steam coming out of the baths." 

"I mean, that's not ideal," he frowned. "But I'm not sure it's the sign of waking an ancient sea monster." 

Wynona wanted to throw her hands up and shout at him. "It could be!" she snapped. "C'mon. Didn't that kid say there were books about Yura in here? Help me find some."

Trent gave her a weary look. "Wyn, you're freaking yourself out—"

"Sorry for not wanting to accidentally wake a sea monster," Wynona growled.