The shower water turned black the second it touched me, carrying blood, dust, slime, and several pieces of the Devourer down the drain.
It took three rounds of shampoo to get the sap out of my hair and another ten minutes to remove whatever had dried behind my left ear, although I didn't investigate that too closely.
Some questions only made life worse.
The baby vine waited outside the shower with both heads resting on the edge of the tub. Every time I looked through the glass, it opened one mouth as though checking that I was still there.
"You bit me," I reminded it while washing another streak of black fluid from my arm. "You don't get to be concerned now."
Its leaves flattened against the side of the tub, but I wasn't letting it use guilt against me when my leg still looked like something had tried to chew through it.
"The AirTag is gone, so I'm willing to forgive you eventually. Not today, but someday," I assured it.
