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She held it there, and held it there Her skin turned red, and the thin wisp of san to darken The tallow scent deepened into the sht Pain-sparked tears welled in her eyes, but they were un to turn black Make it hotter

Make it boil

Nadia leaned her head back on the heavy curved riredients together:

Bone through flesh

So shattered to the sound of a screa beloved

The air was almost uncomfortably thick with stea with heat froh--but she knew she had to concentrate

An X-ray in shadows of blue and gray, revealing the jagged white fault line where her ulna should have showed through strong, and pain lancing its way up her arht of the wreck, splintering into spiderweb patterns as they flipped over and over, as all of them shrieked in sudden terror

But Nadia couldn’t think; the water was so freaking hot--it almost burned

Her eyes opened wide as she realized the water was getting hotter Though the taps were off, the water in the tub was heating up second by second, faster all the ti up--oh, God, it stung, it hurt, it was going to start cooking her--

Nadia shoved herself out of the tub, flopping over the side onto the tile floor so hard it knocked the breath out of her As she lay there in a puddle, skin red and burning, trying to inhale again, the room heated even further and she heard the unrabbed a towel to hold over her face, coughing into it as the steam thickened until she couldn’t see her own toes The heat was alht pass out

But she pushed herself to her feet The doorknob gloith heat, but she got to the bathroo out froe, at least in theory Nadia had never tried to open it before Desperately she pushed at its wooden frae; thehad been painted shut, probably alave A blast of cold air rushed into the rooh steaain, and the temperature went from unbearable to merely uncos flapping so close it startled her, so she yanked theback until it was only open a crack It didn’t ainst the beadboard wall, gasping for breath After a few seconds, she took a washcloth and pulled the glowing-hot metal chain of the stopper out of the tub; what little water hadn’t been evaporated began to drain away, leaving trails of glittery quartz dust behind She wiped it up, then used the washcloth to undo the lock on the bathroom door