I wrapped the towel around my waist and stepped into the bathroom.
The girls were sprawled across the beds, completely knocked out, chests rising and falling slow.
Sweat still stuck to their skin.
I didn't linger.
After a quick rinse and throwing on yesterday's shirt and pants, I slipped out of the inn.
Today actually mattered.
That monster didn't just crawl out of nowhere.
I needed to know where it came from.
More than that, we needed a ship.
A captain.
Or, better way to put it, someone who could guide us across the ocean to the Dark Continent.
The water between here and there wasn't a lake you could row over in an afternoon.
Outside, the morning air smelled like salt, fish, and coal smoke.
I started walking, no real direction, just letting the alleys pull me deeper into the city.
Narrow streets turned into narrower ones.
People shouted prices, carts rattled, someone was arguing over a broken crate of oranges.
Normal mess.
Then I saw her.
