Flashfire

Ch21

Caleb sat at the edge of the bathtub as the water rushed from the spigot, halfway filled as he flipped through the pages of the spellbook. Liam had bumped into the door before the handle twisted and he walked inside, half-naked.

"What? You wanted me to get in there with my clothing on?" he said.

Caleb glanced up. "I didn't even say anything," he said. He looked back down at the spellbook, tracing with his finger to relocate the section about natron salts. Liam thought it was very cute. "You're my husband, Liam. Get undressed."

"I thought you might expect to have an unwelcome audience," Liam said.

Caleb paused and looked up, completely confused by this statement, but from the things that Caleb had said in his sleep Liam knew he was paranoid that someone was always watching. "What do you mean?" Caleb asked.

Liam hummed. "A spy cam hiding somewhere in here or, I don't know, eyes watching us behind tiny holes drilled through the walls."

Caleb gave him a deadpan stare.

"I suppose I'll get into the bath now," Liam said.

His boxers fell to the tile with his white t-shirt. Liam stuck one toe in the water. "Ow!" he yelled.

Caleb gasped.

Liam chuckled. "Gotcha."

"Ugh, Liam!"

"Okay, alright," Liam said.

The natron salt bath was a ritual described aptly right within the spellbook, a rare gift to Caleb who had all but stumbled into each process with not much guidance of how any of it worked. What was it that they were doing exactly, anyway? What if it were something forbidden, and this was why so very few knew how to go off of the most bare essentials without much instruction? Caleb shivered at that thought; it was of the devil.

But he still had to try.

Liam plunged into the water that filled near to the lip of the tub as Caleb gripped the dial and with a few squeaks turned off the faucet. The only sound was the waves and splashes rippling over Liam's body that echoed off of the tile. In the end, Liam was the one who had decided for them both.

"Next we add the natron salt. Alternatively it wouldn't be mixed with cajun spices, but what can you do?" Caleb said. He uncapped the lid and shook it, then took off the thin shaker cap after a moment of that and dumped the whole thing in. The water immediately turned red as the powdery substance bloomed and then floated, clinging to the edges of the tub and to Liam's midsection. "Are you ready?"

"No," Liam said. The particles sticking to him all around made him squirm.

The process involved adding enough salt to the water to bind Liam's soul to his body for longer. Since salt repelled spirits, it only made sense then that when applied to the vessel that contained that soul, it would keep the spirit inside of it, acting as a barrier.

"Okay, and here we go," Caleb said. "You have to lay down in the tub fully submerged underwater until the liquid becomes completely reflective and the subject can no longer be seen under the light on the surface."

"Were you just reading that?" Liam said.

"That's what it says, basically."

"How long do I have to stay underwater?" Liam shifted with an anxious look in his eyes, but laid flat in the tub with his head still above.

Liam hated the water, the way that it filled his ears was a sensory nightmare, not to mention a fast way to get an ear infection, and his lungs were quite weak. He could never hold his breath for long, always the last one to the finish line in high school swim classes due to his constant wheezing and sputtering while doing laps. His mother had insisted that he did some after school activity and none of the other clubs were any better or worse.

"C-caleb?"

Caleb laid a hand flat on his chest, trying to conceal his guilt-riddled face. "As long as it takes," he answered stoically.

Caleb pushed Liam down with both arms onto his chest and Liam disappeared under the red viel on the surface of the water. At first, Liam was fine, but there was no flash of light on the surface after thirty, then fourty, then fifty seconds. One minute passed and there was no indication that anything had taken. Liam began to struggle under the water. He gripped Caleb's arms, then one of his arms with both of his under the water.

His hands flailed above the surface. Caleb continued to pin him down, a bead of sweat beginning to trail down his forehead as the guilt and worry formed a pit in his chest. Liam thrashed underneath, the water making waves and stirring the red mixture into swirling, almost sparking patterns. Thousands of tiny particles glittered and spun, air bubbles breaking the surface where Liam's mouth was when suddenly, Caleb was blinded by a flash and he let go.

Liam emerged much like a bobber, red and white and very quick to come to the surface once the applied pressure was released. He took big gulps of air and gripped the sides of the tub, some of the water sloshing out and painting the floor red. Liam coughed as Caleb pulled the book away, but he had found that he had nothing to worry about. The damage that had been dealt to the book the other day had been completely reversed somehow when he had left it alone for a while, as if nothing had ever happened.

He wished he could say the same for Liam, forever. He lamented again as he turned toward the countertop that this could not be his permanent state, but at least Caleb could keep him around for a little while longer. Caleb frowned deeply as he thought again for a countless time that it would never be enough.

"Oh god, that better have worked!" Liam breathed.

Caleb smiled. "Yes Liam, it worked."