Probably one of my fastest updates ever. It doubles as a reason not to be taking part in the "festivities" downstairs. Enjoy, and may your holidays be better than mine.

River of Amber

Chapter 3:

"Chihiro, this is probably the single worst idea you've ever come up with," Riei moaned, holding her nose.

"It's the only way to get in," Chihiro said simply. She grabbed a handful of rotting vegetable scraps and pig dung, grimaced, and rubbed into her hair. "Besides, we're sneaking into a bathhouse. I'm sure we'll be able to get clean once we're inside."

Riei eyed the foul-smelling pile dubiously. "But—"

"No buts," Chihiro insisted, rubbing more of the mess into her clothes. "You want to help Hitomi and Rumiko, right?"

"Can't they get themselves out?"

"No, they can't. At this point, they probably don't even remember being in the human world, much less their real names. And they can't get out unless they remember their names."

"That's silly, though! How can someone forget their own name?"

Chihiro set down the large chunk of dung she'd been holding and regarded her friend. "Yubaba steals your name by making you sign a contract. That's how she controls people. Once you lose your name, you lose your memories with it, and eventually you lose yourself and become another one of her minions. That's what almost happened to me."

Meanwhile, Riei's eyes had been opening wider with each word. By the end of Chihiro's short speech, they were roughly the size of dinner plates.

"I'm scared," she whispered.

"Me too," Chihiro said, patting her on the back and leaving a large brown mark. "You have to pretend that you aren't though. It helps, it really does. Do you want some help getting this stuff on?" Riei shook her head and grabbed the chunk of dung that Chihiro had dropped. Looking like she was about to cry, she smeared it down the front of her shirt.

"Good girl, Riei. We can do this."

"Very good, Haku," Yubaba says with a smile. Once again, the boy stands in the center of the room, shadows surrounding his slight figure. His face is expressionless. "Not only have you brought me three new human servants, you've also brought Sen back. I can only wonder why I never thought of this before."

The boy's face contorts, as if he is trying to say something but couldn't get the words out.

"Oh, I'm sorry," says Yubaba mockingly. "Did I forget to tell you that this spell forbids you to speak ill of me? And only by using your power to curse me can you lift it. A piece of genius, to be sure. I'm rather proud of it."

A loud wail is heard from the next room. Yubaba pales, then rushes off to take care of her child's latest tantrum. Three disembodied green heads bounce over to the boy.

"Hrp," one of them announces. You'll never escape this time, it seems to say. Sen will hate you for what you've done to her friends. The boy attempts to kick the head, but his knees buckle under. "Hrp, hrp, hrp—"

The sun was barely visible as Chihiro and Riei crossed the bridge leading to the bathhouse, both smelling strongly of kitchen waste and pig droppings. Spirits avoided them as they passed, holding their various olofactory organs, seemingly unaware of the fact that the two small figures were humans and not the stink spirits they appeared to be.

The second they were over the bridge, Chihiro grabbed Riei's shoulder and pulled her through a door. The door opened onto a narrow balcony at the top of a flight of rickety wooden steps.

"No way," Riei said, looking down the stairs to the missing step about half-way down. "We are not going down that."

"Yes, we are," Chihiro told her. "We have to get some food before we disappear, and this is the only way to get to the boiler room."

"Disappear?" Riei looked down at herself. The wooden platform was beginning to show through her feet. She screamed. Chihiro clamped a hand over the other girl's mouth, stifling the noise.

"Shh!" she told her friend sternly. "It's because we don't belong here. We have to eat something of this world, or we'll disappear completely."

"And there's food in the boiler room?" Riei asked.

"I have a friend there, his name is Kamaji. He helped me the last time I was here."

"This is insane!"

Chihiro nodded. "Don't worry. If Kamaji doesn't have any food to give us, he can get Rin, and Rin will have food."

Riei looked down at the steps uneasily. "Do we have to?" she asked.

Chihiro nodded again. "I'll go first to make sure it's safe."