"You have got to be kidding me," Roxy gagged, covering her nose. The smell alone was enough to make her eyes water, a potent mix of sulfur, rotten eggs, and concentrated iodine.
"No jokes," Caspian said, his face dead serious. "To breathe under water, you must become water. Eat."
"Can't I just... hold my breath?" Roxy bargained, looking for any other option. "I'm really good at holding my breath. I used to do it in the bathtub all the time."
Caspian looked at her like she was a moron. "The Thermal Pools are three miles south. Can you hold your breath for an hour while swimming against the Abyssal Current?"
Roxy opened her mouth to argue, then shut it. "No."
"Then eat," Caspian commanded. "Or stay dirty. The choice is yours, Little Landwalker."
He looked smug. He knew he had her. He knew she was itching in her own skin, desperate to scrub away the layers of death on her body.
Roxy looked at the seaweed. She looked at her grimy fingernails.
