The spectre’s sudden appearance mixed with the effects of the wine and having just woken up had made Thea’s mind was a jumble of nonsense with only one clear fact endlessly berating her  – Arbos was in her bathroom and she was naked. [i]Towel, towel, towel [/i]she thought frantically, seizing the cloth from the rack nearly slipping and breaking her neck in the process. As she wrapped it around her bare figure she became increasingly aware that, while better, the towel barely touched the top of her thighs and was downright indecent in the back. She could feel the heat creeping through her body and knew, even without the courtesy of the large mirror, she was turning red from the top of her head to the tips of her toes. Living in an isolated mountain town her whole life hadn’t exactly given Thea the experience to deal with even the ghost of a man like this. Still once partly covered she was able to at least begin to figure out what he had come in here to tell her. The wine here was stronger than she was used to and only further added to her rather addled state.

“What the hell?!” she snapped rather angrily, as her senses started to come back around. “Kill who? What are you talking about?” She couldn’t look him in the eye – her shyness overcoming her irritation. She really wanted to get clothes to put on but Arbos was currently blocking the door back to her room and she could not bring herself to move closer to his ethereal form; it was awkward but undoubtedly obvious that she had never been with a man.

“Why are you here? What’s going on?” she asked finally sounding calmer despite her heart beating hard enough to rattle her chest. Her head was beginning to pound slightly as well and she was beginning to regret having gotten that bottle of wine…