For the rest of the night Clara was unable to get the pool out of her mind entirely. While they sat there on the sand charting stars and waiting for the shower to begin she'd glance back at it often, sometimes catching herself gazing at it with an equal mixture of unease and wonder, before shaking her head and turning away from it again. She wanted to forget about it, pretend like she had never seen it before or stepped foot inside of her, and she definitely didn't want to think about the bubbling and glowing water, but it did no good. No matter how much what had happened spooked her, Clara still felt drawn to the pool. Like it was now apart of her, and Emma as well, and neither of them would be able to escape from it.

Clara was immensely glad when the meteor shower was over, when they were finally able to leave the pool behind, though she wasn't able to fight the feeling that they'd both find themselves back here very soon. She shook the thought from her head as they packed up, and after sparing one last mesmerized look at the rippling water they started back to the camp. It took a long time to get back since they had walked so much farther than everyone else. After an hour she finally saw the tents and the fire. Mr. Carmichael briefly scolded them for taking so long and being the last pair back, but their completed star charts quickly won him over and he directed them to their tent. Clara was too tired to say anything to Emma as she crawled into the tent they were sharing, and was also too tired to even change. She just bundled up inside of the sleeping bag, mumbled a sleepy, "Night," to Emma, and closed her eyes, so relieved that the night was over an she could put the weirdness behind her. Her last thoughts before she fell asleep were of the pool and bubbles and the glowing water.

Unsurprisingly she dreamed about the pool. She couldn't recall what exactly had happened in the dream, but she had been suspended in the clear blue water, her long brown hair floating around her head, as she was surrounded by bubbles, light, and a mesmerizing song. Clara thought that Emma might have been in the dream, too, but wasn't positive. And she said nothing about it to the other girl as they were roused in the morning in order to break down camp to head back home. It was a beautiful early autumn Saturday morning, and Mr. Carmichael directed the students efficiently enough so that it didn't take long for all of the tents to be put away and loaded into his truck, or for the student's bags to be stored in the yellow school bus. Soon she was gazing out of the buss window, watching the ocean as they all headed back to the school. 

It wasn't a long trip. The thing that seemed to take the most time were for the student's bags to be sorted. Elise had found her and they chatted for a little while before they got their bags. Clara didn't mention the pool at all, and had pretended the evening was as simple as Elise's had been. She'd occasionally looked around to spot Emma, no doubt with her own friends, and wondered if it putting the pool behind them would be as easy as they'd like it to be. 

Getting home took maybe ten minutes. It wasn't that big of a town after all. Clara pulled up in front of her house, noting her father's car was there, too. She smiled tiredly, and shouldered her backpack and sleeping bag as she headed into the house. In the kitchen she found her father, apparently packing some food. Her smile faltered a little and she looked up at him. "You're going somewhere?"

Her dad looked up at the sound of her voice. "Clary!" He enveloped her in a hug, which she returned, the smile returning a little. "How was the trip?"

"Fine, Dad. It was fine. I maybe made a friend, but I'm not sure."

Her father nodded, his eyes softening. "You'll be fine, Clara. You just need a little more time." She wanted to believe it was true, so she smiled. He looked back at his stuff and his expression turned apologetic. "And I'm sorry, love, but you'll be on your own for the afternoon. I'm going fishing. With Mr. Kincaid and some of the other neighbors."

Her smiled widened. "You? Fishing?"

He shrugged. "When in Rome. But hey. When I get back let's go out to dinner. To the wharf, maybe? I know how much you like the clam chowder there. But right now...you look like you need a shower."

Clara reached up to tug on her messy ponytail and nodded a little. "Yeah...but dinner sounds good. Be safe, Dad."

Jason smiled as he picked up his stuff and headed for the door. "I will! See you tonight, Clara!"

Clara dragged all of her stuff upstairs to her bedroom before stripping out of the dirty clothes and slipping a bathrobe on. She went into her bathroom, across the hall from her room, and started the shower before making a trip to dump the clothes into the laundry room, then returned to the bathroom as she sighed and pulled the band out of her hair so the long brown locks fell around her shoulders. A warm shower...just what she needed to wash the weird events of last night away.