Deep Dream State

Gonna wash that self right outta my head.

The shower's always a liminal space. Hitchcock knew it. Danaë knew it. Brittany and Amanda are about to know it, but it might be the last thing they know.

The water was already running when they noticed it. Neither of them turned it on, and neither of them minds. They dreamed it at the same time: standing under the water while something hummed through everything. They've always heard it, they agree. They're not suffering, and that's what makes it frightening.

The most insidious trap is the one that looks like a reward. The crew watches Amanda and Brittany on the monitors and crosses them off the list. They're too far gone to be useful for what the crew thinks the Old Ones want. What the entity actually wants, according to Holly, is something left to corrupt. The forces beneath the ship aren't interested in blank vessels. They're interested in the moment before the blank. Sara and Kara are the real candidates.

Sara and Kara have spent the voyage chasing whale prophecies and binding rites, independently arriving at the same conclusion from different directions. The nautical grimoire, the Binding of Waters, names it directly. It talked about a bride, a vessel, and an entity called the Old Groom. What they thought was an investigation is the final stage of their own selection. A note falls out of a book. Sara goes deeper into the ship. Kara stays with a knife, a deadline, and the dawning realization that understanding a trap might be the OPPOSITE of escaping it.