Chapter 13 by earpsrhot

Is the vestment everything she expected? What is it like?

Completely and utterly see-through

Breathless, Nicole hurried up to the pedestal. She reached out...

And stopped. She stared at the neatly folded dress, and reached out with one curious hand. It was soft, and luxurious, yes, some kind of pseudo-mystical silk that felt wonderful against her skin and didn't rub or sting at all. It was also totally transparent. Not vaguely transparent, not mostly, completely. It was like looking through glass. If it wasn't for the intricately sewn golden hems, she wouldn't have known it was there.

She reached out again to pick it up. Who'd have imagined a floor-length dress could be so revealing?

The hems were opaque, but her wrists, ankles and collar bones were not the parts of her she wanted covered up! She rolled her eyes, turned back, and faltered.

The doorway out was closed again. Of course it was, that had happened before. Nicole groaned, and walked around the chamber in a circle.

No more tablets. There were flickering pink braziers, yes, but no more hints of how to get out. All there was, was that pedestal in the center.

Groaning, Nicole walked back to it and picked the dress up again, before carefully slipping it down over herself. It fit her perfectly. She could feel it there too, feel how wonderful and comfortable it was, she just couldn't see it.

The smell of chocolate intensified. Nicole looked around, and unsurprisingly saw a doorway open up. It was on the far side to where she'd come in. No way out if she didn't wear this stupid vestment.

She was still wet, even if the dress didn't absorb it, her hair still clinging to her, still out of breath from 'becoming one' with the statue, and still basically as naked as she had been when she started this whole adventure. What else had she expected from the holy vestment of a cult whose chosen one couldn't get dressed?!

Nicole walked out through the doorway, spotting light at the end. She only slowed when she realized she must have come quite a long way since leaving Jeremy.