Alec lay on the wide bed and stared at the massive plasma-screen TV with rapt enjoyment. The remains of his delivered meal was spread across the plush brocade bedspread beside him and on the nightstand two empty cans of beer made wet rings on the polished wood surface. He slung another satin pillow under his head.
This was the life.
He hadn’t had the feeling for the rest of the night that he was being watched or followed, even when he used an ATM to get enough cash for supper and the hotel.
The meal at the swanky hotel overlooking the Thames hadn’t been quite as much fun as he’d thought it would be—there were too many forks and he could tell that the snotty waiters were just waiting for him to use the wrong utensil and snigger. The boutique hotel staff was better. Used to actors and music industry types, no one batted an eye when Alec used a fake name or objected to buying him beer and a pizza when he called down later.
He glanced at the clock radio on the low glass table. It was late evening at home. His mom would probably be pacing the halls with worry. She might even have called the police.
Decision made, he pulled the phone off the night table beside him, knocking both cans to the floor. He leaned over woozily. A small amount of beer soaked into the plush carpet with a slight fizzing. Alec stifled the giggle and sat up again. He squinted at the phone, then at the rather complicated instructions for international calls on the bedside table. It took five tries before his fingers stabbed the correct numbers in the correct sequence and the ringing indicated the call had gone through.
“Hello?” His mom sounded frantic. A stab of guilt coursed through his chest. Better mail those earrings first thing in the morning.
“Mom? It’s me, Alec. I’m fine.”
“Where on earth are you?” The panic was subsiding and replaced with anger. “Is Peter with you? Are you two okay?”
“Mom, I—”
“The school’s left a message that you’d missed your exam. Alec, what in the world is going on with you?”
Alec took a deep breath. “I can’t tell you where I am right now. I’m just calling to let you know I’m okay.”
“Are you with Chin?” she continued as if he hadn’t spoken. “You know that boy is trouble.”
“No, I’m not.” The searing memory of Chin dying in the previous future flashed across Alec’s mind and he forcibly pushed it away.
“Well, I want you and your brother home in the next hour. Do you hear me?”
“Yeah. I do. I mean, I hear you but I can’t come home right now. But I will. Soon. I promise.” Alec’s throat ached. He dropped the receiver into the cradle before he could change his mind. For a long time he didn’t move, then he crawled off the bed and headed for the marble bathroom and the fancy steam bath.
Alec woke the next morning with a nasty headache and a feeling of doom hanging over his head. For several minutes he lay back on the huge bed, nested in a pile of cushions and pillows, and stared at the high ceiling and the exposed pipes that crisscrossed above him like the tangled pathways of his life and those of his family and new companions. Only a few weeks ago the most difficult things in his life were his failing grades in French and social studies and managing to stay on the provincial soccer team, despite not having the money for the out-of-town tournaments. How had he ever thought his life sucked back then? Now he was on the run from everyone. He couldn’t go home again. Power to destroy everything he knew bubbled constantly under his skin. And the one person who could guide him through all of this, Darius Finn, might now be working for Anna and out to get him. He couldn’t take the chance of contacting him or Riley. He’d have to go it alone.
He stared at the room as if seeing it for the first time. The black gauze drapes with the lightproof backing were haphazardly pulled to meet only partway over the massive window. The wildly patterned carpet made him slightly nauseated with its unrelenting multicoloured zigzags. It was a sterile loneliness Alec hadn’t noticed last night and suddenly couldn’t stand. He’d check out and find something else, he decided. Something homier.
Head pounding dully, he showered, finagled a couple of headache tablets from the sympathetic desk clerk and went to the hotel restaurant for a late breakfast. The service was slow and the prices ridiculous. However, the food was hot and very tasty when it arrived. The morning paper was filled with reports of fights, arrests, and at least three incidents of arson. Alec shook his head and tossed the paper to an empty seat. The last thing he needed to read about were other people’s problems and London’s soaring crime rates. There hadn’t been anything but a short paragraph about the elevator crash at Harrod’s and absolutely nothing in that report about him.
Feeling somewhat better with a full stomach, he headed back towards his room. He’d grab his new jacket and the tourist map and head out on the town. Probably hit an ATM first before checking out the London Dungeon.
He pressed the third-floor button in the lift and leaned back against the shiny black-mirrored walls. It gave a slight lurch before starting its quiet trek upwards and Alec’s heart did the same thing. It was a wonder he could even get into an elevator after yesterday. He forced his mind away from the death and destruction Rhozan had wrought.
He could get quite used to having this kind of money, he mused. People calling you “sir,” getting you whatever you wanted. He could just hear Riley’s scathing comments. Mind you, it would have been pretty nice to have her with him, teasing aside. They could have watched pay-per-view movies for hours, ordered room service and got increasingly more, well, relaxed.
Lost in this progressively interesting train of thought, Alec barely noticed as the elevator came to a gentle halt and the gilded doors slid silently open. Grinning slightly foolishly, he stepped out and headed down the narrow hall towards his room. He almost walked in through the open door without thinking. At the last second, he jerked out of his daydream with the horrible realization that someone was in his room.
“Time to play the game, Alec,” said a female voice.
Not again. Alec turned and bolted down the hall without a second’s hesitation. With a burst of speed he zipped around the corner into a secondary hallway and flung open the fire door to the stairs. He headed upwards one floor before exiting the stairwell. He pulled the door silently closed behind him and ran as fast as he could down the hall, slowing only as he grasped each consecutive door handle and attempted to open them. No good—they were all locked. There wasn’t much else to do. Grimacing, he chose a door at random and grabbed his orb, focusing his attention on the lock.
The lock clicked and the knob turned. He leapt inside then closed the door as quietly as possible. He instantly pocketed the orb and kept his hand away from it. Trembling, he stood still. There was no outraged shout and after ten seconds he was able to penetrate the gloom enough to tell that the previous occupants had likely long gone. The drapes were pulled tightly shut against the summer sunshine but there was enough to see the unmade bed, the scattered newspaper, and a heap of soggy towels by the foot of the bed.
Alec leaned against the door and listened. Sure enough, pounding feet approached from the elevator end of the hallway. Alec peered through the peephole. He had a momentary glimpse of a short, dark-skinned woman in a maid’s uniform, brandishing a mop and a blank expression. For a horrible second the woman paused, right outside his door and stared at the peephole. Alec held his breath. Then without a sound, she continued down the hallway.
Alec blew the breath out of his pursed lips and leaned his forehead against the door in relief. It took a minute before the trembling in his legs stopped. That had been too close. His hand must have brushed up against his crystal when he put his hand in his pocket. How incredibly stupid to be so lost in thought he hadn’t even noticed. He’d have to be constantly on his guard now.
“Who are you and how did you acquire an orb?”
The deep and familiar voice startled Alec almost out of his skin. He whirled around, heart in his mouth, his hand automatically going to the orb in his pocket. Ohmygod.
Logan.