The next day Mandi was busy. The speed of her job was helping her get back into herself. She knew this stuff. She could dedicate herself to this kind of work and know she could do it. Sometimes her energy level was lacking, along with her stamina. Tamara told her it would come back; just to try to be healthy. So she persisted. There was a garden party this afternoon as there was much to get done. She walked the length of the third floor, intent upon the attic. That was where she kept most of the gear she used. There was no basement. She didn’t keep equipment up here, which was what the kitchen was for, but decorations and extra supplies. Excess furniture was kept up here too.
“Excuse me?” A man asked as she unlocked and opened the door. She paused in the doorway and smiled politely. “How do I get downstairs?”
“The elevator is at the other end of the hallways,” she pointed out thinking it was an odd question. Her eyes glanced at the other end of the hallways. On one end was the stairs and elevator down, on this end was an armed man and another set of stairs. He was too far away to hear the conversation.
“Thank you,” he said.
She nodded and headed through the doorway. The stairs that lead up were not old, but they were creaky. She jumped when she realized the guy had followed her into the stairwell. She turned to face him as the door closed behind him. “What are you doing?”
“Are these not the stairs?” he asked innocently.
“No they are not.” She said. “You need to leave here.” She couldn’t help but feel a sense of panic.
“But what is up here?” he asked as he pressed forward suddenly.
Panic flared more as she backed up quickly, up the stairs. The smile that grew on his face was pure predatory. Her heart dropped. Mandi spun and ran up the rest of the stairs, looking for an escape. Like any other part of the hotel, it wasn’t exactly sound-proofed, but close to it. Even if they did hear her screams, they’d have to get the keys.
He came up fast behind her, grabbing her hair and pushing her forward. Off balanced she stumbled into a chair. She tried to kick back at him, but missed. “I’m a mage,” she thought with panic, “I know magic. Use it dammit.” But nothing came to mind. She looked at the window and briefly considered running for it. But four stories high was almost a guaranteed death.
“Why you running babes? Let’s have some fun,” he said as he pulled her back to him. She found herself forcefully spun to face him.
Something harshly grabbed her foot, dragging her to the ground, and out of his grip. “What the hell?” he demanded. Suddenly nothing was still. Forks and knives raced all around the room, everything light seemed to fly at him; napkins, books, papers, and cutlery. The invader held his hands up to protect his face as he stumbled away from her. She watched in horror as he stumbled towards the window. She screamed as a chair suddenly shot forward. It hit the man in the knees hard enough to pelt him forward to the window.
Windows in a hotel are not like they are in the movies. They are hard and durable. He hit the glass hard, but it did not shatter. He let out a grunt as he tried to push himself off the glass. A bookshelf came tumbling down upon him, forcing him through the glass with it. She screamed again as she watched him disappear out the window.
The armed guard was upon her in seconds, Shannon behind him. She wrapped her arms around Mandi as the groundskeeper stared, unable to believe what had just happened. The guard stepped past her to check out the window. She gasped several times until she realized that Shannon was pulling her back. She looked up at the front desk agent with wide eyes. “What are you doing here?”
“Andrew saw the guy follow you, he tried the door then called for me. He was concerned,” Shannon said.
Mandi sank into her friend’s arms. “I didn’t do this. “It’s okay,” Shannon assured her. “We do crazy things in the heat of the moment.”
“No,” Mandi said sitting up straight and looking Shannon in the eyes. “I didn’t do this. I tried to think of something, and nothing came to my head. I was in a panic.”
“Are you saying the hotel did this?”
“I don’t know.” Mandi admitted in a softer voice. “I don’t know.”
Andrew came back to them, stepping over the debris. “Are you okay?”
“Yes,” she said giving him a weak smile. “Thank you for coming to my aide.”
He gave her a weak smile. “I wish I could have been faster. Everyone has been acting crazy in this place.”
“Come on,” Shannon said standing up and offering Mandi a hand. “We need to go report this.”
Mandi nodded numbly. She was shaken deeply. Not as much by the attempted attack, but by the strong reaction around her. She didn’t think Shannon believed her that she hadn’t done it. But what would the diplomats do if they thought the hotel did it? The rumor was they were one step from shutting the place down. Tamara was running herself ragged trying to fix things so they wouldn’t. She had to do her best, or there would be no job.
Downstairs she sat down in the back office. Her hair and makeup was a mess. She realized she was shaking too. Shannon was the only one for the front desk right now, until they hired someone new. The afternoon shift had to be replaced. The part time person was doing full time for the moment, but it left everyone stretched. She didn’t say anything as she heard Shannon dealing with guests. It was clear that Shannon was shaken up, but had put on a professional guise and was pushing through to get the job done.
Sitting there alone it finally sank in what had just happened. She bit her knuckles from crying out loud as the sobs began to rack her. Her whole body began to shake violently. She tried to breathe but it only came out in gasping sobs. The door opened, but not because they heard her. She heard it close firmly before warm hands wrapped around her. Tamara’s bosom was a welcome comfort as she burst into tears. The door was closed so she let go of her knuckles and cried openly. It didn’t matter who heard her cry as long as Tamara was here. The boss held her patiently brushing her hair until she calmed. Finally she pushed herself right in her chair and took several deep breathes.
“Let me see your hand,” Tamara said gently.
She looked down to realize that she had bitten through the skin. Her emotional pain had been so powerful she hadn’t felt the physical pain. She just stared at it numbly as Tamara pulled out the first aid kit and opened it. She wrapped Mandi’s hand patiently. “Feel better?”
She nodded numbly. The pain was sinking away to a place she couldn’t touch. Or was she sinking away from it? “He followed me up there.”
“I know,” Tamara said in a soft assuring voice. “The diplomat who came to your rescue was very clear that you were in a bad situation.”
“I didn’t do it, you know?” Mandi pled softly. She felt like if anyone heard this next sentence they might think she was crazy. “I didn’t send him out the window. The hotel did.”
Tamara sat back on the edge of the desk and looked down at Mandi thoughtfully. “I know.”
Mandi looked up at her boss. “How?”
“I've been putting the pieces together.” Tamara assured her softly. She pulled over a chair and sat with their eyes more evenly met. “It’s apparently not uncommon for people to be affected by the presence of large amounts of magical energy. It makes them act differently, lowers their inhibitions. I doubt the people I talked to realized anything on the scale of what we are dealing with can happen.”
Mandi searched Tamara’s eyes. Her thoughts had scattered and become wild. It filled her heart with relief that Tamara believed her. “I dream. I dream of walking the halls of this hotel. It’s like I’m walking through someone else’s dream.”
“The hotels?” She asked.
“Yes.”
Tamara smiled softly. “Could you write your dreams down for me? As much detail as you can remember? Perhaps we can get an idea of what the hotel is thinking.”
“I know what the hotel is thinking,” Mandi said. “It’s confused. It’s trying to understand us.”
“Then how do we talk to it?”
“I don’t think we can. It’s like us talking to dolphins. We know they talk to each other, they know we talk to our own kind. Yet neither can talk to the other.”
“That’s just verbal communication. There are other ways to talk.”
“Like what?”
“They say actions speak louder than words.”