“Then who did?”
Chelsa shrugged. “I don’t know. All I know is that there was an instafication sent to my electro-slate asking me to confirm our stay at the Rex Hotel. Everything has already been paid for.”
“Doesn’t that seem a bit suspicious?” said Kristi. “We might be walking straight into a trap.”
“There’s not much of a choice left,” Chelsa replied. “Curfew’s already in act and we can’t leave this place now. Might as well spend the night here.”
“Yeah, but don’t you think we should at least make a reservation for a different room in case the reservation that someone else gave us is a trap?”
“Like you said before, we don’t have enough points for a room here.”
“You should’ve thought about this before telling Jaiden and me to meet you here.” Kristi felt annoyed Chelsa hadn’t thought through the risks of accepting a stay at a first-class hotel from a stranger. Her jaw tightened slightly and her back stiffened.
Chelsa started to form a reply. “Kristi—”
“Stop arguing,” Jaiden interjected. “Chelsa, I would really appreciate it if you told Kristi and I if something like this happens again in the future. Kristi, Chelsa’s right; we’re just going to have to stay here for the night and hope everything’s going to go smoothly.”
The girls shut up and followed Jaiden to the reception desk. A steward fiddling with his ruby studded watch looked at them apprehensively as they made their way over. He, like most of the other people in the hotel’s grand lobby, seemed less than pleased to have a rag-tag trio of teenagers tramping around in a world-class hotel.
“How may I help you?” The steward’s nose wrinkled, reminding Kristi of Speaker Quincy when he spoke to her. The steward also had the same condescending tone as the bellhop.
“We need a room here for the night,” Jaiden said.
“You do realize the cheapest rooms at the Rex Hotel cost four hundred and seventy-five points, right?” the steward said.
“Oh, we already have reservations,” Chelsa said.
“Reservation number?”
“1047.”
“Name?”
“Chelsa Bright.”
The steward opened a drawer and took out a laminated card.
“This card has all the information you need for hotel services. It also doubles as a key to your suite. There are two ways you can unlock the door to your suite: by sliding this card through the card reader or by scanning the barcode sent to you via instafication for the room confirmation. There’s a one hundred point fine for losing this card.” He handed the card to Chelsa.
“Friendly people, eh?” Jaiden commented, walking away from the steward.
“I’m sure we’ll be treated better once we’ve cleaned up a bit,” Chelsa said.
“Assuming we’re not walking into a deathtrap,” Kristi muttered.
“Just drop it!” Jaiden threw his hands up in exasperation. “If we’re walking into a trap, then at least we’re not completely oblivious to it. If there is no trap, then so be it.”
Kristi realized she wasn’t making things easier by arguing and tersely apologized to Chelsa. “I guess I’m just stressed out.”
“I think we all are,” Jaiden huffed to himself.
“We’re on floor twelve,” Chelsa said. “Let’s go find the elevator. Here, why don’t you hold onto the card?” She passed the room card to Kristi.
The electric-magnet-powered elevators were located at the back of the lobby. Kristi slid the card through the card reader and the elevator door hissed open, revealing the largest elevator she had ever seen. It could easily hold fifty people. The marble floor glistened and the window that looked out to the streets of Charleston was so clear she could’ve sworn the back of the elevator was open; Kristi wouldn’t have been surprised if she walked right through the window and into thin air.
The pulsing light of the city threw neon colored beams onto her awe-struck face. Kristi’s eyes enlarged at the spectacular cityscape before her.
“Please enter desired floor into keypad,” an automated voice instructed.
Jaiden entered “12” into the keypad and the elevator ascended so swiftly and smoothly Kristi would not have known they left the ground floor had the voice not announced “Floor 12.” The doors slid open with a soft sigh and the three of them stepped into a wide hallway carpeted with plush velvet.
“Well, we’re still alive,” Jaiden said a few hours later. “And there doesn’t seem to be a trap.”
“I suppose,” Kristi said.
She was in a good mood after exploring their suite. It was the most luxurious suite that existed on the face of the Earth. It was comprised of a kitchen, a living room, four separate bedrooms (each equally and excessively furnished) and two master bathrooms. All the furniture and technology offered were state-of-the-art quality.
“I wonder who made this reservation for us. He or she must be very well off points-wise,” Kristi said.
“Let’s not worry about that.” Chelsa kicked her legs back on the couch. “And just enjoy this stroke of luck.”
“What should we do? Watch the news? Play a card game? Visit the bowling alley? Try out room service?” Jaiden ticked off each activity with his fingers.
“How about we watch a movie?” Chelsa suggested.
“You brought a movie?”
Chelsa grinned slyly. “I have a couple of illegal DVDs I like to keep around all the time. Have you heard of the Titanic?”
“Isn’t that a ship that sank on April 14, 1912?”
“Yes it is, Mr. Know-it-all,” Chelsa teased him.
Jaiden put up his hands in mock defeat. “I can’t help it if I memorize everything I learn in school.”
“What you probably don’t know,” Chelsa said, “is that the ‘Titanic’ is also a movie.”
“I’ve never heard of it.”
“Duh. That’s because the government banned it.”
Chelsa walked over to her backpack slung haphazardly over a kitchen chair—it was the bag Jaiden had managed to save from their bandit encounter—and took out a DVD case. She flourished the DVD and said, “Prepare to be wowed by this film. It’s amazing. I swear, you haven’t lived yet if you haven’t watched this.”
Kristi wrapped a fleece blanket around her shoulders and settled into the couch in front of the smart-screen. “That’s one of the few things I’ve done before you have,” she said with a slight smirk.
Chelsa slid the DVD into the player and dimmed the lights.
“Are you sure this is the right address?” Kristi asked.
They stood in front of an imposing skyscraper made out of steel and fiberglass. All of the windows were tinted black and a plaque that read “Verus Real Estate” hung over the revolving door entrance.
“This is the place,” Jaiden confirmed. “Let’s go inside. No point in standing out here.”
Maybe the interior will look more like what I would expect of a spy headquarters, she thought.
The three of them, plus Ghost, entered through the main entrance. Contrary to Kristi’s prediction, the inside of Verus Real Estate looked like the typical real estate office. Staff in pressed suits bustled about, sorting files, sending instafications or negotiating deals with potential customers.
“Let’s go ask the receptionist for more information,” Kristi said.
They approached the least busy receptionist. The young woman in her mid-twenties looked up from the electro-note she was writing and said, “Yes?”
“Is this the headquarters?” Kristi asked, cutting straight to the chase.
“Yes, this is the headquarters for Verus Real Estate. Are you interested in selling, buying or leasing real estate?”
“The other headquarters. You know what I’m talking about.”