The thing was, there was no game plan. Once off the plane, I had called Maximus but once again it went to voicemail. I had a few voicemails of my own but they were from my parents. I’d checked, just in case they were from Dex or Max, but the minute I heard my mother’s shrill voice, I erased it. I knew I had to deal with it, but I just couldn’t, not until I had a plan.
Now that I was in Manhattan, I was feeling rather stupid and unprepared. I had acted on impulse and impulse had brought me here with no plan at all and because of that, I had no idea whatsoever how we were going to find Dex.
On the plus side, I knew we were in the right place. Whether Dex was here or not, I knew we were where we were supposed to be. I could feel it, deep inside my bones, like there was some truth at the center of my marrow. Underneath the flashy lights and the slick streets and the throngs of people passing in the warm night, there was an undertone to the city that reeked of madness.
I’m sure it had nothing to do with New York itself. It was because I was here and so was something else. Something malicious and sinister, something black and oozing and hateful that clung to the legs of passerbys and on the side of the buildings and permeated the air. I couldn’t quite see it but I could sense it and whether it was a trick of the eye or the glare of the window, I could catch glimpses of this evil sticking in patches around me.
Ada didn’t seem to notice at all. She was all wrapped up in the glitz and glamor, as any girl her age should be. But it didn’t stay that way for long.
It turned out our hotel was located just off Broadway and a bit north of all the shows. If memory served me correctly, this was the neighbourhood that Jerry Seinfeld had lived in. The hotel was smaller and more posh than I had imagined, then again I was used to staying in motels with Dex, so what did I know?
After checking-in, Ada and I got into the empty elevator. The hotel was quiet at this time of night. Our room was on the ninth floor and though it wasn’t the speediest elevator, it started to slow down around floor five.
Then it slowly came to a stop on floor six.
Ada and I exchanged a glance. All the fine hairs at the back of my neck stood up and it wasn’t because I was afraid of an elevator malfunction.
Something was on the other side of the elevator doors. Something I didn’t want to see.
I swallowed hard and tried to calm my heart which started jumping about in my chest. My mouth was suddenly dry and I opened it, wanting to say something to Ada but not sure what to say. I wanted to warn her.
But about what?
The elevator doors groaned and slowly began to open, one two-inch crack at a time. At first I saw someone passing on the other side, a tall shadow, the white gleam of an all-seeing eye as it looked right at me, but as the doors opened wider, there was nothing there but the empty hallway.
A shiver rocked through me. This was only the beginning.
“That’s weird,” Ada said but her voice was nothing more than a ragged whisper.
“Yeah,” I agreed, knowing that nothing was just weird when it came to me. Weird was what you called abnormal things when you were normal. Weird you could write-off. We couldn’t write-off any of this. There was no such thing as strange occurrences – everything had a purpose. Everything was very real and very dangerous. There was no way any of this was going to be easy.
Thankfully, the elevator doors began to close and we were whisked up to our floor. Ada seemed to forget the “weird” incident the moment she saw our room. While it wasn’t very big – just a desk, a chair and two twin beds off of a tiny bathroom – it was very sleek and modern, the kind of pink and white scheme you’d see on any trendy show or in a magazine.
My phone was dead so I started charging it while I tried to figure out what to do. I was just wondering what Maximus would suggest, when Ada started to strip down, her thin back to me in a rare show of modesty, and put on her pajamas.
“What are you doing?” I asked her.
“Going to bed?” she said questioningly.
I threw out my arms in an exaggerated motion. “Now?”
She frowned. “It’s 1AM.”
“Yeah, east coast time. It’s only 10PM for us.”
She went to her bed and threw back the fluffy covers. “And I go to bed at 10 anyway. Beauty sleep, hello? What’s your deal? Do you really think we’re going to go searching through the streets of New York fucking city past midnight, just the two of us? I don’t think so.”
That made me pause. I took in a deep breath. “Stop being the voice of reason.”
“Someone has to,” she said as she crawled under the covers and gave me a dry look. “I know you want to find Dex and we will. I believe you and Pippa and everything that was said. But we don’t even know if he’s here right now. Did they fly? Did they take a road trip? We don’t know.”
“He’s here,” I muttered to myself.
“Either way he will be,” she said. “But there is seriously nothing we can do right now, am I right? Right. So let’s just chill out and go to sleep. I’m tired, you’re tired and this bed is really fucking comfy.”
I sighed, staring at my phone that was still dead but charging. I did tell Maximus what hotel we were staying at, so at least he could call us that way.
I reluctantly wiped my makeup off my face and then went to bed too.
I expected to stay awake the whole night, just tossing and turning, but I didn’t have to do so for long. I was out in a few minutes.
Ada was right. The bed really was comfy.
***
I dreamed about Dex. We were back on the Brooklyn Bridge, but it was a glorious, warm sunny day. We were holding hands, his strong, familiar fingers laced with mine, and were swinging our arms like little kids. There were people milling around us on the walkway but it felt like we were the only people alive.
At some point we stopped to stare at the buildings of Manhattan and he pulled me to him, kissing my temple. I felt flooded with the warmth of his touch, of his love, and with the sunshine that beat down on us from above.
Even though nothing unusual was happening, I knew it was a dream and that this moment of peace and clarity wouldn’t last.
And yet it did. The dream continued on so seamlessly, so real, that I couldn’t believe my luck. No burning embers fell from the sky, no Satanic creatures came crawling out of the sea. People were happy.
We were happy.
I leaned into Dex and admired the sparkle of my ring in the light. It looked brighter here, with him. Better. Everything was better with him by my side.
But the dream didn’t last forever. Just as I was laughing over something he said – because when wasn’t I laughing with Dex – and melting at the sight of his smile, everything started to fade and get fuzzy. He was slipping from my grasp, from my view.
The dream was ending.
And suddenly I was in a hotel room in New York, Ada snoring softly beside me. It was dark, though a sliver of orange light slid in through the blackout curtains. Outside the city hummed with constant noise and it was impossible to tell whether the city was winding down or waking up.
My face was wet with tears and my fingers were gripped firmly around my engagement ring, the stones cutting deep into my skin.
My chest was utterly bereft. I felt like I’d left my heart in the dream.
And real life, now this was the nightmare.