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 f**king 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 f**king 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.
***
When I woke up again, the light in the room was a hazy grey and my head throbbed with a dull ache, the kind you get from crying all night. I spent a few moments there, pulling my thoughts from sleep, before there was a knock at the door that made me jump.
Ada immediately turned over too, her hair in her face as she struggled to sit up.
“Who is it?” I asked loudly, my mouth dry from sleep.
“Room Service,” a familiar voice said from the other side of the door.
I got out of bed and crept over to the peephole. A tall ginger was on the other side.
I sighed with relief and quickly opened it, not caring that I was just in my Dream Theatre concert tee and underwear.
“Hey,” I exclaimed as the door opened up to reveal Maximus. I heard Ada squeal behind me and pull up the sheets to cover up her pajama top but I was so exhausted that I just fell forward and collapsed into his arms.
Thankfully, Maximus was always the gentleman and held me for a few moments with no questions. He had a strong hold and it gave me a bit of strength, just to know that I had someone who really had the power to help me and help Dex, at least more so than I did. It also didn’t hurt that he was a big, strong man and we were two young girls in a scary, unknown city.
“How are you holding up?” he asked in his drawl.
I pulled away and stared up at him. “I think you’re the only thing holding me up right now.”
He gave me a quick smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. Maximus was usually quite easy going, to see the worry on his brow made my heart kick up a notch again.
“Mornin’, little lady,” he said over my head, nodding at Ada.
She held her sheets to her chest and nodded gravely in return. “Mornin’, big dude.”
“So now that I’m here,” he said, walking over to the edge of my bed and sitting down, hands clasped together, “why don’t you fill me in on everything, from the start.”