by Sean Easley
A shock of energy bursts from the coin. Our handshake breaks as I stumble and fall onto the drupe’s wet floor. Nico smashes into the case with the blighted branch—shattering the glass—then slides to the carpet, gripping his head in pain.
The coin drops to the ground, Mom’s key still piercing it.
Nico examines his hand as if amazed by what he sees. I glance at my own too. There’s no evidence that I just rammed a key through us both and used the two magics—two separate magics—together. A coin that had locked away Nico’s memories, and a key that can reveal what’s hidden. The only question is, did it work?
After a long moment, Nico looks up, slick hair dangling in messy strings in front of his face.
“Hey, kiddo,” he says. “Thanks for finally showing up.”
28
The Ties That Bind
I can’t believe Sev made this suit,” Nico says, swallowing another bite of the sandwich I thankfully thought to pack in the have-sack. He holds up the jacket, inspecting it. “I mean, I know he’s always making stuff, but this . . . this is his coolest yet.”
I pull Nico’s brown vest on over my button-down. The vest reeks of two months’ worth of BO—a smell that even Mom’s key won’t be able to conceal—but it’s cold in here without my coat. “The suit was my birthday present,” I say. “Though, I still don’t know everything it does.”
Trading clothes was my idea. Nico was so weak after I broke the Blight’s hold on him that he could barely stand, much less make it out of here. If the way the suit worked for me is any indication, it should help him enough to get us home.
Nico inserts his infused coin into the pocket—now separate from Mom’s key—and the fabric shimmers. The stitching doesn’t have to adjust much—mainly just drawing up the hems, since he’s a few inches shorter than me. I can tell the difference in his posture right away.
“Better?” I ask, buttoning his Hopper vest over my shirt.
“Better,” he agrees, admiring the spotless sleeves. His face still looks worn and tired and not at all healthy, but at least I won’t have to carry him. “Sev’s really outdone himself.”
“Don’t get used to it. I’m only loaning it to you.”
He watches me, head held high. “Hey, remember when I had to teach you how to wear a suit, and you never would stand up to me? Now you’re literally standing me up.” He motions to the suit and wipes a pretend tear. “My little brother’s come so far.”
“Shut up.”
I’m glad to have him back, but as I watch him straighten his sleeves, the worry starts to creep in again. The fact that Stripe—or the Blight, rather—managed to influence him concerns me. Maybe we’re never really in control like we think we are.
Nico retrieves his sliver and turns it over in his hand. “How did you know the sliver wouldn’t work?”
I grab the have-sack off the floor. “Those marks on your hands—you’d been pricking yourself a ton before I got here. If you could have slivered your way out of this overgrown fruit, you would have.”
“Smart.” He scans the room. “So these blossom things will get us out of here?”
I point to one of the few clusters that isn’t wilted on the gallery wall. The blue-blossomed Blight vines have choked the others out. “I bet those will take us back to the Museum. But we should get Cass first before we head back. She’s waiting outside. We’ll have to pile all this junk up and climb out to bring her in here, and then we’ll take that wall back to the Museum.”
“Sounds good,” he wheezes, and then reaches to take the have-sack from me. “Here, I can carry that for you.”
“You shouldn’t be carrying anything in your condition.”
“It’s the least I can do, since you’re the one who has to prepare for war.”
“War?”
He gives me a long look, then takes the sack from me. “Get Cass. Then we’ll talk.”
• • •
Once we’ve retrieved Cass and started on our way, Nico explains what I’ve already started to suspect: those “pranks” weren’t him at all. The smells, the fountain sludge, the collapsing air ducts and mis-moving elevators . . . those have all been the work of the Blight.
Then he confirms my biggest fear. The Blight has infected the Vesima tree. Stripe left the infection behind when we kicked him out of the Museum, and it’s been slowly creeping through our corridors, wrapping itself into the elevators, and snaking through our plumbing. It’s the sickness we’ve been trying to cure, the agent Admiral Dare has been searching for, and it’s been working hard to take our Hotel away from us.
It’s smart too—smart enough to mimic Nico and make everyone believe he was the one causing the Hotel’s problems while it spread to every corner of the Hotel. And now Nico says the Blight’s ready to enact the final part of its plan—welcoming Stripe into the Hotel so that he can claim it as his new home.
• • •
So here we are—Cass, Bee, Nico, and me—crouched next to the 7-Eleven dumpster across from the Dallas Door. I’ll have to find Agapios, save our family, evacuate the remaining guests and ambassadors, and cleanse the Blight.
Just a touch.
“We’ll follow as soon as you send word,” Nico says, and hands me his coin. “Get in, figure out what’s happening, and let us know what we should do.” He gives my shoulder another pat. “Stay rooted, my friend.”
I leave the relative safety of the dumpster and head across the parking lot, but before I can even ready my topscrew, the Dallas Door swings open and a hand grabs my collar.
“Get your scrawny concierge butt in here,” Elizabeth says. “We’ve got a problem.”
• • •
She drags me quickly through the lobby and into the front office, before shoving me under one of the desks. “Hide.”
“What’s going on?”
“Quiet,” she shushes. “Maids are monitoring the knockers.”
Feet march past the counter window. Well, that answers one question. The Blight has indeed seized control of the Hotel’s main defenders. Wonderful.
“What if they come in here?” I whisper.
Elizabeth presses a finger to her lips as the feet pass by and continue on. “They haven’t been paying the office much mind,” she says once they’re gone. “So far I’ve remained undetected.”
“Well, at least that’s something.”
“Where did you get those clothes?” she asks, curling her nose. “You smell like a toilet.”
Nico’s clothes. “It’s a long story.”
Elizabeth fills me in. Strange icon activity, power outages, unbound halls. “The maids have been rounding up the guests and ambassadors, and are holding them aboard the Accommodation,” she says. “Elevators have turned hostile too, takin’ folks straight to the ship. Oh, and the cats are back.”
“What about Agapios?”
“Haven’t seen him. Reports don’t mention him either.”
That’s not good. “We should call the Concierge Retreat.”
“Don’t you think I already tried that?” Elizabeth draws her lips into a thin line. “You always do that, thinking you are the only one who knows how to do everyone else’s job. You should trust us by now.”
I swallow. This is exactly what Cass was talking about.
“I’m sorry,” I say. “I’m not thinking straight. Thank you. You’ve done a great job.”
She gives a curt nod. “Anyway, I went to find the Old Man when things started gettin’ weird. Found this instead.” She pulls an envelope from her inner jacket pocket.
“It’s addressed to me,” I say, reading my name in Agapios’s flowing script.
I open the letter and scan the page.
Mr. Cameron,
I must offer you my sincerest apology. I made an agreement with you that I would train you for this position and would not force you to do anything you did not wish, but an unfortunate turn of events prevents me from keeping my promise. I must now leave the Hotel in your hands, where it
is safest, whether you are ready or not.
I make this decision with full knowledge that it breaks our contract, which clearly stated that you could leave your duties at any time. In accordance with the bond of Law, breaking such a contract puts me in great debt to you. I therefore offer up the deed to The Hotel Between as collateral—a loan, if you will—until I can repay that debt.
The Hotel Between belongs to you now, Cameron Kuhn, Interim Grand Concierge, until such time as my debt is repaid. This notice shall serve as the deed to the Hotel, and grants you the right to make whatever decisions you deem necessary for its protection and security.
Signed and sealed,
Agapios Panotierri, former Grand Concierge of The Hotel Between
P.S. Remember, Cameron. Knowledge and truth are among the sharpest blades in the world.
Elizabeth reads over my shoulder. “Does that mean what I think it means?”
“He’s gone.” I stare at the page in shock. “The Hotel is mine.”
“Sounds more like a loan to me.”
What am I supposed to do with it? Did he know that something bad was coming? Was leaving his way of getting out before things got bad? Did he just . . . abandon us when we needed him most?
No. The deed is the contract of ownership between a person and the magic of a great House. If the Blight gained command of the maids because of their trust in the Hotel, the same could have happened with Agapios. The Blight could have forced him to sign the deed over to Stripe instead, and I shudder to think what Stripe would do if he got his hands on this place. There are too many secrets here. Too much power.
The Old Man didn’t abandon the Hotel—he left it in my care to keep it safe. He knew that my contract with Stripe prevents him from gaining control over me. But is the Hotel really safe? The Blight got influence over Nico, so couldn’t it do the same with me?
“What do we do now?” Elizabeth asks.
I slide the deed into the interior pocket of Nico’s vest, which is about as secure as I can make this priceless slip of paper in the moment. “I have to get to my room. There’s something up there that might show me how to reverse this process before it’s too late.”
“Okay,” Elizabeth says. “What about me?”
I scrunch my brow. “What about you?”
“Yah. What should I do?”
I’m not sure how to respond to that. “I thought . . . I mean, weren’t you just telling me that I should trust you to do things on your own?”
Elizabeth sighs, long and hard. “Sure, trust me to do my job. You’re Grand Concierge now, and that means you’re the one leading us. That’s how this works. I trust that your decisions won’t get me killed or bound, and you trust that I’m smart enough and good enough at my job to carry out my part.” She cocks an eyebrow. “This leadership stuff isn’t hard.”
“Okay,” I say. “I’ll send a message to Nico. I need you to let him in when he knocks. Help him free the guests and the ambassadors aboard the Accommodation. Cass and Bee will take care of the mission kids and everyone in the Apothecarium.”
She narrows her eyes. “You really trust that girl?”
“Yes,” I say, and for once I mean it. “I’m choosing to trust them, just like I trust you.” I start to head for the stairs, but an idea stops me. “See if you can track down Admiral Dare as well. She may have something I need.”
• • •
First stop, home. Cass made me promise to warn Oma and Dad before anything else, and the Ledger is in my bedroom anyway. It might hold the solution to fixing this mess. If it doesn’t give me an answer, I hope the admiral has found her key, at least. That topscrew could end up being our last chance to keep the Hotel out of Stripe’s hands.
I just hope we don’t have to use it.
With the Blight in control of the elevators and me on the Blight’s naughty list, I’m forced to take the stairs. In between all my huffing and puffing on my way to the seventeenth floor, I’m struck by the sheer number of cats that have invaded the Hotel in just the past few hours. It’s like they’ve decided to throw their own gala. I spy dozens of new Nightvine clusters growing in the stairwell too, intertwined with other vines bearing the darker, indigo blossoms. The Blight’s vines.
Every time I used Mom’s key to conceal all the issues that have been plaguing the Hotel, I was unwittingly helping the Blight cover its tracks. My need to convince everyone that I could keep this place under control is what allowed the Blight to spread as far as it has. Now it’s in the Nightvine, too. Djhut said that we shape the magics, and the magics shape us. But the way the Blight is mirroring the Nightvine and tangling itself up with the Vesima makes me wonder: Do magics shape other magics, too? Is the Blight mimicking them, or is it becoming them? And if it’s the latter, what does that mean for us?
When I reach the stairwell door to the seventeenth floor, I’m ready to collapse from exhaustion. Part of me wishes I hadn’t loaned Nico the suit, but then we’d be down a person, and right now we need all the help we can get.
I open the door.
And there’s Rahki, waiting for me—duster in hand, scowl on her forehead. She must have known I’d come for Oma and Dad.
“Step back,” she says, her tone dull and gravelly. “Hands up.”
“Rahki,” I say, “are you—”
“You’re too late,” she says. “He’s coming.”
My gaze falls to the blue blossom on her lapel. This isn’t her. She’s being influenced. Her unwavering trust in the Hotel’s mission gave the Blight a loophole to manipulate her, and this time I don’t have a coin to remind her who she is.
I swing the have-sack around behind my back, readying myself in case she attacks me the way Nico did.
The Blight’s words hiss through her voice. “My master will reward me for my loyalty. Together we will uncover the secret bonds hidden in this place. We will—”
A gloved hand claps around Rahki’s mouth from behind, shimmering amber. When it pulls away, it leaves behind a thick strip of leather binding Rahki’s lips.
Rahki whirls, revealing Sana behind her, a duster in one hand, a glove on the other. Her fingers still sparkle with the binding dust.
“Watch out!” I say. “She’s not herself.”
“I know.” Sana settles into an attack pose. “This stupid Hotel is turning against us.”
Rahki strikes her own duster and lashes out, but Sana dodges. Sana did well to silence the Blight, but there’s no way she’ll be able to keep up with Rahki’s Maid Service training. Their dusters clash, and the weapons repel each other in a burst of colorful energy.
I’ve got to help, but how?
Behind them, I notice a small cluster of Nightvine buds growing together with some of the wilted blue flowers. I dart for the flowers—past Sana, who’s barely deflecting Rahki’s blows in mini sonic booms—and grip the cluster.
The veil lifts.
“Sana, here!”
Rahki strikes out with a sparkling glove. Sana drops her duster and lets Rahki stick her arm to the wall. Then, in one awkward, jerky motion, Sana grips Rahki’s elbow and pivots, redirecting Rahki’s momentum and sending her stumbling toward me.
Rahki grabs for the wall to stop herself, dropping her own duster in the process, but I give her one last shove to send her sprawling into the Nightvine.
The veil falls behind her.
I bend over, breathing hard. “That’s one way to do it.”
“Will she be all right?”
“She’ll be fine.” I pick up Rahki’s duster to free Sana from the wall. “I’ll find her once all this is over. Hopefully by then we’ll have conquered the Blight.”
“The Blight?” Sana asks.
“I’ll explain on the way.”
29
In Deed and Purpose
Hello?” I say as I enter our house from the seventeenth-floor hall.
“There he is!” Oma’s voice calls as she rounds the corner from the kitchen and runs for me. She wraps me in a grunt
ingly painful hug. Sana chuckles when I look to her for help.
“What did I tell you, boy?” Oma says, releasing me from her death-grip. “You don’t—”
“Leave, lock doors, or look for trouble. I know, I know. I’m sorry.”
Dad appears in the kitchen doorway, concern all over his face. The last time I saw him, I was pushing him away. I’m starting to realize that keeping him at a distance isn’t the way to solve our issues. I’m going to have a lot of apologizing to do.
“Oh, Cammy.” Oma waves her hand in front of her nose. “You stink something awful. Where have you been?”
I give them the short version—Cass is okay, Nico’s one of the good guys, Stripe’s coming to steal the Hotel. “We’re closing the Hotel down, just in case I can’t solve this problem,” I tell them, wrapping up. “I need y’all to get out of here while Sana and I go back.”
“No.” Oma says. “You are absolutely not going back in there.”
“I have to. Cass is in there, and I’ve got to at least try to cleanse the Blight from the Vesima.”
Dad steps forward, forehead creased. I brace myself for another argument, but instead he says, “I’m coming with you.”
“What?” Oma and I exclaim together.
“Melissa gave up everything to prevent this; we have to be willing to do the same,” he says. “If there’s a way to keep the Hotel out of Stripe’s hands, we have to find it.”
The mention of Mom drops a brick into my stomach. Mom’s bound to the Vesima, which means the Blight is in her, too. Is that why she stopped appearing to me in the Ledger?
“Are you willing to let that monster get your son, too?” Oma snaps. “It’s one thing for you to go; you’re a grown man who’s already made his mistakes. Cam’s just a boy. If Mr. Stripe comes for him—”
“Stripe won’t get me,” I say. “Or Cass. We’re immune because the contract I made with Stripe says so. Nico, too.” I look to Dad. “And you. That’s why we have to be the ones to stop him.”
I don’t mention the danger the Blight poses on its own. The fact that it had any influence on Nico at all proves we’re not safe.
