The Last Keyholder

by Jamie Summer

  But I wasn’t going to go there.

  My phone beeped with a new text. Granted, it could’ve been from anyone, but something told me it wasn’t. I contemplated ignoring it, but decided against it. I doubt he’d believe me if I told him I fell asleep in seven minutes. I walked to the bed and grabbed my phone.

  Are you checking on that website?

  Apparently, I wasn’t the only one curious.

  I typed a quick reply to let him know I was about to do that. He immediately texted back.

  Wanna come up here and look at it together?

  The offer was tempting. I wanted to go up there and enjoy the suite, but it would also mean facing Nathan in my still somewhat emotional state. I wasn’t sure I was ready for that.

  Temptation won out. I grabbed my laptop, the note, and my keycard, then left my room. I made my way up to Nathan’s, seeing him standing in the doorway.

  “Miss me?” I joked.

  He laughed. “Always.”

  I tried to ignore the flutter in my stomach as I entered and sat on one of the dining room chairs. They had white coverings and looked very comfortable.

  “I haven’t actually gotten a look at the website yet. You messaged right when I was about to open my laptop.”

  “Lucky me.” He grinned and took the seat right next to me. He scooted closer in order to have an unobscured view of my screen. I booted it up, and within a few minutes, the browser opened. I handed Nathan the paper with the address on it and he read it to me. As I hit enter, both of us looked at the screen in anticipation.

  The website was completely different this time, making me wonder if it were a mistake. Maybe the sheet of paper we’d found wasn’t a clue, but merely an ad for some random website I hadn’t bothered to look at closer.

  Then again, the markings on it where all the same. A random string of letters without any sense to them whatsoever.

  “Well, this is a nice change,” I heard Nathan say. I turned to look at him, seeing him studying the page closely.

  “It’s certainly not what I expected.” I refocused on the website and smiled at the change in color. Instead of a dark and gloomy feel, this one was a rainbow of colors—yellow, red, green, blue. It made my head spin, but I felt strangely drawn to it.

  “Are there any words?” I highlighted everything, but didn’t find anything on the first or second subpage. Were we missing something?

  I checked the other pages, finding nothing. There were no hidden words whatsoever.

  “Maybe if they changed the colors, they changed the way you find the clues, too,” Nathan suggested.

  “Any ideas?”

  He raised his brows and pointed to my laptop. Shrugging, I pushed it over to him. His fingers swiftly moved over the keyboard. I had no idea what he was doing, and since he had turned the screen away from me, I didn’t see anything, either.

  “What are you doing?” Nathan didn’t answer and kept furiously typing. “Can you please be more gentle?” I wasn’t even sure he heard me. His brows were drawn together and his mouth set in a tight line, apparently completely engrossed. After five more minutes, I finally had enough. “Nathan?”

  “Give me a minute.”

  I nodded, sure he didn’t even notice.

  “Got it!” he exclaimed. I tried to crane my neck enough so I could catch a glimpse of the screen. “Sorry,” he apologized, turning the laptop toward me. “I didn’t even notice I’d turned it away.”

  I stared at the screen in front of me. “What is this?” It didn’t make any sense. In addition to a random string of letters, we now also had a string of random numbers to go with it.

  He looked at the screen. “Oh, sorry. Wrong one.” He clicked the mouse and a more understandable picture opened. However, I still didn’t see much of anything.

  “It’s the website again,” I remarked, doubtful he’d even found something. If the same website we’d looked at before was all he had to show me after ten minutes of work, I wasn’t impressed with his computer skills at all.

  “Yes, it’s the website, but look a little closer.”

  I followed his instruction, then gasped. “Coordinates.”

  Nathan nodded. “I hacked into the website and found them hidden behind several layers of colors.”

  My eyes widened. “You can do that?”

  He shrugged. “I hung with the wrong crowd in school for a little while. They weren’t good guys, but at least I learned something about hacking computers.”

  There were so many things on the tip of my tongue, but I swallowed them all. “Do we have any idea where the coordinates lead?”

  “I haven’t checked yet. Figured you’d wanna do that.”

  I was oddly touched by the thought. “I actually do, yes.” I smiled shyly. I opened another window and copied the coordinates from the website.

  It didn’t take long for a destination to pop up.

  “Dublin,” I whispered, instantly thrilled by the notion of going to the Emerald Isle. While I’d always wanted to go there during the trips to Europe we took, my parents were always dead set against it. I had no idea why, and they never explained.

  “Up for another road trip?” I smirked, seeing Nathan watching me intently. “What’s up?” I asked, furrowing my brow.

  “How many cities do you want to travel to, Em? How many clues do you want to follow until you realize there’s no keyholder on the other end of this quest?” The defeat was audible in his voice and it took me completely off guard.

  “I thought you were excited about us finding the note and everything. What happened to that?”

  “What happened is I started using my brain again. There’s no telling how long they’re gonna send us on a wild goose chase. What if there’s no end? For all we know, they could be sending us all across the world just so they can laugh at us from some distant corner.”

  “You don’t honestly believe that, Nathan. I understand what you’re saying, but traveling through Europe is hardly a world tour. And it would only be our third city. People traveling the world have seen more places than we have.” It was a weak excuse, since one didn’t have anything to do with the other, but I was trying my hardest.

  “All I’m saying is you have to consider it. There has to be a point in this where you realize enough is enough. Yes, we haven’t died today, but who’s to say that won’t happen to us tomorrow?”

  Charming.

  “Go home then.” And we were back at our old argument.

  He blew out a breath, his shoulders sagging. “Let’s book our trip to Dublin then, I guess.”

  I knew he wasn’t happy with how everything was going, but I hardly pressured him into staying here. He was free to leave whenever he wanted. The last thing I needed by my side was someone who didn’t want to be here.

  He grabbed the laptop. I watched as he booked our flight and a rather nice hotel. One I wasn’t sure I could afford. When he mentioned the price and saw my face, he smiled.

  “Let this be my worry, okay? Think of it as a small gift for taking my sorry ass.”

  I didn’t argue with him. If he wanted to pay for an expensive hotel, I wasn’t going to stop him. The only thing I wondered was how much money he had left to spend. How many more stops would he be able to go on?

  Even though I argued with him, his point about there never being an end to this quest wasn’t an illogical one. I had money for maybe two more weeks. After that, there was no way I could keep going…no matter how much I wanted to.

  After Nathan finished booking everything, he shut down my laptop and pushed it over to me. I grabbed it and stood, taking it as my cue to go. Nathan opened his mouth as if to say something, but closed it shortly afterward.

  “Good night,” I said to him. He merely nodded. I felt him watch me leave the room, but his lips stayed sealed.

  Our flight to Dublin left at noon. By the time we checked out of the hotel and made it to the airport, we only had an hour left. We grabbed breakfast, then stopped at a Starbucks, enjoy
ing our small meal before we boarded.

  Nathan brought up an important topic we hadn’t touched on so far. “We don’t have any words to go on this time, so what do you want to do?”

  It was something I’d thought about all night, but I couldn’t come up with anything.

  “Honestly, I have no idea. I know that’s crazy, because we’re getting ready to fly there, but I have no idea where to start. Considering most of the clues always hinted at sights in the city, maybe we could try that. Dublin isn’t that big.”

  Nathan nodded. “Yeah, that’s pretty much what I came up with, too. Which is why I ended up booking the flight instead of demanding you tell me what exactly we’re gonna look for.”

  I frowned. “Thanks…I think.”

  Nathan laughed at my unsure answer. “Yeah, you can thank me for getting you on that plane without any plan whatsoever.”

  We boarded and took off. The flight wasn’t long. It seemed like by the time we reached altitude, we were already on our way back down. It was rather sad. I had always enjoyed flying, but I figured any flying time was better than none at all.

  After we landed, we took the bus into town. Our hotel was right in the center, not far from the famous Temple Bar quarters. I had heard great things about that part of town, so a tiny part of me wanted to go and explore. Maybe I’d get the chance.

  Nathan had booked us rooms next to each other. This time, there was no double booking that had him switching rooms. Part of me was disappointed—after all, it had been a really nice suite—but the other part of me was happy to know he was right next door.

  We put our stuff in our rooms, freshened up, then met outside ten minutes later. After grabbing a quick bite to eat, we walked around the city. It wasn’t hard to find a tourist shop. We entered, looking for a map of Dublin. The store owner pointed us in the right direction and we found a simple map that had everything we needed.

  “Okay, let’s take a look,” I said as we sat down on one of the stone benches lining one of the biggest streets in the Irish capital. I opened the map. “So… Temple Bar should definitely be on our list. Also the Guinness Brewery. We’re already at the Spine, another landmark we should definitely look at a little closer.”

  Nathan nodded and pointed at several other spots. “St. Stephen’s Green and St. Patrick’s Cathedral should also be on the list.”

  “Sounds like a plan. Let’s start with the Spine.”

  With a look to my left, I saw the sight in question. The Spine stood tall in the middle of the street, tourists and locals passing it by. Some had definite interest, while others merely gave it a cursory glance. Sitting and watching people would definitely be something I could spend my hours doing here.

  We walked closer to the structure and circled it a few times. It was smooth, the metal glittering in the afternoon sun. There was no way anyone could’ve hidden any kind of clue on it. Everyone would’ve noticed.

  “There isn't anything here,” Nathan said. “I also looked on the ground for any drawings or markings, seeing nothing.”

  I sighed. “I expected as much. Let’s go to the next one.” There was no need to dwell on the lack of findings. It was just a repeat of the other two cities.

  Nathan pulled out the map. “Let’s see… We can go to Temple Bar. I’m sure it’s not very crowded at this time. After that, if we still feel up to it, St. Stephen’s Green. Also, we forgot the Book of Celts. I think that definitely qualifies as a something to see.”

  He was right. The old artifact was one of the main attractions in Dublin, but one I’d completely neglected when we searched for landmarks earlier.

  “Okay. Let’s go to Temple Bar and see what we find.”

  We continued, passing pedestrians left and right. As we crossed one of the many bridges the city was famous for, I took a moment to take in the atmosphere. Despite our recent bad experience with bridges, I didn’t hesitate when stepping onto this one.

  “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” Nathan remarked. I turned to him, seeing a soft smile on his lips. It was a good look for him.

  “It is. I kind of want to come back once it’s dark and all the lights are on,” I admitted, glancing at the water flowing under me.

  “We can do that. After all, we won’t have anything better to do at night.”

  A few minutes later, we continued to our destination. The crowd grew thicker the closer we got to the Temple Bar district. I was surprised to see this many people out in pubs when it was barely four in the afternoon.

  A dark shadow passed by a few feet from me, and the sight made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.

  I tried to follow the person with my eyes, but I lost him in the crowd.

  Could it have been… No, impossible. It couldn’t be…could it?

  “Which way is Temple Bar?” I asked, shaking myself out of my thoughts.

  Nathan studied the map for a moment before pointing to our right. “It should be through there.” He walked ahead, and I followed. It was hard to walk next to each other with the amount of people around.

  We’d decided to each study one side of the front. Since it was a pub in the center of a whole row of buildings, there were only two sides. If there were a back alley, it wasn’t anything we’d considered at this point.

  Five minutes later, I noticed the exact moment we arrived at Temple Bar. Everything had come to a standstill. Hundreds of people crowded around the pub, and the level of noise was immense.

  For a fleeting moment, I panicked, thinking about what we’d do if another attack happened, but pushed back the image assaulting my mind. I couldn’t think like that. I needed to stay positive.

  “Well, this certainly seems to be a hot spot.” Nathan grinned as we made our way through the masses.

  “It’s too early to get drunk,” I told him, looking around. It seemed several people already had way more than they could handle, but others merely chatted with each other, a drink in hand.

  “I’m guessing getting in will be hard. I don’t even see the door from here,” I called out to Nathan. He stood right next to me, but with the noise around us, I wasn’t sure he’d hear me.

  “Maybe we can just get close enough to look around. The good thing about having this many people around is no one will look at us twice for snooping around.”

  “We’re not snooping around.”

  Nathan shrugged. “We are a little.”

  I sighed. Maybe we were, but it wasn’t as if we were doing anything illegal. We were merely looking around, nothing else. It took us ten minutes to get close enough to start our search.

  “I have a bad feeling about separating,” Nathan admitted. “There are too many people, too many things that could go wrong.” His eyes bored into me. I got the impression he was trying to tell me something without actually voicing it, but I had no idea what.

  “We’ll be okay. The bar isn’t huge. We’ll be back at the entrance before we know it.”

  “If you say so.”

  We checked our watches to make sure they matched and agreed to be back at the entrance in ten minutes.

  Nathan went off to search his side while I let my eyes wander over my side. The bar was a vibrant red, and the exterior, which contained paintings of every kind, impressed me as much as the overall structure. I was tempted to go inside, but knew that would have to wait for another time. I slowly made my way along the wall. I let my fingers glide over the stone surface, scared I might miss something monumental with my eyes. The sun bathed the whole street in a soft yellow light, but with all these people milling around, little of the light ended up where I needed it. Maybe we needed to come back in the morning, when people were less likely to be visiting a pub. Then again, maybe people in Dublin never really stopped.

  I studied every part of the wall I possibly could. The Guinness commercial plate was as beautifully crafted as the picture of a food platter. Everything seemed to have been done with tremendous detail and thought.

  However, I found no clues. The
paintings were void of anything that didn’t belong, and there were no hidden notes anywhere. I walked back to the entrance and saw Nathan already waiting.

  “Anything?” he asked.

  I shook my head. “No. Nothing that would clue us in on the location of a certain keyholder. I take it you didn’t find anything, either?”

  “Nothing. Then again, there were so many people around, I might have missed something. Maybe we should come back in the morning when there are fewer people and more light.”

  “That might be a good idea. We might see more if we could look from a distance.”

  We made our way over to St. Stephen’s Green. While the Book of Celts would’ve been closer, the library would be closing soon. We didn’t want to stress ourselves, so we decided to go there after our morning stop at Temple Bar tomorrow. It was a nice walk toward St. Stephen’s Green, and I let myself be swept up by the atmosphere of the city. Something about the kindness of these people made me feel a little lighter, as if there were something in the air that made me braver, unafraid of what was to come. It was a nice feeling to have.

  We reached St. Stephen’s Green just as the sun started to set. The mix of the red and yellow in the sky turned me more nostalgic than I cared to admit.

  “Can we sit here for a moment?” I asked Nathan as we walked into the park. He arched a brow, but nodded. As we sat on one of the dark wooden benches, I took a moment to take it all in. I admired the beauty of the trees around us, the smiles on people’s faces as they strolled through the green, and the voices of small children as they played.

  Somehow, Dublin was different than all the other cities we’d been to so far. I felt a deeper connection here. I had no idea why. I had no memory of ever being here, ever having anything to do with the city. So why did I feel different being here than in Lucerne or London?

  “I’ve been to Dublin once before,” Nathan said.

  I turned to him, eyebrows raised. “You have?”

  He nodded. “When I was about fifteen. My mom brought my brother and me for a vacation. She picked Ireland because it had this amazing nature and history she thought we should explore. I loved the trip.” I watched his eyes shine as he talked about it, yet there was a hint of sadness mixed in.