The Hotel at the End of Time

Chapter 13 - Vain struggles with minor details.

Vain was not one to show emotion and was a rock of stability; she couldn't even remember when she'd last cried. Probably never. Watching Emma collapse like that made her insides go twisty, and the air conditioning irritated her tear ducts. Time to give this Emma some tough love and get her out of this unreasonable bout of self-pity. Really yell at her.

"I'm going to help you," she said softly. She wasn't sure how Emma felt about physical contact, so she kept her hands tucked under her legs. "Emma. I promise. They don't get to have you. Not while I'm alive. Not while I have a single drop of blood left in my body. I know you're scared. I know this is all new and overwhelming. I don't know why you're part of my story, but we're in this together. Okay? But for this to work, you have to believe me."

Vain felt a little bad for being so hard on Emma with her brutal, tough-love speech, but Emma took it like a champ. Her tears stopped and after a few final sniffles and nose-wipes, she shook her head and sat up straighter.

"Stop being like Thomas Covenant, is what you're saying," Emma tried to smile at her.

"You mean the Pierce Bronson movie? I thought that was called the Thomas Crown Affair."

"No. The book. The Unbeliever series?"

Vain arched an eyebrow. Apparently, Emma liked to sprinkle obscure references into her everyday conversation. Rude.

"If you're ready to listen, I can tell you what I know."

Emma took a moment to collect herself before nodding. Vain told her, in brief, about The Hotel and about being a Conduit. She left out components that weren't that important, like falling off a building, the Padlock, Trick, or how she was working on a plan to fix everything that also might kill them. Minor details were not important.

The telling only took a couple of minutes, and Emma didn't ask questions. Vain didn't mind the silence and watched the twinkle of cars passing by.

"I killed him," Emma finally said. "I killed another human being."

"Stop," Vain said. "You didn't kill a human, you killed a Wyatt. It's not the same thing. You have nothing to feel guilty about. He would have done worse to you."

Emma glanced at her, apprehension written all over her face. "You're sure these guys aren't the government or something? Is this some secret FBI thing?"

"It's an Arthur thing. He's the guy who runs the place. Now you've shown them you're activated, he'll be more interested than ever in finding you. He doesn't like people running around outside his control."

"I should go to the police."

Vain had expected that, and it was an effort not to roll her eyes. "Emma, I want you to walk me through what would happen if you did that."

"I'd tell them they kidnapped me."

"Okay. Then what?"

"I'd give them descriptions and tell them everything you told me. I'd tell them they will come after me again."

"Great. Let's pretend the police believe your insane story about hotels and duplicate kidnappers and superhuman powers. Then what?"

"Then they'd help me," Emma banged her palm on the steering wheel. "How am I supposed to know? They're the police."

"They're people," replied Vain. "People who have families and normal lives and other cases. They'd take your statement, fill out some paperwork and send you home. The Wyatts will not stop. They'll wait another month and try again. If they didn't succeed that time, they'll wait and try again, and again. Even if the police were around, even if they stopped the Wyatts and sent them to jail, Arthur would send more. There are an infinite number of Wyatts." Vain drilled into Emma, emphasizing each word. "You've killed one of them and somehow you can absorb energy without a connection to a Conduit. Arthur will want to examine you, and Arthur always gets what he wants. If that means throwing an endless stream of Wyatts at you, that's what he'll do."

Emma seemed like she would argue, but instead, she focused on the road and didn't respond. She chewed at her inner lips. They drove in silence, and Vain shut up to give her the time to figure it out.

"Let's say I agree with you," Emma said. "What am I supposed to do? Run? Is my family in danger too? Do you have a plan?"

Vain thought about the fight with the Wyatts; how Emma threw the guy halfway across the planet. Vain could never do that. Shoving people was the extent of her power, and what Emma demonstrated easily surpassed Vain's abilities. Emma was the table spot in her wrestling match, so to speak. But Emma didn't need to know that.

"First, we're going to find my Conduit. He's the guy I pull my power from, his name is Roman. He's great, you'll like him a lot. He's really smart. Like, school smart." Vain chewed her lip. "He doesn't smoke a pipe, but don't let that throw you off. I'm sure he'd be willing to start."

"What?"

"Anyway, we became separated a day or so ago. No biggie. You might say I planned all of this. In fact, you should literally say that. Those exact words. If anyone asks, that is. Not that they will. But if they do, say 'You can't even be mad at Vain for this'. Can you remember that?"

"Seriously, what?"

"Say it wasn't my fault," Vain insisted. She couldn't seem to control her breathing. This conversation was getting away from her.

"Vain, I don't know what you're talking about. But yes, I agree the Wyatts coming after me wasn't your fault."

Not quite what Vain meant, but close enough. Emma was right, though. None of it had been her fault, and was doing the best she could with what she had. She continued.

"I'm not sure where Roman is, but he's somewhere off in that direction." She waved her hand. "We'll find him, and after that, we'll talk about what to do next. While we're on our way, I can teach you about your powers."

Emma shook her head. "None of this makes any sense. I can't go with you, I have a life. Friends, school, my parents."

"What good will it do your friends and family if you forget all about them?"

"What do you mean?" asked Emma.

"As a part of the activation process, Arthur takes your memory. That's why my name is Vain. Well, technically, Vanity, but I don't like that. A guy from the Hotel gave it to me."

"This is unbelievable. It's crazy."

"Yeah, I'm not sure about the process he uses. I think your name would be something like Bookworm, but honestly, I'm guessing. They tend to be slightly more poetic."

"I didn't mean that part."

"Precocity?"

"Stop. Just... stop. I'm so exhausted."

"You're in this now, Emma. I don't know why you can do the things you do. All I know is, you're something Arthur wants, and that's enough for me." She stared straight ahead, into the darkness. It seemed to go on forever, it's presence barely disturbed by the headlights that strained to penetrate through it. That didn't stop the headlights from trying, though. Stupid, stubborn things. Impulsively, Vain made a promise.

"He will not get you."

She left out the part about how they might need to run right at him to stop him.

Minor details.