The Hotel at the End of Time

Chapter 29 - Emma attacks. Again.

Emma debated whether bad luck or bad decisions brought her to that point. Each step that had moved her closer to the present moment seemed logical and sane, like putting together a jigsaw puzzle, only without knowing what the picture on the box looked like.

She could have gone to the police or stayed in Boston. She could have called her Mom or Doreen. A million steps she could have taken, leaps in directions that would have led her off this path. But instead, she readied to storm a secret, guarded facility, led by a five-foot-two lunatic with big eyes and a garbage haircut.

She had too much left to do. Finish school; make her mark on the world; get married; have kids, maybe. Things normal people do. These people she was with had nothing to live for. Their present and past jumbled together, and the Hotel had pushed them to their limits. She experienced a drop of that in the past week, but was she ready to dive all the way in?

This was their only chance, and if they didn't press forward, they might not get another. The guards shot Vain, and they would be walking into a trap. What if more people had Mirrors?

She sat in the dirt, leaned back against the van, and shut her eyes. It never stopped. Without even trying, she let her awareness drift and felt energy, never-ending, creeping into her. She sensed her companions and their flickering pulses.

She strained for Roman, her rock through all of it, with his tousled brown hair her hands itched to smooth back. Steady and present, a wall to lean against. More, she suspected, if she wanted it. If she gave up, would they take him? Would he be gone?

Vain was an engine of perpetual motion; hot, angry, and pulsing even in remorse. An engine of perpetual motion. The Hotel would end her. She knew what the Hotel was, now. She'd seen it firsthand. There was no reasoning with those people, no reassuring logic that would convince them to leave her friends alone. They had guns and limitless Wyatts.

And they had shot Vain. Somehow, that drove the reality of her situation home and she finally believed what Vain told her at the outset.

They won't stop.

She allowed herself ten seconds of self-pity. Exactly ten heartbeats, and into those heartbeats she poured her frustration, the unfairness of her situation, all her tears of rage and helplessness. She gripped her hands together with enough force to drive her nails into her palms.

Ten seconds.

The instant the tenth heartbeat passed, she opened her eyes, clear and focused. She could sit there and sulk or she could get busy solving problems.

A weight left her chest, and she stood up. She would move forward. She didn't want to hurt anyone, but she wouldn't give up. More energy flowed into her, and she made a conscious effort not to draw from her friends. It came from the air, from the scrub brush surrounding her, from distant animals, and even from the men up in the compound.

"We're not leaving." Her voice cut through the chatter of the group. "You are. Mark, get the twins and Charm out of here. We'll go in without you."

"They know you're coming." Mark's eyes flicked towards Vain. "You'll be walking into an ambush."

"Yes," replied Emma. "That will be a problem for them, not us."

"Vain's hurt," Roman protested.

"I'm peachy," Vain said. She'd stood up and disentangled herself from Charm. Her arm hung at her side, blood dripping from her fingertips. Her face was pale, and she swayed on her feet.

"I don't believe you've ever seen an actual peach," Mark said. "You're losing an enormous amount of blood. You need a hospital. This isn't a movie."

"It doesn't hurt at all." She wiped tears from her cheek with her good hand. "The Padlock will heal me."