The Hotel at the End of Time

Epilogue - What happened next.

Trick was wrong.

They didn't destroy the world, but they broke a large portion of it. The Earthquake that struck Nevada registered 8.4 on the Richter scale, the largest in that State's history. While there was substantial damage to surrounding buildings, surprisingly few people were killed. Seismologists rushed the airwaves to breathlessly recite facts about topography and planetary crusts, attempting to balance between dry science and giddy exuberance from being on the news.

Later, Vain shook her head at the theories about what caused such a large and unexpected quake. Only she knew the truth. Emma dislodged the Hotel, sending it careening through space and time, and, like kicking a pebble down a mountain, it disrupted a few rocks along the way. Simple.

The twins, Mark, and Charm had been driving up highway 93, heading North and East towards New York when the quake hit. It swerved them off the road and Blunt whacked his head hard on the side of the window. Vain felt bad about that but was happy it was the only injury.

This time, she did not transport to Boston, and she experienced no small measure of relief about that. They all ended up in the compound that housed the Portal, some twelve hours after the earthquake hit. The building was still standing, although there were cracks in the walls and plaster dust hung in the air.

Emma was, surprisingly, not dead. The Padlock had done what it was made to do, despite the unprecedented release of energy. It even healed them, fixing the horrific damage done to Emma's body during the final battle. She tried to shake Emma awake, but she only mumbled "sleepy" and swatted Vain's hand away. Aside from being exhausted, Emma seemed healed. Roman, too. After taking some time to recalibrate, they were all able to stand and walk themselves out.

The Portal itself was destroyed, now a broken frame in the middle of a warehouse. The glowing doorknob was nowhere to be seen, although she thought she spotted a doorknob-shaped bulge in Emma's pocket. Vain didn't care; it would be broken beyond repair and if Emma wanted a souvenir, she was welcome to it.

Vain didn't know why they weren't beamed further away. Roman thought it was because there were three of them, and the Padlock ran out of energy to take them any significant distance. It was open and harmless again; back to an ordinary padlock made of ordinary metal, cold to the touch and drained.

In retrospect, they should have told the twins to wait for them, because they soon realized they were stranded in the middle of Nevada with no car. None of them had expected to survive, though. Not really. That was the truth of it. They all genuinely had expected to die, so it's not like they spent a lot of time planning what came after.

Fortunately for them, there were a few of those ugly red SUVs behind the building and they found the keys to one of them. Emma fell asleep almost immediately, lying across both back seats with her hands tucked underneath her head. It fell to Roman to drive. Although Vain was exhausted, she rolled down the window and let the dry Nevada air blow in her hair while she turned her face to the sunlight.

She felt like that day was the first day of her real escape from the Hotel.

"I can't believe that worked," Roman eventually said.

"Charm and I used to talk about what it would take to destroy the Hotel," Vain said. Her mind raced with the actuality of what they'd done, and her words tripped over themselves in an effort to get out. "She thought it was impossible. Even with all the bombs in all the worlds, she didn't think it would work. She thought blowing up the Hotel would be like trying to blow up time or gravity. The Hotel just is. The Portal though... she always thought that could work. I never would have dreamed it without her putting the idea in my head."

"Patience saved us the first time, and Charm saved us the second."

"Emma sure pulled a lot of energy," Vain said, a laughable understatement.