Waters of Lethe, Book 2

60. Holding Aces

"I still can't believe..." Alex breathed, continuing to think out loud about how our situation seemed to get a thousand times better. He was pacing back and forth in front of the two beds in our small room. Jai and I sat on either bed, watching him, thinking along with him. Alex put a hand to his chin as he circled back to look out the window overlooking the tan buildings and busy streets below, then turn back to look at us. "I just don't understand."

"Why not?" Jai asked. "I can understand it. People today can't do anything without putting it on some type of social media first. I can definitely believe it."

"So you really think that this is legitimate? That this girl will be at... where?" he asked, forgetting the restaurant I told them about.

"Saigon Bleu," I said, having the name etched in my memory after reading it on the girl's Twitter. "Alex, look. I understand that this is different because we aren't having to track down the girl like a bunch of hound dogs after a buck."

Both boys looked at me, Jai with a different, more unreadable expression than Alex. I saw him out of the corner of my eye as he shook whatever thought he had from his head and got back in the conversation.

"I agree with El," he said hoarsely. He cleared his throat and turned his attention from us to the window, as if he were embarrassed about something. I was more surprised at the fact that he actually agreed with me, where as four hours before he would barely even glance in my direction.

Alex looked between us, then let his shoulders relax in defeat. "Alright. What do we do until tomorrow night?"

*****************

It was nine at night before we got back to the hotel. We decided to relax a bit and sight see, which was mostly my idea. It took a bit of coaxing to get Alex to come along instead of going back out to search for the girl, having a one in seven million chance of running into her. After I explained, for the seven millionth time it seemed like, that it was pointless without a lead, he agreed to go out with Jai and I.

Jai seemed to be the most relieved when we arrived back at the hotel, grabbing clothes out of his suitcase as quickly as he could to disappear into the bathroom to get a quick shower.

I stood at the window, my eyes closed, as if I could feel the dropping temperature outside and get lost in the spices and smells of the street below just by being close to it all.

"You know, if you got a spray tan and dyed your eyebrows black, you might actually pass for an Egyptian," Alex said as he leaned against the other side of the window, gesturing at the cloth I still wore over my head.

I smiled, drained from enduring both Jai's and Alex's unspoken tension. I could feel it the entire day, as if they were radiating their worry and anxiety onto me by accident. "My face isn't as sharp," was all I said.

He pursed his lips and changed the subject. "So you really think this girl will—"

"Yes!" I said, a bit louder than I meant to. I heard Jai turn off the shower in the bathroom as I watched Alex's eyes narrow at me. "Alex," I breathed, "yes. I know she'll be there. We won't go back empty handed. Everything will be okay, okay?"

He took a tiny step closer to me. "Promise."

My head swam in sadness when I saw the look on his face. I knew that he had a special connection with Scott, all because of the fact that Alex was one of the first to be brought in, the first to receive protection. He didn't want to upset Scott or let Scott down. When I realized this, I closed the gap between him and wrapped my arms around his shoulders. His body tensed at my touch, as if hugging was as foreign as the country we were in right now. After a second, he put his arms around me, too, and dipped his head so that his chin rested on my shoulder. "I promise," I told him.