The Golden Bond

Chapter 19

The next week passed by in similar fashion. William was teaching and sometimes torturing me with his silent moods. There were a few light-hearted moments, too however, when William White the serious agent turned into a playful Will, whose smile was matchless throughout the entire world. I was able to protect myself fairly well by now, so he was taking me outside more often, just for walks.

We wandered through the narrow streets in the centre of Rome, eating ice cream and laughing. I particularly loved the fact that nearly every square in Rome had a fountain. Everywhere you looked, a historical charm was awaiting your to discovery. My eyes shone with joy from as soon as we left the hotel in the morning till late in the evening.

Hundreds of miles away from home I'd visibly blossomed, William kept telling me adding it was because the bond with Adam had been broken – William's childhood friend who hadn't been admitted to the Lux Club and had later chosen the wrong path. Now the two were archenemies. When William was telling me this for the first time, I saw how upset it made him, although he wouldn't have admitted it for all the world.

I had such strange feelings, sometimes it just happened that I knew certain things without being told. I thought it was happening because of William's presence, since I'd been with him everything was different. We were getting up together, having breakfast together, going to town together, eating lunch and dinner together, falling asleep together. We were together practically all the time except for a few moments when William would disappear off somewhere, I had to stay in the lobby at the hotel with the receptionists who'd been given strict orders to keep both eyes on me.

I had no idea where William was going but after a while, when he was in a mood to talk, it slipped off his tongue that he was looking for a colleague. Contact with whom had been broken and we had actually come to Rome in order to take him back home. Well, if he's still alive, I thought...

Today, my fears were confirmed by William's hectic return from another searching trip. His eyebrows were set in an ominous expression and he was biting his lip nervously. Then he was on the phone, pacing up and down like a caged animal whilst talking. When he had finished, he stopped beside me without saying a word, he started to walk towards the staircase when the receptionist stopped him.

"Mr. Jacobs, Mr. Jacobs, please wait," she shouted to him.

William and I stopped. He slowly returned to the reception desk and the petite Italian lady with short dark hair spoke to him in fluent English with no hint of an accent.

"Your booking ended today, Mr. Jacobs, do you wish to extend your stay in our hotel?" she asked.

William looked confused. As if he'd only just realised how long we'd stayed there already. Evidently, we'd had the hotel booked for two weeks, but still hadn't managed to locate his colleague, Victor, – well, actually William hadn't, since I always had to hang around in the hotel lobby.

William looked uncomfortable then replied, "Yes, of course, is there anything you need?"

The receptionist looked down at her computer screen then turned back to William, a worried look on her face. "Unfortunately, your room has already been booked, sir. We'll need you to vacate it before 3 p.m. We can offer you another room but we only have one with a double bed."

I thought William would explode in the next few seconds. Something had not worked out for him outside and now this. We were expected to move rooms and he'd have to sleep on the floor. Perfect!...

"How is it that our room is booked? Why didn't you tell me yesterday?" he complained, it was apparent how much he had to control himself just to remain calm and not yell at the receptionist.