Cassie sat on one of the three queen beds in their hotel room in the Hotel Astoria, facing the large TV screen sitting on the desk. Game controller in hand, she guided her on-screen character across a decrepit rope bridge, shot down a couple bad guys, and then jumped an impossibly large chasm to grab the ledge on the other side. She then pulled herself up and claimed the mysterious-looking golden idol on the other side to complete her objective for that level. The character held the object up to the camera in triumph, then a screen appeared asking if she would like to proceed to the next level.
"Save, and... done." Cassie set the controller down on the bed and leaned back. "What now?"
"Now," said Olivia, "We wait out our quarantine until the morning."
The three girls had all chipped in on paying for their hotel room. The room was reasonably priced, but that way none of them would have to foot the bill alone. It was simple and comfortable, with a large bathroom attached and a decent amount of space overall. Probably their favorite part of the hotel so far was the stunning view from the balcony on the roof, from which you could see the Basilica of St. James and the Church of Our Lady before Tyn.
"I still can't believe those guys were such bastards," Jess said as she looked through her pictures on her Iphone. "And that now we have to sit here until the morning."
"I mean, you all don't have to stay with me," Cassie said.
"Yeah, but it's not like we're going to leave you, either," said Olivia.
"It just makes me mad," Jess fumed.
Olivia perked up suddenly. "You know what I like to do when I'm mad?"
"What?" Cassie asked.
"I like to find a good video game, turn the difficulty all the way down to easy, and beat the crap out of some people." She reached over and took the controller from in front of Cassie.
Jess looked up from her phone. "A little weird, but OK."
"No, no, trust me, it's very therapeutic," Olivia said as she selected the option to start a new game.
"I'm watching," said Jess, slightly amused.
The character began on a narrow trail on the side of a mountain, and Olivia directed him forward to confront a guy whom she promptly beat up. Stealing his weapon she continued around the corner, mowing down another group as she went.
"I can feel the stress leaving already," she said.
"I'll take your word for it," Cassie said, but continued watching for several minutes as she raced around shooting people. Then she slipped up and accidentally ran the character right off the side of the mountain, and splashed into the river below. Cassie tsked. "Rookie mistake."
"It's alright, guys, nothing I can't handle," Olivia said confidently as she swam toward the side. Then a crocodile came up beside her suddenly and chomped down her on-screen presence in a couple of bite-sized pieces. "What the-" she said as the game over screen flashed on the TV.
"I agree," said Jess sarcastically. "Looks very therapeutic."
"Yeah, well, that doesn't usually happen," Olivia countered.
"Oh, I don't know," Cassie said with a smile. "I mean that's kinda how your first date went."
"You!" Olivia grabbed a pillow and used it to smack Cassie.
Soon pillows were flying everywhere as the girls launched into a lighthearted battle in their hotel room. Laughter filled the room and the tensions of the day seemed, at least temporarily, to melt away.
The phone rang at the reception desk, and a grouchy old woman with black curly hair answered. "Dobre den."
A girl's breathless voice answered on the other side. "Hi, could we get three- no, make it six more pillows to room 624?" In the background was the sound of at least a couple more girls laughing.
The old woman's lip curled into a frown. "Of course, madam." She said in a thick Slavic accent. She put the phone back on the receiver and glanced at her young assistant.
"Six more pillows to the girls in room 624, Adriana." Upon noticing the young woman's scornful look, she added, "Another one of those groups."
Cassie was awakened from her sleep by a soft knocking on their hotel room door. Sitting up, she looked at the alarm clock on the bedside table. Three thirty? She glanced over at the other two girls and saw that they were still fast asleep. Reaching for her bathrobe she slipped it on and walked to the door, rubbing her eyes and tying the belt on her robe as she went. She looked through the peephole before undoing the several locks provided by the hotel. Cassie cautiously opened the door, first a crack, then a little wider.
The hall was empty and quiet. Strange, Cassie thought. She was about to close the door when she noticed a piece of folded notebook paper taped just below the peephole.
"Huh," she said quietly, and peeled it off. Her vision was a bit blurry, a combination of having just woken up and not having her glasses on, but she could see enough to tell that the word 'Drake' was scrawled across the front of it. Taking one last look down the hallway in both directions, she went back in her room and closed the door.
She felt in the dark until she found her glasses on the bedside table and then tiptoed to the bathroom and shut the door softly behind her. She flicked on the light, squinting as the ultra-whiteness of the glare on the tile walls blinded her. She put on her glasses and examined the note closer as her eyes adjusted.
"Funny," she said quietly as she examined the scratchy penmanship on the front. "That's not writing I recognize." She gently unfolded the note, trying to be as quiet as possible, as if the mere noise of crinkling paper would wake her friends in the other room. It wouldn't, of course. Cassie knew from their camping trip last summer that they were both heavy sleepers, as opposed to her, who seemed to hear every time a cricket took a step nearby.
Inside was more of the same hand written scrawl. "'Be at the Old Town Square at six o'clock this morning. An artifact of great significance is going to be traded,'" she read. "What the hell is this?" Her mind raced as she ran through the possibilities. Was it an elaborate revenge plot from Troy and company? A creepy stalker who had followed them yesterday? Or was it actually what it said it was, a real invitation to get in on something big? She was something of an expert on identifying peculiarities in handwriting, but she could not place the note with anyone in school. Not even Troy, whose papers she had seen many times as they passed her on their way back to him from the teacher's desk, typically with a sub-eighty grade.
She thought of what her mother would be saying right now. "God. Good thing you're not here," she mused. But am I really going to do this? That's the most ludicrous thing I could probably do. The amount of risk that this some creep? Astronomical! But the more she thought about it, the more she realized that she already knew what she was going to do. After all, she was a Drake. Then another unnerving thought hit her. How did this person know who she is?
She decided to call her dad and tell him about the note. Pulling her phone out, she did some mental calculations and figured it was about eight thirty the previous evening in New Orleans, which should work out fine. She dialed the number and waited while the phone rang.
"Hi, you've reached the voicemail box of Nathan Drake with D and F Fortunes. I'm probably either on the other line or several hundred feet under water right now, so just leave your name, number, and a brief message and I'll call you as soon as I surface. Thanks!"
Cassie frowned and hung up. Grabbing her backpack, she began stuffing in a few items that she considered to be "essentials" in case she ended up being out longer than she anticipated- her wallet, a pocket knife, a couple of granola bars left from the flight, and a change of clothes. As she zipped up the pack, she silently chided herself for her caution. The Old Town Square was five, maybe six minutes away on foot, tops. She could easily be back before anyone even knew she was gone. For the next hour and a half Cassie lay awake, wondering and thinking about what it could be that she would find there. At five o'clock she could stand it no more and got up, got dressed, put on a jacket and her backpack, and headed for the door. Opening it as quietly as she could, she paused and looked back at her two friends, still sleeping away. Then she gently closed the door and set off into the early morning.