As always, disclaimers on the first chapter!
Me? A tease?? Why, yes...yes, I am ^..^ I try to not go overboard, though. At least, not too much....hopefully...
Second Meeting
I stood outside Kenneth's motel room door, staring at the 28 that glared at me as if it dared me to enter. Wrinkling my nose, I looked at Nick. He nodded toward the door, smirking a bit. He wasn't about to let me off the hook. With a sigh, I lifted my hand and rapped my knuckles lightly on the door. I paused only a moment before I turned on my heel.
"Guess he's asleep! Why don't we..."
My hasty retreat was cut off by the opening of the door.
"You're here. Good." He stepped back into the motel room, leaving the door open for me.
I looked back at Nick, the brief thought of bolting flitted through my mind, before I sucked it up and stepped into the room, closing the door behind me. Instinctively, my fingers brushed over the dead bolt to make sure it didn't lock into place. No, I'm not claustrophobic, but I wasn't about to take any chances in someone else's motel room. My eyes darted around the room, looking for anything that might set off my fight or flight reaction. "Jeremy said that you have a message for me..."
"Yes, I do. Come sit down. Would you like anything to drink?"
Kenneth was already sitting on his bed, holding his hand out to indicate the chair across from him. Reluctantly, I sat. Just as he was about to open his mouth to continue, I jumped up from my chair, spun it around and straddled it instead, leaning forward on the back of the chair and resting my chin on the top. He raised an eyebrow at me, then shook his head.
"She told me you liked root beer, but didn't say what kind." He stood up and went over the fridge and reached inside. I tried to pretend like I wasn't watching, too cool to be worried about the likes of him. He pulled out a brown can and handed it to me. "I hate the stuff, so I hope generic is good enough."
I eyed the can, inspecting it for anything fishy like pin holes or cracked at the opening. "Who told you that?"
"Lona." He smirked a bit as I fumbled the can, dropping it to the floor. "I believe she said she's your sister?"
Licking my suddenly dry lips, I looked Kenneth right in the eye. "So, I was right. You can contact them." I leaned forward, tipping the chair onto it's two back legs. "What did she say?"
"She said she was doing fine. That a lot of people miss you."
Something in his tone made me stop and blink. I stared at him a moment and narrowed my eyes a bit. "What else did she say?"
"Something about cracks going wild. That your brother won't come by the house anymore." He shrugged at that.
Kenneth didn't know what that meant, but I did. The cracks in the ground of the house I lived in with Lona and Tyger were active with supernatural energy. Nothing compared to the place that I landed myself in, but very powerful for where I came from. It was always warm there, like it was...
Like it was a portal to somewhere!
Before I had been transported here, I was over at the old place checking out the cracks. Lona had called me during my shift and asked me to stop by to check it out, maybe reinforce the barriers we had put up. I had stumbled, tripping on what we jokingly named the roaming lump of air into the dead center of one of the cracks. I had felt off since then. I went home and...well, the rest is history, I suppose.
"So, I ask you again, Nyx, do you want to go back?"
I looked up from my shaking hands to Kenneth and frowned. "I can't answer that right now..."
My legs were numb as I stood up, not even aware that I was moving. Dazed, I left Kenneth behind in his hotel room and walked right past Nick. He caught up to me easily and nudged me with his elbow.
"Hey... What happened in there?"
I shook my head. "I need to run, Nick. Let's get back to the cottage, please."
He stopped walking beside me and the only tip off I had was that my arm was suddenly cold. I kept walking, right past Jeremy and the two trucks, past Jaime, through the parking lot and on the road back to the cottage. My mind was active with my new choices that I didn't even notice that I blew right by them.
I could find a way back and help with the cracks. Kenneth specifically did not say that both Lona and Tyger were okay. Just that Lona was. I knew Lona well enough that this was a hidden jab to get me to go in the direction she wanted me to. I felt a twinge of resentment and anger in my gut that she would do that, but shook it off quickly. I needed to make an informed decision, with a clear mind.
Did I want to go back? No, I didn't. I was happy here, part of this world and this pack. I had told Nick earlier that in an ideal world, everyone that I missed would be here with me. That was exactly how I wanted it. It was selfish, but that didn't change the fact that it was how I wanted it to be. Was I wrong in wanting it that way? That was where my judgment went cloudy. I didn't know where I was supposed to be. I just knew where I wanted to be.