Edgewood Series: Books 1 - 3 (45 page)

Mallory and I each sat propped up in our respective beds, legs stretched out, our gaze locked onto the screen. We were exhausted but wired at the same time. Periodically one of us said something like, “Next commercial, that’s it. We have to get some sleep,” but the next commercial came along and we’d ride it out without making a move. Seeing American shows dubbed in Spanish was so engrossing we just kept watching. And that’s how it happened that we were awake to hear a light tapping on our door at one-thirty in the morning. Mallory lowered the volume and we both turned our attention to the door. I crossed the room and put my good eye up to the peep hole. It was Russ. After I unlatched the door and opened it, he pushed past me and closed the door behind us. “You guys have to help me,” he said in a loud whisper. “I don’t know what to do. Jameson is completely out of control.”

Nadia

“What’s going on?” Mallory asked.

“He’s in the bar and won’t come back to the room. He’s completely trashed.”

“Trashed—like drunk?” I said.

“Yeah, drunk. Completely wasted.”

“How did this even happen?” Mallory asked, leaning over to get her shoes. “You were supposed to be in for the night.”

“I know, and that’s how it started out,” Russ said. “But then this guy from the hotel came to our room with complimentary drinks. I was in the bathroom, so Jameson took the tray. By the time I came out, he’d already downed his drink and mine, and then he grabbed the vouchers for free drinks at the bar, and that was it. He was out the door. And I went with him. I mean, I had to because we were told to stick together.”

“You guys have been drinking in the bar?” I asked, incredulously. It was a stupid question; I could smell the liquor on his breath. “They didn’t ask for your I.D.?”

“They did, but we said we left them in the room,” Russ said. “And then Jameson slipped the guy some money. That was all it took.”

I followed Mallory’s lead and put on my shoes, then tucked our key card into my pocket. We left the room as quietly as possible, right behind Russ. When we got to the elevator, he shook his head no and directed us to the stairwell. “Quieter this way,” he whispered, by way of explanation.

When we got down a few floors, we all felt comfortable speaking in our normal voices. “So you ordered drinks to be delivered to your room?” Mallory asked. I’d been confused about the details of his story too.

“No, we didn’t order them. A guy just brought them. He said they were complimentary for new guests. And there were these slips on the tray good for two drinks in the bar.”

“Nobody brought drinks to
our
room,” I said.

“Maybe because you look younger than us?” Russ said, shrugging. “They probably just do it for adults.”

I had news for him. He and Jameson were taller than Mallory and me, but they didn’t look any older. None of us could pass for more than seventeen at the most, and even that was a reach. Guys could be so full of themselves sometimes.

When we rounded the corner to the first floor and exited the stairwell, I heard Jameson’s voice drifting from the bar area. I’d never heard him talk so loudly or so sloppily. “You think that’s good,” he was saying. “Watch this.”

We walked in to see him seated at the bar, his hand hovering over a deck of cards. With the flick of a wrist, he used telekinesis to flip over one card at a time. The bartender watched with rapt attention. “Very good trick,” he said. “Is impressive.”
Ees eem-press-eve
.

Jameson caught sight of us coming through the archway, and he threw his hands up in greeting. “My friends are here! Little Nadia, and the lovely Mallory, and my buddy, Russ.” He turned to the bartender and said in a stage whisper, “Russ isn’t really my buddy, but I don’t want him to feel bad.”

Mallory took charge. “Time to get back to the room, Jameson, before you get us all in trouble.”

“Try this.” Jameson swung around and held a drink out to me. It was light green in color and frothy on top, like a glass of beer with a good head. It smelled like limeade. I took a generous sip.

“Nadia!” Mallory said.

“What? I wanted to try it.” I moved the glass in circles to watch the lovely liquid swirl. “What’s it called?”

“That, my friend, is a Pisco Sour, a traditional favorite here in Peru. Some people say it reminds them of a margarita.” He punched Russ in the shoulder. “Old Russell here had never heard of it. I guess they didn’t have anything about it on Wikipedia.”

“It tastes pretty good,” I admitted. Mallory took the glass out of my hands and took a sip of her own before setting it back down in front of Jameson.

“They do go down smooth,” Jameson said, throwing back the rest and then shakily sliding the glass down to where the bartender stood. “Yes they do. They go smooth all the way down.” He pointed to the floor. My eyes followed his gesture, but there was nothing there.

“Time to go,
buddy
,” Russ said.

“Not just yet,” Jameson said and then swiveled to face the bar. “Señor Bartender, Un trago más, por favor.”

“I am closing up now,” the bartender said, giving us a grateful smile. “It was very nice to meet all of you.”

“The bar is closing,” Mallory said. “Time to go to bed.”

“We’re going to bed? Oh Mallory, I had no idea.” His shrill laughter made my spinal cord vibrate. I realized that I’d never heard him laugh before. Probably a good thing.

“Watch it,” Russ said. “You’re starting to make an ass of yourself.”

“Starting to?” I muttered.

“Thanks for the drinks,” Jameson told the bartender before sliding off his stool onto rubber legs. Russ moved quickly to keep him from falling. Surprisingly, Jameson accepted his help and looped an arm around his neck.

“You are welcome. Ees no problem.” said the bartender, removing the glass. He was wiping the counter when we left.

Jameson swayed as he walked, and Mallory got on the other side to steady him. His head bobbed up and down and he kissed the top of Mallory’s head. “You got nice hair,” he said, loopily. “Did I ever tell you how nice your hair is? It’s pretty and it smells really good...” He paused to pet her, which threw all three off balance, forcing Russ to stop and get a better grip on our drunken friend.

“We can talk about my hair later,” Mallory said to Jameson. “Let’s just concentrate on getting back to the room.”

We decided to take the elevator up to the fourth floor and then switch to the stairs from there to the fifth floor, to avoid the ding of the elevator which could possibly wake up the adults in our group. Getting Jameson up the stairs was another story. Gravity was against us, and he wasn’t helping. I followed in the rear and steadied his back with both hands. If they lost their grip he’d fall on top of me and we’d both be in a very bad way. “How come you’re not drunk?” I asked Russ.

“I stopped after two,” he said. “And I’m bigger than he is so it doesn’t affect me as much.”

“No,” Jameson said, pounding his chest, “I’m bigger.”

“You’re taller,” Russ pointed out, “but I weigh more.”

When we reached our floor, Mallory popped her head around the corner and gave the all clear. We made our way slowly down the hall. When we got to the guys’ room, Mallory helped steady Jameson, while Russ opened the door. Once we made it inside and Russ had flicked on the lights, I breathed a sigh of relief. “Put him on the bed,” Mallory ordered, while Jameson protested that he could take care of himself.

They were lowering him onto the bed and I was following behind when I tripped over something solid and heavy. After I caught my balance, I looked down to see what I’d stumbled over. A rock. A good-sized rock wrapped in paper, all of which was held in place by a large rubber band. I leaned over to pick it up. It was as big as a softball and heavy. “Russ, what’s this?” I held it in both hands.

Russ threw a glance my way. “I don’t know. Where’d you get it?” Meanwhile, Jameson pulled Mallory onto the bed next to him and she was unsuccessfully trying to get out of his grasp.

“It was on the floor right here.” I gestured to the spot. He came over to my side and looked it over, then pulled the sheet of paper off the rock. “I have no idea. I’ve never seen it before.” Russ pulled the paper out from underneath the rubber band. “There’s something written here,” he said, unfolding it.

Nadia

He read aloud, “Go home, Americans. Leave now or face a horrible death.”

“What?” Mallory said, jumping up to take a look.

Jameson slurred, “Dude, that is so not cool.”

“I didn’t write it,” Russ pointed out. “I’m just reading what it says.”

Mallory and I crowded around to get a look at the note. The paper was basic white printer paper, creased from being wrapped around the rock. The message was handwritten in all capital letters. I got a whiff of Sharpie marker, which made me think it had been written recently. “How awful,” Mallory said. “Who would have done this?”

“The Associates?” A good guess on my part. Mallory’s eyes grew wide.

“Whoever it was came into our room while we were in the bar.” Russ had a pensive expression, like he was working out a problem. “They’d have to have access to a room key to get in. They must have watched to see us leave, so they knew when the coast was clear. Maybe whoever did it has a room on this floor? Or else they work at the hotel.”

“Or they bribed someone who works here,” I said.

Jameson mumbled. “What kind of horrible death? Like are they talking about torture or decapitation or what…?” He made a slicing gesture across his own throat.

“Don’t even talk like that,” Mallory said. “You’re scaring me.” I sensed her fear and I tried to push it away because I didn’t want it. “We have to show this to Mr. Specter right away,” Mallory said, starting to get frantic. “He said we can knock on his door anytime.”

“Wait a minute.” Russ held up a hand. “Let’s think this through for a minute. If we talk to him now, he’ll want to know why we’re all up. And he’ll want to know why we weren’t in the room when the rock showed up.”

“Yeah, but…” Mallory wasn’t convinced.

“And we all smell like liquor,” Russ pointed out.

“And what if he sees Jameson like this?” I added. Jameson was examining the back of his hand and giggling to himself. “That’s going to be a huge problem.”

“So we’re supposed to just let it go? Maybe bring it up over breakfast?” she said. “Oh, by the way, we got a death threat last night? That’s no good.”

“I don’t think we should say anything at all,” Russ said.

“What do you mean?”

“I think we should keep it to ourselves,” he said. “Not tell them at all.”

“Not mention that someone wants to kill us? Are you insane?” Her voice pierced the air, and both Russ and I shushed her at the same time. “Don’t shush me,” she said. “I’m not going to shut up when my life is in danger.”

“I don’t think our lives are in danger,” Russ said. “Look, it’s a piece of paper, wrapped around a rock. With sloppy printing. It doesn’t say anything specifically. I think it’s meant to scare us. We’re being tested.”

Mallory looked up at him with her big dark eyes and put a hand on her hip. “So what is it that you think we should do?”

“I say we kill them.” Jameson’s muffled voice drifted over.

“I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to go home,” Russ said. “And that’s just what’s going to happen if we show this to Mr. Specter and he sees we’re afraid.”

“I’m not going home.” It came out louder than I intended. “I just got out, I can’t go back.” A feeling of panic welled up in my chest. It was like someone opened the door to my cage and then wanted to pull me right back in after a brief taste of freedom.

“None of us wants to leave,” Russ assured me.

“It’s not that I want to leave,” Mallory said. “But I don’t want to die either.”

“You’re not going to die,” Russ said.

Jameson said, “You’re wrong, sir. Everyone dies.” He turned his hand into a gun and made a shooting noise. Ka-pow.

“Not on this trip they don’t,” Russ said and then turned his attention to Mallory. “Look, could you at least give it until morning? I don’t want to wake them up.”

“Well…” Mallory said. “I don’t know.”

“Take the note with you and get a good night’s sleep. In the morning you can decide what to do with it. I’m thinking you might feel different in daylight.” Russ wrapped the note around the rock and secured it with the rubber band. “We’re all tired. Go sleep.”

“Come on, Mallory,” I said. “Let’s go back to our room. We need to sleep.” I hoped Russ was right and she’d change her mind.

Begrudgingly, she took the rock and we headed to the door. When I looked back I noticed Jameson sprawled across the bed, one leg draped awkwardly over the side. I had no idea how Russ was going to get him under the covers, or if he was even going to try.

We slipped out and went back to our room. When the door closed behind me I sighed in relief. Our wakeup call was in five hours. Not nearly enough sleep, but I’d take it.

I was almost asleep when I heard our door open and close, which scared me awake. I sat up, and listened. A solid clunk came from the hallway. When the door reopened a minute later, and I saw it was Mallory, I was both puzzled and relieved. “Where did you go?”

“I couldn’t sleep with that rock in the room,” she said. “So I chucked it in front of Mrs. Whitehouse’s door.”

“Why’d you do that?”

“Now it’s out of my hands. Whatever they decide, they decide. I don’t care what Russ thinks, this is something for the chaperones to deal with.” She went into the bathroom. The way she closed the door had the sound of finality about it. Case closed. Whatever happened with the rock and the death threat would be decided by someone else.

From the direction of Mrs. Whitehouse’s room, I heard a door open in the hallway and the grunt of a woman of a certain size leaning over to pick something up. I waited for a reaction, but there was nothing. And then the door closed. I whispered the news to Mallory when she came out of the bathroom, and we both listened for some kind of reaction—a knock, a shriek, a phone call, but when nothing came after the longest time, we eventually fell asleep.