Chapter 215

As Noah tried to escape from the burning building, she felt water pouring down on her. She looked up to see that the sprinkler system had activated, and was dousing the flames. Peering down the hallway she had fled from, she could see that Adrian had vanished. Breaking away from the crowds still trying to evacuate, Noah stopped by the front office to deactivate the alarm system, sighing in blessed relief at the silence that followed. 

Back out in the hallway, she checked that no one was around before darting up the stairs to the second floor. A carpet spread down the narrow hallway, with dozens of numbered guest rooms on either side. Noah crept over to one that was ajar, and peered in.

It appeared to be a regular guest room with a double bed and an en-suite bathroom, except for the people sprawled out all over the floor. They were twitching, which did nothing to soothe Noah’s nerves. She slipped out the room and carried back up the corridor.

There was a sense of unease about the place, one she could not put her finger on. Those people, were they simply there because they needed to rest after a heavy day of drinking? Or were they part of something much more sinister. Not to mention how the corridor seemed to be changing around her.

She could feel it getting narrower, and it was far too short to cover the span of the hotel. Wanting to leave the corridor and continue exploring, Noah tried to step foot onto the stairs leading to the third floor. Instead, she was met with strong resistance, as if she had encountered another barrier.

No matter how hard she pushed, the barrier would not give. She clicked her tongue in annoyance, and summoned fire in her palm. Sparks from the flames lit the barrier and began to burn it away. 

But it was soon clear that it was burning more than the barrier away. 

The wooden stairs and rails, which had started to rot, turned into brass that gleamed under the light of her flames. Along the walls, the paintings disappeared, leaving only the frames behind. Before Noah could take in the sudden change, she was flung to the floor by a rumble from deep within the hotel.

She curled up in a ball until the movement ceased, praying that the hotel did not collapse on her. When all was quiet, Noah scrambled to her feet. She wanted nothing more than to flee, but something was pulling her up to the third floor. Some unknown force that she couldn’t refuse. 

As if in a daze, Noah climbed up the stairs to the third floor and stared in awe at the scene unfolding before her. Similar to the floor below, dozens of rooms spanned either side of the hallway.

What was different was the wooden picture frames that had turned into windows, and the stair rail turned into a pipe going across the wall. Dim lights cast an orange glow, one that made it hard to see where Noah was going. As she approached one of the doors, she noticed that they were not wooden, like those downstairs. Instead, there was iron, with a circular window inserted. 

As she peered in, Noah caught a whiff of the familiar lavender scent. Inside the room, people were standing around, a vacant expression on their faces. 

“What is this place?” Noah stepped back from the door, horrified at the amount of people who seemed to be locked in the rooms. She buried her head in her hands, trying not to hyperventilate. Though it was her goal to find the laboratory, she had not actually intended to find it so easily. She expected more of a challenge to find it, and now she had, she didn’t have a clue as to what to do. As she tried to calm her breathing, she heard a creaking noise in front of her. Her head shot up, and all she could see was white. 

With a panicked cry, she shot a fireball out in front of her. The figure yelled in fright and leapt out the way, allowing her fireball to travel down the corridor where it came into contact with the walls and sizzled out. 

“Human?” She whimpered, another fireball at the ready. The man blinked a couple of times, then turned around to reveal the “R” behind his ears. 

“Who are you? This place is strictly off-limits to those who do not have permission from the owner.” The man cleared his throat and tried his best to sound authoritative.  

“Me? I’m a friend of the owner,” Noah used her sweetest voice, curling her hair around her finger. “Lenia Valtalere. Do you know where she is?” She added with a girlish giggle. 

The man looked as though he wanted to protest, but instead he sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.