Shattered World (Shattered #3)

Chapter Four

T he buildings towered over us as we entered into the city. We had been walking since the sun had risen, the streets as empty as the day before. But the further we walked, the more people I began to see.

People littered the sidewalks, our worn and grimy clothing standing out amongst their fresh outfits. Multiple stares found their way to us, their noses scrunching up in disgust or their brows raising in confusion.

I knew my face must have looked the same as I stared at them. It was like I was thrown back in time to eight months ago, before everything had gone awry. Cars honked down the streets, shops and restaurants open as people filed in and out.

“What’s going on here?” Mina whispered when we passed a significantly busy area, people in dress clothes streaming past, clearly dressed for work.

“It’s like they have no idea what’s going on,” Aiden added on.

The sight should have been a relief. How many times had I wished for everything to go back to normal? But instead of relief, tension tightened my shoulders, my hand squeezing Murphy’s tighter.

“We need to figure out what’s going on,” I said to Murphy, and he nodded in agreement.

In any other situation, we would have immediately ducked into an abandoned building, giving ourselves the privacy and safety to figure out our next steps. Unfortunately, that obviously wasn’t going to happen.

Murphy pointed ahead of us, nodding toward a sign that boasted a hotel. “We’ll have to stay somewhere.”

I didn’t bother mentioning that none of us had money to pay for a hotel room, Murphy knew that already. But given we didn’t have many other options, I agreed, passing on the information to the others as we all headed toward the tall building.

Walking inside, I immediately felt out of place. Elizabeth pulled the kids to the side, having them sit on a couch in the corner of the spacious room, admonishing them when their dirty shoes hit the polished cushions of the couch.

A younger man, not possibly older than twenty, stood behind the front counter, his head tilted toward a computer screen. As we approached, his head snapped up, a friendly and practiced smile on his face.

As he took us in, the smile slowly faded. I couldn’t even imagine how we looked. Knotted hair, dirt covered clothes that only somewhat fit. And that was simply our physical appearance. I knew that if someone looked hard enough, they could see the exhaustion in our eyes. The fear and uncertainty that followed us around like a shadow.

“Hello, welcome to the Starlight Inn. Do you need rooms for the evening?” He asked, the small smile back on his face, but his eyes stayed pinched as he glanced us over.

I knew one of us needed to speak up, but I couldn’t find the right words. How did I convince him to give eight people free rooms for the unforeseeable future?

Thankfully, Aiden stepped in, a friendly smile spreading his lips. “Hi,” his eyes drifted toward the man’s nametag, “Braden. My family and I are visiting from out of town. It’s been quite the long journey. Our car broke down and we seem to have misplaced our wallets.”

The lie flowed easily from Aiden’s mouth, but Braden didn’t seem to believe a word. Not that I blamed him. The lie itself was inane, not to mention that we clearly had been through much more than a simple car issue.

Tangling my fingers together, I began fidgeting, trying to wrack my brain for another plan. My mind slipped to Warner and Rainer, wondering what they would do in this situation. Unfortunately, that didn’t help much. Knowing those two, they’d use fear tactics until the poor boy handed us the keys to the hotel.

Braden opened his mouth to respond, probably to kick us off the premises, but before he could speak, a woman stepped out from a door behind the counter. She was older, closer to Elizabeth’s age than any of ours.

Her sharp pant suit matched the severe lines of her face. She didn’t wear a practiced smile as Braden did, nor a nametag to clue us in as to who she was. But she seemed determined as she walked to the counter, placing a manicured hand on Braden’s shoulder.

“I’ll help this family out, Braden. You can go ahead and take a break,” the woman said, her voice as confident as the rest of her.

Braden nodded quickly, his eyes sparing us one last glance before he grabbed a backpack and hurried out of the room to take his break.

Once he was gone, our small group and the woman behind the counter the only ones left in the expansive room, she turned toward us with a calculating smile.

Her gaze scanned over each of us, her eyes narrowing every few seconds, searching for something. I waited with bated breath as her dark brown gaze landed on me. Her eyes stripped me bare as she scanned me from head to toe. I patiently waited for her perusal to end, but her eyes never strayed from me.

“My name is Caroline. And yours is?” She asked, tilting her head to the side, her neatly slicked back bun not moving an inch.

Clearly, she was only speaking to me. Swallowing roughly, my voice was scratchy as I answered, “Alessia.”

She nodded once. “And this is your family?”

“Yes.” I didn’t hesitate.

Caroline hummed softly. She reached beneath the counter, retrieving two sets of room keys. “I only have two rooms available and I’m afraid they’re all the way on the top floor. Will that be enough?”

I knew she was waiting for a response, but I was too stunned to form one. What in the world was happening? Thankfully, Murphy slid a hand forward, making up for my silence.

“Two rooms are plenty. Thank you.”

Caroline handed over the room keys, nodding as she shifted back toward the room she had exited. “If you need anything, you may come to me. But I think you will find your stay here to be very accommodating.”

With those cryptic words, she shut the door behind her, leaving the eight of us in disbelieving silence.

“Should we be concerned?” Mina asked quietly, glancing toward the door Caroline had disappeared behind.

“We’d be stupid not to be,” Murphy told her gently, Aiden and I nodding in agreement.

Sasha grabbed one of the keys from Murphy’s hand, glancing at the room number and then heading toward the elevator across the room. “And we’d be even more stupid to not take the free room for the night.”

As much as my body urged me to run, to get out of this place and not accept help from a stranger, I knew Sasha was right. For at least one night, this would have to do. And tomorrow, I’d figure out what the hell Caroline was up to.