Life in a hotel is fantastic.

I soon found out that money was extraordinary to have. I've never had to wonder or worry about it, but I certainly read about the struggles. It wasn't until I lived as Wendy that I truly understood how money moved the world.

Now, I was experiencing it firsthand. Money matters.

My father owned the hotel we stayed in. This meant that I genuinely had the run of it. Others would soon live in the hotel because there was a whole wing for apartments. Since this was a new building, the future seven owners were unknown to me. I knew that the penthouse, the eighth one, was going to my father and me.

The building itself was ugly. It was sleek shiny, and very modern looking but I made a face as I stared up at it. Why is it so ugly? Give me the dilapidating Evans' home any day. My father laughed at my expression, and I turned it on him.

"Just wait until you see your new room." He said as he reached forward to touch my face. I had on this weird mask that changed my features. It fits like a sheet mask, but it sunk into the flesh and, using some kind of nanotech, morphed the face into something else.

My father wore one as well. His standard blandish features became even more bland and average. When you wear these, you're supposed to control your expression or risk it moving. It sounds counterproductive to have a mask that can move with an expression. Still, technological advancements haven't been made yet.

These masks allowed us to casually stroll around without anyone spotting us. I felt like the incognito bodyguards that an astute observer could spot might ruin that. There were a lot of holes in this, but it had been decided and created by the adults in my life.

I've never had a structured life created for me before. My father had a hand in everything and a plan. It silenced me from pointing out the flaws because having someone care for me felt nice. I pretty much raised and took care of all my needs in my original body. When I was Wendy, I had to take care of others. I was officially being taken care of.

We entered through the locked underground parking lot. There was an elevator that used a key to access the private lobby. You can take your own private elevator from the lobby to your condo.

There wasn't a soul outside of my father's entourage that followed us up the elevator. There shouldn't be anyone else, for that matter. My father hadn't sold them, though. The elevator to our new home was even more tucked away.

I wasn't impressed with what I saw. It was huge, and that was just the entryway. The walls went up so high. For some reason, the rich liked big windows. This place was no different. Once I exited the main room entrance, I was assaulted by the view of giant expansive windows.

It was nighttime, and the view from these expansive glass windows took my breath away. The windows were so big that it took me a moment too late to realize that there was a set of doors smack in the middle. We likely have an outdoor patio that I can't see right now. How fantastic would the view of the city lights be at night?

The living area before the windows wasn't so bad. Creamy white square couches were set up with some end tables and even a coffee table. Thanks to being Wendy, I knew the annoying cost of paying for nice furniture. I can't imagine how much this must have cost.

"Dolyn, your room is over here." My father approached me before I could check the dining room and kitchen. I ran after him down a hallway. My stubby legs gave it their all, but I couldn't keep up with his unnaturally long adult strides.

I didn't have time to look around because I focused on keeping pace with him. Finally, he stopped, but it was at a door with a pink sign and my name on it. I blinked as I watched him open it and gesture for me.

I stepped into the dark room, and a huge smile spilt my lips painfully at what I saw.

Now, don't get me wrong. I ended up loving Wendy's room, and my room in the library was the original one I had set up. But this was my dream room.

The hanging lamps in the room lit up as I stepped forward and created an ethereal play of light on the ivory walls. They had a strange bird shape that I didn't take even half a second to observe because I was too enthralled by my new room. It was simple for the most part, except for one very important part: the study area. It was so beautiful I didn't notice something important. I ran right to the wall of bookshelves. There were books on subjects I had yet to hear of or study. There was even a desk and a reading nook with a window seat close by. It could have passed as Wendy's if it hadn't been for the navy blue seating.

I blinked once as I looked behind me to see that it was just my father and me.

I turned to look back at the setup and, without a word, slipped into my locket world.

I was still furiously yanking carrots and potatoes from the ground when Mordecai tracked me down.

I could feel him watching me, but he didn't say anything. The noise my ancestral asshole made was the crackling of nuts as he opened pistachios. I didn't have to look to know that he was dropping the shells carelessly on the ground. Time had long proven that this God didn't care how big a mess he made.

Unfortunately, I broke the silence because he grew bored simply dropping the shells. Mordecai started chucking them at my head.

I spun on Mordecai, my still tiny body shaking with indignation. "I'm not doing this again. I was fine before you barged into my life. What happened to no God being able to directly interfere with how I turn out? All you've done is interfere and ruin everything." I ranted and vented every emotion and errant thought in my head.

Mordecai said nothing as he cracked nuts and popped them into his mouth. His blank expression gave me nothing as my words poured on him like a torrent.

I was heaving and sweaty when I ran out of accusations to throw his way.

"How are you even here anyway? Haven't I earned a break? I've been hurt enough as it is." I said with my last burst of energy as I kicked the pile of shells.

"Are you done?" Mordecai said. I half expected his voice to be bored from the strangely placid look on his face. Instead, it was devoid of emotion, and the hair on the back of my neck rose.

I bolstered my confidence to be strong. "I said what I had to say." I stuck my nose high and crossed my arms, ready for his rebuttal.

Mordecai lazily tossed a pistachio into the air. I couldn't help but look up to stare. The nut spun in the air and eventually became a familiar gold coin. Mordecai's nimble fingers plucked out of the air upon its descent, and I gulped as it rolled across his knuckles. He flipped it again and looked at the coin, giving nothing away before tossing it. The coin became a nut again, and his teeth caught it on the way down.

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I've seen Mordecai do this before, but never a nut into the coin.

"First of all, to toss around that special rule created for cases such as yourself, you must know what the rule is and why it exists." His usual cocky brash voice was replaced with a more somber careful tone.

I much prefer a child-like Mordecai. Who the fuck was this?

"That rule is special because, in all of our history, there's only been a handful of beings it could apply to. Our bloodline is special in that it's been invoked twice."

"What's the rule?" My voice was hoarse and barely audible.

Mordecai's bright eyes locked onto me like the bird of prey he was. "You're the last mortal of my line. No one can interfere with how you turn out unless you don't have children to carry the line. To keep the mortal line going, you have to procreate. You were reaching the point of no return."

I opened my mouth to fight that, but Mordecai didn't give me a chance. He held up a hand, and my mouth shut promptly.

He crossed his other hand over his waist stiffly, and momentarily, I could see someone else covering him. It was a figure that looked vaguely familiar and yet completely alien. The image flickered and then disappeared as I listened to what he was saying.

"You were planning to live your life in this world I so graciously granted you. Toiling away in the dirt and ignoring all of your options. Thus, Moi utilized a loophole to push you in the right direction. This isn't punishment for you, Gwendolyn. This new life is a vacation. Your chance to heal. I've given you an enviable life most would kill for."

"It has no appeal."

"That is a lie." Mordecai's lips quirked up into a sneer. "Not the first one you've told me, but I let the others go, all things considered, because I was using bait. My patience is over, and it's time to use the stick."

I shook my head as I tried to speak, but a stammer emerged. It was impossible to deny. There was appeal. I had a father who was taking care of me. It wasn't the typical support I was used to, and I was tempted by that. The only other person I had felt so comfortable with was the one I couldn't name. That's all I had wanted before becoming Wendy.

"If this was about having an heir, you can kiss that goodbye in this new world."

Mordecai chuckled darkly as he rolled that same coin across his knuckles. "This is about your healing. The only thing you have to do is spend time. Time is the only way your heart can be soothed. I'm not expecting children. They can't be brought out of that world and wouldn't carry my blood."

"I have healed," I said this through numb lips.

"You've done the opposite of that," Mordecai said as his eyes burned into mine.

I opened my mouth to lie again, but my throat tightened, and my mouth snapped shut.

"I'm partial to you, Wendy, but make no mistake, you don't have any other option but what I grant you," Mordecai said as his eyes turned up the heat. Again, that image came back, and I blinked. I couldn't feel power pouring off him, but I could tell he wasn't beyond using it.

It was easy to forget that the smirky little shit Mordecai was actually a Goddess. Right now, it was easily believable as her proper form flickered to the surface.

"Why does it matter that I have mortal children?" I said in a desperate attempt to appease and change the topic from her will.

"There has to be a balance to power, and that requires options," Mordecai said with a shrug. That overlapping image disappeared, to my relief. The burning eyes lowered their heat, and Mordecai was looking at me with the safer calm of before.

Balance and options. Wait, did that mean what I thought it did?

Mordecai smirked as if he understood my thoughts, and how that related to me sent my mind reeled.

"The cousin you spoke of, Merry, is the other case? Did it happen because she's Caelestis' heir?"

"Merindah is even more special." Mordecai's voice held a note of warmth that made me a little jealous. "It was with far more ease I could set Merry on the correct path. I suppose your difficulty is due to having my blood."

My back stiffened at this." Difficulty doesn't run in the blood."

Mordecai laughed at this, and the little tension in the air finally dispersed.

I wasn't off the hook, though, as that all too familiar coin was tossed into the air. Mordecai caught it but didn't look. He hadn't taken his eyes off me, making me wonder. If Merry was so easy to handle, is that because I had more power? I could move between worlds, but wherever he had put her, she couldn't. What if I could put myself in the same world as her. I had so many questions.

"So you've reached the end of my grace. I have to punish you for breaking character and running into your space. You were in here for a month before I tracked you. So I'm going to have to put limitations on it." Mordecai's smile as he spoke held only malice.

I opened my mouth to protest, but he spoke right over me. "I'll restart you, and remember I'm not the only one watching over you."

I recalled how even Aczuio, my ancestral uncle, loved games and wagers. "Are there bets going on?" Please say no.

Mordecai laughed outright. "I lost a wager because of your jailbird act."

No wonder he was so mad. I thought as I scanned him. "I don't like the name." I wasn't brave enough to threaten him, but I pushed those thoughts into my brain as I met his eyes. I can be more difficult, they said.

"Dolyn is perfect. It's short for Gwendolyn."

"No one uses that as a nickname, let alone a real name," I said, thrusting my chin out.

"Don't get me started on Tuffin."

"Also, a legitimate name," Mordecai said with narrow eyes.

"I'll behave," I said with the last bit of bravado in my reserves. "I just want a new name."

Mordecai pursed his lips as he narrowed my eyes. "Fine. Tuffin is out."

I opened my mouth to remind him about the dumb first name, but Mordecai waved his hands, and everything went dark.

I woke up in the hotel in my new bedroom named Dolyn Savage. A step up, I suppose.

Everything was essentially the same. I was the daughter of the world's richest man. Instead of his name being David Tuffin, it was David Savage.

Mordecai skipped through all the previous parts, and it had already been a month since my father moved us into the hotel. I suppose the skip was partly due to how I spent a month in the locket. But it was as if that incident had never happened.

Speaking of the locket. I looked down at it before clasping it in my hands. Mordecai said he would limit it, but I desperately need it in the coming days. When zombies roamed the world, I would need food and a safe way to grow. I attempted to enter the locket and was surprised when I slipped into my familiar sanctuary without any issue.

The comforting scent of life tickled my nose, and I relaxed at the familiar slopes of crops and the fenced enclosures for the farm animals.

So Mordecai was bluffing. A smirk grew on my face as I prepared to slip out. Only to my dismay, a bright red flashing sign spread on the sky. I gulped as my smile was wiped clean away.

All it had was a countdown, and I'd been given only fifteen minutes. I waved a hand, and my all-too-trusty control panel popped into being. I tapped away frantically, trying to figure out how to make it go away.

Annoyingly, a pop-up came on the screen. What the fudge. Mordecai had posted a new TOS. I frantically read it, and when I was done, all joy at thwarting the system was washed away.

I should have known better. Mordecai doesn't bluff. There was a time limit in place for the locket world. I had 15 minutes until the world was wiped out. And I could only go in once a day for fifteen minutes.

The worst part of the terms of service is that I couldn't reject them. At the end of the terms, Mordecai signed it for me. So there was no going back.

Instead of taking my time and joyfully caring for my crops, I had to bite back my tears and use the control panel to water, harvest, and feed the plants and animals.

I had mere seconds before the timer was empty, and I was ready to leave.

Mordecai was serious about taking away my security blankets. If I slipped into my hideaway home before he calmed down, who knows what he'd do to that. Or maybe it hadn't escaped his fury and was already altered. Either way, it was better not to remind him of its existence.

So, for now, I had to play exactly as he wanted. There was a slim part of me that knew he was right. I wasn't healing, just numbing myself. But confronting my feelings wasn't something I wanted.

I didn't want to forget but I didn't want to remember either. I just want to be numb. Maybe in time, I'd be more.

But for now, I looked at my room and then down at my neck. My time had run out in the locket world as if to reflect that the locket was gone. I knew it would come back tomorrow when I could use it again, but breathing was difficult. I needed the comfort and security of my sanctuary world. It helped me rebuild myself.

I might have relaxed, but my hand was empty as well. My spacial ring was going to be held hostage as well?!

If the locket world ran on my soul's energy and was bound to my soul, did that mean Mordecai weakened my soul and stopped me from utilizing my spaces? The game of stones came to mind, and I groaned. He did mention my soul during that time. The questions he asked me were strange, but here I was in a world with a father instead of a mother....what else did he make come true?

I imagined that void of space that I could fill with all I desired…and found nothing. It was gone like my locket world.