"How will we know which rooms are empty of people, and which are not?" Prim asked, cocking her head to the side.

Her question gave Alice pause. She turned away, picking at her lower lip for a moment in thought. But she already knew. It was just a solution she did not particularly like.

"Only a few people can go through this hotel freely, yet not be noticed," she murmured out loud to herself.

Numi perked up. "Who is that?"

"The staff, of course," Prim said, all too easily.

Numi blinked her large buggy eyes. "Yeah, but Alice isn't a Hotel Attendant. She's an Apprentice merchant. Well, she’s really She of Many Dragons but right now she’s pretending…"

As Numi chattered, Alice swiftly took a look at her sheet and confirmed that Hotel Attendant was not one of her available hidden classes. However, Maid was. The hotel staff would surely be able to tell the difference, but would a high-classer?

No, she didn't think so. The lower classes were all but invisible to the uppers. This was a very dangerous gambit, but Alice needed her dragons to grow stronger, fast. With that in mind, she changed her visible class to Maid.

----------------------------------------

They did not move until it was the dead middle of the night. That was the best chance, Alice decided, for there to be fewer people around.

She thought briefly about leaving Prim safe back in the room, but if she and Numi were discovered, nowhere would be safe.

So, with reluctance, Alice hid Numi up her sleeve and instructed Prim to creep along with them under her most effective concealment skill. Alice pinned up her hair into a neat, plain bun she had seen some of the Hotel Attendants wear.

Her clothing was not at all appropriate. While it was neat, plain, and simple, it didn't match the hotel uniforms.

She would address that first. If Tom could find a uniform, so could she.

The first thing she did upon exiting her room was to check the small closet doors that were on either end of the hallway. These were unlocked and didn't give Numi the opportunity to practice her lock-picking skill.

The small closets were meant to store extra supplies — cleaning potions, scented beads that were charmed by Low Magician classes to emit a fragrant scent, or else destroy a particularly strong, noxious one. Piles of fluffy, clean towels, sheets, and extra blankets. There was even a cot that was folded up and neatly stored in the corner.

No extra maid outfits, though. She would have to search on.

Alice turned to the elevator and, feeling a sense of wonder, pressed the button to call it.

Thankfully, the inside of the elevator was empty. This hotel trusted its patrons to be able to navigate on their own. She peered at the buttons for a moment, glad to see that they were easy to understand.

Her floor, number three, was lit up. The rest were arranged in a tidy row. Below the first floor was 'B', she assumed for 'basement'. Surely there would be extra uniforms there… But there were much more likely to be Hotel Attendants who would immediately read her class tag and realize that something was wrong.

So, for lack of another idea, she made the elevator go one floor up.

As soon as she pressed the number four, the doors rumbled shut and Alice felt briefly heavier as the elevator ascended.

A small smile crossed her face, and she took a moment to think about how far she had come in such a short period of time. From a General Laborer to a girl who rode in elevators of a multi-story building. And it was all thanks to her dragons.

She looked at Prim, who had settled on the floor of the elevator, tucked in a corner and seemed to blend with the shadows. Numi was hidden her sleeve. Soon there would be one more dragon added to their little family.

Alice couldn't wait to meet them.

With a jolt, the elevator stopped and then the door slid open. The hallway beyond was thankfully empty as well. Though, the different color scheme briefly took her aback. The rugs were blue and gold and somehow… richer.

Alice suspected that higher-end guests rented the fourth floor.

It was just as quiet as the floor below.

She went to the first closet and found even more cleaning agents in greater varieties. The sheets seemed to be made of silk instead of fabric, too.

If Tom returned, Alice might lead the boy to these closets. Surely, he could fence the material and make himself a tidy profit.

Unfortunately, again, there were no uniforms.

With a frown, Alice walked to the other end of the hall where she noticed a small sign that said 'Butler's Room'.

The door was unlocked. She opened it very carefully, listening for sound. When there was none within, she walked in all the way.

This was yet another closet– a larger one – but she had hit pay dirt.

Not only were there more supplies, several uniforms were hung up… Two of them with stains on the sleeves or on the front, indicating why they had this changing room here.

The high classers expected their servants to be neat and presentable at all times, even when doing the dirty business of cleaning up after them.

Alice had heard the Maids and Housekeepers complain about it a time or two back at the Earl's estate.

The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Swiftly, Alice changed into one of the outfits with a splotch on the sleeve. It looked like the maid had splashed ink on herself, but that was fine. She only needed to be presentable at a glance.

Finally ready, Alice reentered the hall and took a closer look at the rooms.

Most of the doors had ominous "Do Not Disturb" signs hanging off of the doorknob. Others had menus placed by the door with breakfast orders written down.

Curious, Alice picked one of them up. Her eyebrows rose when she saw an elaborate breakfast order of something called 'Salmon Benedict' with fresh squeezed orange juice, two carafes of coffee, one of hot chocolate, and a selection of fine pastries.

She hoped that this was a meal for several people, though she suspected that the room only contained one or two.

To so casually order such a rich feast…

Shaking her head, she replaced the menu.

"Prim, keep an eye on the hallway just in case anybody comes through.”

Most of the room doors had similar ‘Do Not Disturb’ signs on the knobs. In fact, there was only one with neither a sign or a breakfast menu in front of the door.

It had to be empty.

Alice walked up to the door and put her sleeve to the knob. "Okay, Numi, just like just like we planned," she muttered.

She felt the little green dragon shift around in her sleeve. Then her pointed tail poked out as she started picking the lock.

The door opened with a soft click.

"These doors are not very hard," Numi muttered.

Alice was too nervous to reply. Her heart beat a fast rhythm in her chest, like a little hummingbird. She eased the door open a crack and put her ear to it. No sounds of breathing, and the room beyond was dark. With a nod, Alice walked in, gave Prim just enough time to fly in after them, and then closed the door behind them all. Again, she listened. Nothing. The room beyond was empty.

Letting out a breath, Alice headed straight for the closet. She didn't bother to turn on a light in the room – paranoia was on high, and though she doubted anyone was in the street beyond watching for lights where there should not be, she was too nervous to take any risks.

Just like with her room, there was a small safe inside the closet. Numi let out a little chirp of happiness and scuttled out of her sleeve, hopping to the safe. Just like with Alice's safe, she put her ear to it and started turning the lock this way and that.

"This room is larger than ours," Prim noted. "There's a whole other room beyond."

"It’s on a higher floor. Probably serves richer clients," Alice said.

"When you get more dragons, you should have a room like this," Prim said.

Alice didn't have time to consider that before several things happened at the same time: Numi, got the safe open, and with it, a new level, bringing her to 4. At the same moment, Alice received her own level and a notification:

You have gained 1 new aspect token!

A heartbeat later, Numi cried out aloud, "Coins!"

"What?" Alice asked, distracted by her notifications. Should she hatch out the aspect now?

Then what Numi said clicked. Her head snapped around to the little dragon. "What? There’re coins in there? But how can that be?”

Sure enough, the safe door opened to reveal several gleaming short stacks of gold coins, larger stacks of silver, and even a couple... Alice wasn't sure what they were. Three coins were of a bluish steel color.

Numi dived in, and before Alice could utter, "No, Numi!" she took one of the steel-blue coins, ripped out a hunk and swallowed it.

Her green hide started to glow and she instantly gained another level, bringing her to three. Prim squawked indignantly: Numi was now only a level lower than her!

"This is good stuff," Numi said.

Alice looked around and, locating a lamp in the gloom, flipped it on. What she saw made her stomach drop. There was a suitcase tucked to the side of the main bed, and although the closet was empty, a man had laid out his clothing for the day: A sharp suit and vest with leather shoes, polished to a gleam.

This room was occupied.

"We have to get out of here," she said. It was only luck that the man seemed to be out right now.

"I think we should stay," Numi murmured. Her voice was slightly slurred, and there was an unfocused quality to her eyes. She looked… drunk. Wobbling on her feet, she popped in the rest of the coin and swallowed it with a happy sigh.

In response, Alice quickly scooped up her little green dragon and shoved her into her sleeve again.

"Prim," she called. Prim immediately alighted to her, a comforting weight on her shoulder. Alice knew they couldn't show that they had been there. The blue coin was all gone.

Alice went to shut the door to hide the theft, then paused, her fingers hovering over the coins. There were four golden stacks. Each one of those coins meant another layer of safety and security for herself and her dragons.

She took a stack and slipped it into her pocket. Then, she closed the safe before she took any more, especially the blue steel, and spun the lock.

Straightening, she headed for the door.

"Let me," Prim said as Alice opened up the door a crack.

Prim stuck her elegant head out, looked this way and that down the hall, and retracted her head to look at Alice. "It's clear."

Exhaling, Alice stepped out and closed the door behind her. She heard it click behind her. Then she headed down the hall, every fiber in her wanting to run. She hit the elevator button.

The door opened almost instantly. A man stood on the other side, dressed fancily in a top hat and black suit including tails.

Years of habit had Alice lower her eyes and duck her head, dipping her knees in a tiny curtsy.

The man barely looked at her and brushed past her quite rudely, striding down the hall. Alice quickly slipped into the empty elevator, but as the door closed, she saw the man turn towards the door she had just left.

That had been so close. Another few moments, and he would've caught her in his room.

She jammed the button for the floor below, and was relieved once again when the door reopened and she saw that the red and gold hallway was empty.

She only let out her breath when she was back in her room, every lock thrown on the door. She leaned against the door, a hand pressed to her heart.

"That was too close. He could've caught us."

"But he didn't," Prim said.

Alice checked her sleeve to see Numi snoozing and… she felt a lot heavier than before. The fabric in her sleeve was now noticeably dipping.

The way Numi was growing, Alice didn't think the little dragon would be able to hide that up her sleeve for very much longer.

With a sigh, Alice crossed the room and gently eased the little dragon out of her sleeve and onto the bed. Numi curled up into a sated ball.

Next, Alice went to the balcony, first making sure to turn the lamp as low as possible, and looked out.

If the man with the tall hat discovered the theft, surely he would be calling for Police Officers, Lawmen, Constables or something. Maybe they would search all the rooms and account for the coins… Maybe they would hire investigative Magicians.

"Alice," Prim said again, fluttering next to her and landing on a small table meant to hold fancy drinks. "Alice, aren't you forgetting something?"

"What?" she peered out anxiously again, fretting she’d forgotten something vitally important that would make them be caught.

Prim’s voice was rich with amusement. "The aspect token. Do you want to use that now?"

"Oh!” She spun back around, heart lifting in hope. “Right."

Alice looked at her dragon, and Prim closed her eyes in her dragon version of a smile. "What do you need, Alice?" she asked.

"I need a defender," Alice said.