CHAPTER 24

OCTOBER 22ND, 6:31 P.M.

--LAUREL--

Join the winning side.

“Fuck.”

Laurel voiced her distaste as she watched live footage of Rayshe delivering a message from the burning capital of the U.S.S. All TV screens in The Palace were broadcasting the same channel, making sure each guest saw the state of their country. While heads turned and people gossiped, decorum remained.

“Is our plan dead?” Leo asked. “They could shut down the auction tomorrow if riots are at the doorstep.”

“I’m not sure,” Laurel answered. She observed the patrons, noticing how they acknowledged the situation, yet continued their vacations as normal. The NLV could have that kind of effect on some.

At this time, it seems this ‘riot’ has been contained to D.C., despite reports of rallying Survivors in other states. President Hall’s statements have controlled the violence from spiraling, as he adamantly enforced that this is merely a message.

“This raises the stakes,” Laurel added. “We get busted in the middle of espionage against the President while the country is on the brink of civil war…”

“It won’t be ‘the brink’, anymore,” he replied. “All the more reason not to get busted. Let’s go find the others.” Laurel silently agreed as they resumed their exit from The Palace.

A dim sky in the waning moments of the day greeted them as they exited the grand structure. They walked down the marble steps, scanning the circular courtyard before them where Frank and Boone were supposed to meet them.

“I can’t see them,” she remarked. Just as she said that, two men came into view. A tall dark skin man and a white blonde man pushing a bent shopping cart with a robot inside.

“Nevermind.”

“You two see the news?” Boone asked as they approached.

“Yeah, couldn’t miss it,” Leo answered. “Did you set the jammer.”

“Indeed,” Frank responded. “You got the security details?” Leo replied by holding up the flash drive, keeping it low and close to his body so bystanders couldn’t see.

“He enjoy his trash nap?” Laurel quipped, pointing at Tommy.

“When we plug him in, we can ask,” Frank said.

“There are cheap motels on the outer edge of the NLV,” Laurel said. “That’ll have to do. Besides, no place is ‘cheap’ when you’re here.”

“Let’s get going then,” Leo said.

The four of them started down the sidewalks of the NLV while Frank pushed Tommy’s uncharged carcass. Nightfall was steadily approaching; what was left of the suns luminance slowly disappearing as the sky turned black. The streets were brightened by not only lights that recently flicked on, but the neon glow of the floating advertisements above them. Their knees ached from the long day of walking, but they were still blocks away from their destination.

Laurel discreetly glanced at Leo, trying to get a study of his emotions. She regretted her aggression towards him earlier at The Palace, realizing she was just as guilty of lack of communication as he was. However, he seemed as unbothered as ever. Whether that was because he wasn’t thinking about it or wasn’t showing it, she didn’t know. Either way, she wanted to make it right.

“Hey, Leo,” she spoke softly to him.

“What’s up,” he answered, returning her quiet tone back.

“I just wanted to apologize for going off on you earlier,” she started. “I shouldn’t have been expecting you to just… announce something, I guess. Instead of waiting, I should have been honest and straightforward with you from-“

“It’s okay, Laurel,” he interrupted.

“I’m just saying that-“

“You don’t have to apologize,” Leo interrupted again. “You were right.”

“I still want to explain what’s on my mind,” she insisted.

“Okay,” he agreed. “I’m all ears.”

“For a long time, I was assuming that you would say something that would… well I wasn’t sure in the first place if you actually…” she stuttered as she tried to find the right words through her awkwardness.

“Laurel, it doesn’t matter what you didn’t do or say, or what I didn’t do or say in the past, because we both don’t know what were doing. No ones to blame here,” Leo explained. “What matters is that all is clear now. We both know what we want. Let’s just take it from here.”

Laurel felt her body relax. She realized how much she was overthinking it by how easily Leo diffused it.

“Right,” she said. “We’ll take it from here.” Silence returned to their walk as everyone was too tired to stir up a group conversation. The sun had fully disappeared under the horizon now as they grew closer to the outskirts of the NLV.

“When this is over,” Laurel started to Leo again. “I-“ She suddenly went quiet as they stopped at an intersection, waiting for the signal to cross the street. Strangers grouped up at the corner, leaving little room for a private conversation.

“Talk later?” Leo whispered.

“Sure,” she whispered back. “Tonight?”

“Tonight.”

They walked for another 20 minutes before finally reaching a motel. It was a small, two story, u-shaped building, with a parking lot in the middle. Despite being one of the lowest budget locations at the NLV, it was still elegant in appearance, with freshly painted white walls and dark brown trim. Outside the motel was healthy, vibrant green trees and perfectly trimmed grass. This far out from the center of the city, the glow of the advertisements was gone, leaving only the untainted beauty of the night.

Laurel stood by the sidewalk in front of the main entrance, transfixed on the glassy, semi-transparent texture in the sky. Being so close to the edge of the bubble, its field could be barely seen. She watched as the landscape beyond it was distorted to her, thinking about how much power she could gain just by walking outside of it.

Reality began to set in for her. They were without their abilities, leaving them defenseless if they ever were to fail. Her whole life she has taken advantage of her talents for almost everything. But now, she was suddenly thrust into a powerless do-or-die situation. Despite all of that, she felt confident. They had Tommy’s jammer in place anyways; she’ll have her powers back if it gets bad.

“Laurel?” Frank said to her. She snapped out of her daydreaming, noticing she missed a conversation.

“What? Sorry, I drifted off,” she said.

“Boone and I will purchase clothes nearby for tomorrow,” Frank said. “We will need to clean up well for this event.”

“Right, thanks Frank,” she replied.

“While they’re doing that,” Leo said while reaching into his pocket. “Could you get us a room? The biggest one they offer.” He handed her a clip of cash: all 100’s stacked together. “Courtesy of my former employer. I’ll stay with metalhead out here.”

Laurel took the money from him, smirking to herself as she looked at Tommy ‘asleep’ in the shopping cart. As much as she loved that robot, it was nice to hear him shut up for a while. She slid the cash into her pocket and turned to the front door of the motel.

The interior matched the outside of the building, with polished white tile floors accented by brown trim and furniture. The main lobby was small, with only a receptionist desk to the right and a quaint waiting area to the left. The back of the room was a set of elevators with branching hallways on either side. To her sight, no one was around. No guests or employees.

Laurel walked over to the receptionist desk, lightly tapping the bell on it to request assistance. She waited a moment for someone to come out, but it never happened. She confusedly looked around, trying to peek through the door behind the desk. She hit the bell again, harder this time.

It's not even that late, right? She thought to herself. Looking around the lobby, the only clock she could see on the wall was stuck, displaying the incorrect time. On the other side of the desk was a monitor, which seemed to be on by the light it was giving off.

Laurel leaned over, trying to tip the monitor backwards to see the time on the screen. She couldn’t get a good enough view from the angle she was at, causing her to reach down and grab it by its base, trying to turn it around to herself. It’s cords tightened up, stopping it from turning after further.

“Oh, for crying out loud,” she mumbled to herself. She started to tug harder, but careful not to accidentally unplug it. Just then, a skinny teenager appeared through the back doorway. His face was dull, and his eyes were sunken in with heavy bags underneath them. His hair was jet black, greasy, and unkept. Someone who definitely loves their job.

“Uh, excuse me miss,” he said. “But you’re not really supposed to be touching that.” His voice was quiet, and his cadence was slow, like he was either sleep deprived or drugged. Or both.

“Sorry,” Laurel said embarrassed, returning the monitor to its original position.

“Apologies for the wait miss,” he said, slumping into the chair behind the desk. “Is there…” he paused, randomly blinking very slow and smacking his lips. “Is there anything I can do for you?”

“Yeah, I’d like to get a room.”

“Can I get a name?”

“Laurel.”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

“Yanny?”

“No, Laurel.”

“Oh.” He began clacking away at the keyboard. She awkwardly tapped her fingers on the desk as she waited.

“I take it you don’t get guests around this time very often,” she said, trying to strum up small talk to alleviate the silence.

“We don’t get guests very often at all,” he replied.

“Oh,” Laurel said. “I wonder why. This place is… it’s nice, you know.”

“Yeah,” he said, pausing from the keyboard strokes and grabbing a device from his pocket. It was a thin, pen-shaped object that he put to his lips and began to inhale. Laurel furrowed her eyebrows when she saw what he was doing, appalled that he didn’t care that she was right in front of him. He put the device back in his pocket, pulling up the collar of his shirt and exhaling into it.

“What kind of room would you like?” he asked, with small puffs of smoke escaping his mouth as he spoke.

“What’s the biggest one you have?” she said.

“There’s a two-bedroom suite available.”

“That’s perfect.”

“That’ll be 499.”

Laurel’s eyes shot open as she heard the price.

“For one night?”

“Yeah…”

“That’s fine, I guess,” she said with a sigh. She pulled the stack of cash from her pocket, folding out five bills to hand to the receptionist. He took the money, opening a drawer next to him and pulling out a thin, white plastic card.

“Here’s your key,” he said. “Room number is 203. Have a good night.” His eyes rolled to the back of his head as he leaned back into his chair, staring up at the ceiling.

“Thanks…” Laurel said, gently taking the keycard from him as his attention was seemingly indisposed at the moment. She slid it in her pocket and walked back outside to where Leo was waiting, leaning against the shopping cart.

“What did you get?” he asked.

“I got us a two-bedroom suite, but Leo, you will not believe how much it costed,” she ranted to him.

“Don’t worry about it. It’s probably the cheapest place around here anyways,” he assured.

“Still,” she said while handing the rest of his cash back to him. “When the guy said it, in my head I was like ‘This has to be a j- ‘ that one, over there. 203,” she interrupted herself to point out their room. They set off across the parking lot, pushing Tommy’s shopping cart with them.

“And to top it all off, the guy was smoking something right in front of me,” Laurel continued. “I mean, I don’t really care about the smoking but… you know. There’s a customer in front of you. Have some decency.” She sighed as they reached their motel room. “Whatever. I’m rambling.”

With a swipe of the keycard in front of the lock, the door beeped, allowing them access. The door swung open; the dilapidated and unmaintained interior revealed itself to them.

“What the hell is this?” Laurel snapped.

“Seems appearances is all they care about,” Leo commented.

“This was 499 dollars.”

“It’s what’s on the inside that counts.”

Laurel playfully smacked him on the shoulder as they entered the room. The wallpaper was stained and tattered. The couch was sunken and ripped. It reeked of mold, and several light bulbs were broken.

On each side of the room was a door that led to the bedrooms. Laurel tip toed over, avoiding stains as she opened the door, revealing the bedroom that was just as bad as the common area.

“There’s definitely something living in that bed,” she said.

“I don’t think the floor will be much better,” Leo said, positioning the shopping cart so he can push Tommy over onto the couch.

“Of all things that could go wrong, the room and board was the last thing I would’ve thought of,” she said, joining Leo by the couch.

“There’s still plenty of time,” he remarked, giving the corner of the cart a pull to line it up parallel to the length of the couch. Laurel got on the other side, helping him turn the five hundred pounds of metal.

“Well, don’t say that,” she replied. “Positivity, Leo.”

He tossed their bags that buried Tommy out and onto the floor nearby. Placing his shoe flat against the side of the cart, he kicked it over, making Tommy fall out sideways and lay perfectly across the couch. Reaching down behind his back, he grabbed his outlet plug, pulling it out to connect him into the wall.

“Do you think this is going to blow up?” Leo asked.

“It won’t blow up, but I also don’t think it’ll work,” Laurel responded.

“Positivity, Laurel,” he said sarcastically, plugging in the cord. A loud pop and flash of blue light emitted from the outlet. The lights went dim for a moment as a faint smell of smoke filled the room. But soon after, the smell dissipated, the lights returned to full brightness, and nothing had blown up.

“What I tell you?” he said with a smirk.

“Where in the actual fuck am I?” Tommy’s voice suddenly spoke out.

“Hey buddy,” Laurel said, suppressing a laugh.

“What did you do to me?” he said, his voice distorted and glitching. His body remained stiff like before, not yet powered enough to move.

“You were out for a while,” Leo clarified.

“Why does this look like we’re in a dump?” Tommy asked. “What is this place? New Jersey?”

“We’re in a motel on the edge of the city,” Laurel started. “And this place cost 499 a night somehow.”

“Pssh. Don’t worry about that girl, we make stacks,” he said. “Did you get the script?” Leo pulled the flash drive from out of his pocket, putting it on Tommy’s chest.

“That’s great,” he said. “What do you want me to do with this? I can’t move my arms.”

“Where does it go?” Leo asked.

“On my right wrist, see that,” he said. They both looked down at his arm. “You should see a little gap that you can stick your finger under.”

“Uhuh.”

“Get under there and pull up.” Leo did as he said, pulling up a socket with a USB port.

“Do you need more instructions or do you got it?”

Leo rolled his eyes as he inserted the flash drive into Tommy’s wrist.

“Are you seeing it?” he asked.

“Uhhh,” the robot paused. “Yeah… I’m getting it but it’s pretty dense. This might take me a while to get through.”

“Good thing we got all night,” Leo said.

“Where are the others?” Tommy said.

“Getting clothes for tomorrow.”

“Oh, good.”

Laurel suddenly kicked Tommy in the leg playfully, making a loud clank.

“What the- Who the fuck? Laurel?”

She giggled in response, kicking him again.

“Why are you doing that?”

“I’m seizing the opportunity,” she said through laughs, kicking him again.

“I’m gonna kick your fucking ass when I can move again.” She waved him off, walking away and into the room she peeked into earlier.

The comforter on the bed was stained all kinds of colors, the blinds over the window were crooked, bent, or missing entirely, and the ceiling fan was hanging sideways, threatening to fall at any minute. She mulled over the state of the room, still seething about the price tag for it.

However, she noticed something sitting on the dresser adjacent to the bed. A record player, with a stack of vinyl discs next to it.

“No way,” Laurel gasped. It seemed the least dusty and unkept out of all the things in the room, as if it had recently been put there. She went through the stack of discs; all classic jazz and soul albums. She smirked as an idea popped into her head.

Don’t kick me. Oh, what the fuck.

She heard Tommy from out on the couch as Leo messed with him as well. Soon after, he entered the bedroom, leaving the robot to decipher the script in peace.

“Leo,” she said to him, eyebrows low.

“Laurel,” he matched.

“You said you wanted to take things from here. Let’s start now,” she said, holding out her hand. “Dance with me.” He cocked his head to the side, processing her request.

“You do know what dancing is, right?” she asked.

“I do,” he answered. “But I have a feeling it’s different than what you are trying to get me to do.”

“Then I’ll teach you. Close the door,” Laurel said. Leo obliged, closing it and walking towards her. Now that they were alone, she set a vinyl disc into the record player and started it. Once it began to spin, she lowered the needle onto it. Calm, soothing soul music vibrating from the record player, setting the mood.

“Come here,” she said to him. “So, you’ve never slow danced before?”

“No.”

“Have you heard of slow dancing before?”

“No.”

“A rookie,” she teased him. “Here’s what you have to do. Your hands go here,” she put her hands on her hips in demonstration. Leo stood there in front of her, awkwardly raising his hands up and leaving them hanging in the air.

“Come on, I don’t bite,” she assured him, grabbing his wrists, and directing them. “And my hands go here,” she said, wrapping her arms over his shoulders and behind his neck.

“Once that’s setup, all we do is this.” Laurel began to sway back and forth, taking Leo with her. He quickly picked up the simple technique, matching her rhythm.

“This is it?” he asked.

“This is it,” she confirmed.

“This isn’t what I would consider dancing.”

“It’s about the companionship.”

Leo smirked, “I like the companionship.”

“Ditto, Leo,” Laurel smiled. “This guy,” she pointed her hand towards the record player, “is blind. Was, blind.”

“The singer?” Leo asked.

“And the player, yes.”

“How is he playing if he’s blind?”

“He memorized the instrument, I guess. A talented dude.”

“Hmm,” he hummed in response. They stayed quiet, letting the moment sink in as they looked into each other’s eyes. It finally felt like they were on the same page. No more guessing games, no more walking a line. No more trying to gauge the others feelings.

They were finally connected spiritually. It made Laurel laugh internally thinking this was kept away for so long just because they were both too timid to say something first. But like Leo said, it doesn’t matter what wasn’t said before, they were here now. That’s all that matters.

“This is how people dance on Earth?” he asked.

“Sometimes,” she answered. “What? They don’t slow dance where you’re from?”

“No. Dancing is much more active and usually involves way more than two people.”

“We do that too. But that takes choreography and practice, and we don’t have time for that,” she joked with him.

“So, who taught you how to do this?” Leo asked.

“Nobody,” Laurel replied. “It’s simple enough. I picked it up from watching stuff, movies and what not. Seeing other people do it.”

“This is your first time?”

“Don’t sound so smug, this is your first too.”

“I’m not,” he clarified. “This to me, feels very intimate. I’m happy to be sharing it with you.” Laurel felt her cheeks flare up.

“Me too, Leo.”

“So, tell me about what dancing on your world was like,” she asked him. “I’m curious.”

“Well, it was usually a party thing,” he started. “When you got thirty plus people around and the music gets going is really the only time we would start dancing.”

“I’d love to see little Leo partying,” Laurel said.

“I’m afraid I’m going to have to disappoint you, because little Leo didn’t party,” he stated.

“Why not?”

“I was in training for most of my time on Hjallarhelm,” he started. “I wasn’t allowed to go to parties. I wasn’t allowed to do much of anything. They were very strict. I was only there until I was seventeen as well-“

“You left when you were seventeen?” she interrupted.

“Yeah… seventeen.”

“Why so young?”

He sighed. “I guess it just felt right at the time.”

“Oh,” she replied solemnly, sensing that it might not be the fondest memory for him to look back on.

“What about you?” he said. “Did you go to parties when you were younger?”

“Sort of,” Laurel said. “Well, you know I was raised by another sorcerer. I was also kind of in training, but it was definitely not as strict as yours. But I pretended that I was much worse at making portals than I actually was, so when I was a teenager, at night I would teleport around the world. I went to some things that you could call parties but that’s not really the right description.”

“Where did you go?”

“Mainly big events. I was in New York for the ball drop every new year.” She paused as she went back in her memory, thinking of other experiences she had. “I went to a lot of baseball games, actually. I liked Toronto, because they had a dome with catwalks, so I could sit up on them undisturbed. But mostly I nature watched.”

“Sounds like you had a great childhood,” he said.

“Yeah,” she said, smiling as she thought about the blissful ignorance of her younger life. “It was.”

They let the music take center stage once again as they danced together. She slid her hands down to his back, leaning into him, laying her head across his chest as she held him close. His heartbeat rang in her ears, soothing her.

“What’s this?” he asked, thinking it was a different technique to the dance.

“Just hold me and keep swaying,” she instructed. He did just that as their bodies molded together, feeding warmth into each other.

“You know,” she said, her voice muffled against his chest. “I’m starting to get back in the hang of things.”

“Yeah?” Leo said. “How’s that?”

“I’m not nervous about tomorrow,” Laurel answered. “I feel good. Especially compared to Nepal. It’s just like old times.”

“That’s good. As you should be.”

“I’m sure you’re completely unfazed per usual.”

He didn’t respond, but Laurel could feel his head subtly nodding. She turned hers to look up at him, their faces now only inches apart.

“Oh, Leo,” she sighed. “What’s going on in that head of yours?”

“Not as much as you think,” he replied.

“You always are completely nonchalant no matter how bad things look. Frankly, I’m jealous,” she said. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say it looks like you don’t have a care in the world, or you couldn’t be bothered enough to care.”

Leo chuckled softy at her remark,

“What?”

“Nothing,” he dismissed.

“Hmm,” she hummed. “But, how do you do it?” Laurel asked. His eyes drifted away from hers as he paused. She craned her neck slightly, trying to find his eye contact again. Finally, he looked back at her.

“Experience, I guess.”

“Right…” she said. Something about that answer didn’t seem genuine, but she couldn’t think of why he would lie.

Laurel’s mind already began replaying this moment. She thought about the barriers they broke down between each other, how he revealed details of his past that he had never said before in all the time they knew each other. It was small steps, but positive steps, nonetheless.

“Can I ask you a question?” she asked.

“Shoot.”

“Can I kiss you?”

His face suddenly turned nervous, but he quickly but overpowered it, leaning his forehead down against hers. She brought her hands up around his head again, pulling him to her as their lips joined together. He let go of his grip on her hips, cupping her face and deepening their connection.

After a few seconds, they pulled away, their eyes slowly fluttering open.

“How was that?” Laurel asking, grinning out of the side of her mouth.

“It was good,” he answered with playful sarcasm.

“Just good?” she asked smiling.

”Can’t let you get a big head.”

“I guess I’ll have to change your mind,” she whispered, pulling him in again.