Chapter 15
One of Royden’s parents—he wasn’t sure which one—shook him awake early the next morning.
“Come on, Roys, it’s time for school.”
Royden pushed them away and tried to get back to sleep. They kept coming in to shake him awake, and finally his dad pulled him from the bed and stood him up.
“You don’t want to be late do you?”
Royden could think of a million things he’d rather do then go to school. Not even Pooly sounded bad compared to school.
Twenty minutes later Royden stepped on the school bus a couple blocks down the street outside a different apartment building. He sat in the front of the bus right behind the driver staring out the window mindlessly. He completely forgot where his classes were and had to rummage through his bag to find his schedule which thankfully he did not throw away.
If asked he couldn’t say what happened in any of his classes. He paid so little attention that he found himself sitting in an empty math class several minutes after everyone, including the teacher, left for lunch.
It felt like starting all over at a new school again. Nothing looked familiar, not the classrooms, not the faces, not even the subjects. It took him halfway through history to figure out what time period he was studying. He promised himself that if everything got squared away at home he would try better in school. Away from the craziness of the Discovery Apartments he didn’t realize how foolish that promise was.
Thankfully the longest school day ever came to an end. Royden felt a little better while sitting on the bus on the way home, and even said goodbye to the bus driver on his way off.
His parents weren’t home yet. That gave him several hours to start his interrogations. He had no idea where to start and decided he would ask people he found in the hallways before knocking on doors. Who knew what could be behind some of those? He feared that he might end up being roped into something strange like he was when he met Millie.
The halls were strangely vacant. Royden wondered if Mr. Tereza got his way and evacuations really did begin. He finally found somebody on the ninth floor, but it was only Mr. Bringum.
“Ah, Royden, home from school already?”
“Yes.”
“I thought you might like to know that we kept Hofrora in a special locked room last night.”
“Oh really?” Royden asked, hoping to be verified of his concerns.
“Yes, and he escaped.”
“What?” Said Royden in disbelief. “How?”
“Well that suit is incredibly strong once it’s on. He blew right through the door and ran outside. I’ve heard that more people have disappeared, but I don’t know how many.”
“What do we do now?”
Mr. Bringum sighed, he looked worn and tired. “We have to find out who he’s working for. I went through the list of residents today and I don’t think it’s anybody here. Of course somebody still might know something. The ghosts and I are trying everywhere. Why don’t you start in the basement and work your way up. We’ll meet on the fourth floor or so.”
There really wasn’t anywhere to look on the basement level. He didn’t want to speak with the mermaids and siren, and wasn’t sure if anybody else lived down there. He found the laundry room, looked around, and turned to go.
“Hello dear.” A kind voice said.
Royden turned back and saw Ms. Carol sitting in a chair reading a book. She must have had a lot of laundry to do. Royden saw her there every time he went.
“Oh, hello.” He said.
“What brings you here, dearie?”
“Nothing, I just—” He figure he might as well ask. “Do you know anything about the man in the black suit that runs around at night?”
She hummed quietly under her breath as she thought. “Can’t say I do.”
“Oh, alright.”
“Unless.” She said, standing up. The humming stopped, her face turned dark and serious. “Unless you mean the black suit that springs out of the little black ring.”
Royden took a step back. He felt something sinister growing in the room. “That’s it.” He whispered.
“I don’t know who has it. It was stolen from me.”
“It’s yours?”
“It was.”
Royden backed up into the hallway. He took one look at the door at the end of the hall and quickly returned to the bright lights of the laundry room. “Do you know who stole it from you?” He got another idea. “Was it the Morrids? Did they steal it?” It made sense that the Morrids could be the ‘them’ he seeked.
“Oh no, this was a full grown human or similar species. They stole it right from around my neck as I slept. I woke to find the necklace it was on broken on the floor. I just got a glimpse of someone running out of the laundry room. That ring is extremely powerful. It holds a very powerful force.”
“What can you tell me about it?”
Ms. Carol smiled mysteriously. “I love the name Royden.”
Royden didn’t know what to say. “Ok.” He hardly knew why his name mattered. “What can you tell me about it?”
“What day is it?” She asked.
“Um, well it’s the day after Easter—I don’t know—the twelfth I think.”
“Oh, Easter, that’s right. It was near Easter.” She mused quietly to herself.
“Uh-huh.” Royden wanted very much to stay on topic.
“Why don’t you go check out room P3?”
“Where is that?”
“It’s on the penthouse level.”
“I can’t get to the penthouse I don’t have a key.”
Ms. Carol held up a key. “Now you do.”
“Royden looked at it suspiciously. “I only need to learn about the black suit and the ring.”
“This is the only way to really know about it.” Ms. Carol smiled creepily.
Royden took the key and studied it. “You’re sure this will lead to something about the black suit and ring?”
“I promise.”
He shrugged and put it in his pocket. “All right, I’ll check it out.”
“Badchi.” Said Ms. Carol, her voice grew rough.
“Sorry?”
Ms. Carol smiled kindly as though she hadn’t said a thing. Royden rolled his eyes and went to the elevator.
If only the people around there would actually say what they knew and stopped keeping so many crazy secrets. Royden felt like things would go so much smoother if he didn’t have to go places blind.
Once in the elevator Royden put the key in, turned it, and hit the button for the penthouse. It lit up and the elevator began to move. It took a long time to get up there. Nobody got in, no ghosts appeared, and the elevator didn’t stop on the thirteenth floor. And still Royden felt like he was in there for a very long time.
The doors finally opened on the penthouse level and he got out. It looked a lot different than the floors below. The carpet was red and didn’t look dingy in the least. The doors all had fancy knockers and were thick wood as opposed to the thick cardboard looking doors below.
Royden found P3 and knocked. No one answered. He tried the door. It was unlocked. He peeked in. For a penthouse apartment in looked very small. It was only one room, but had many doors. In fact every inch of wall, ceiling, and floor was covered with doors. The boy slipped into the room and kept the door to the hall open a crack so he knew which one it was.
He tried a few of the doors covering the walls. All of them were locked. He put his hands on his waist and tapped his foot. He didn’t see how any of this could help him discover the secrets to the black suit or who controlled it. And then one of the doors on the floor opened on its own. A man dressed as an old bellhop appeared next to the now open door.
“Royden Doble of the fifth floor Discovery Apartments.” The man said, looking very bored.
“Yes.” Royden said slowly, afraid something bad was going to jump out of the door at any mom
ent.
“The Time Room sees fit to instruct you on the protocol since this is your first time. Your visit shall last only ten minutes provided that you do not die. Dying in the Time Room is strictly prohibited and if you die you will not be allowed back.”
“I’m sorry, but what on Earth are you talking about?”
The bored bellhop gave a long sigh and continued. “The Time Room requests that you empty your pockets of any coins or bills dated after 1965. You are permitted to bring any coins dated prior to 1965 with you. Did you bring any?”
“I don’t have any money with me.” Royden confessed, feeling very confused.
“The Time Room does not allow you to bring back any items. If you do bring back—”
“Sorry to interrupt, but can you please tell me what a Time Room is?”
The man looked very sour indeed. “The Time Room has been reserved for this time slot by a Susanna Carol for Mr. Royden Doble of the fifth floor Discovery Apartments. The date was entered into the Time Room database on June 1, 1982, the same date Ms. Susanna Carol moved into Laundry Room Discovery Apartments. You are Royden Doble of the fifth floor Discovery Apartments?”
“Yes, but I don’t get what I’m supposed to do.”
“Royden Doble of the—”
“Would you stop with that?!”
“Royden Doble of the fifth floor Discovery Apartments has been given a time slot for the Time Room for today April 12 at 4:25 P.M. It was entered into the Time Room database on June—”
“I get the idea!” Royden shouted. “Now what am I supposed to do?”
The bellhop grimaced. “The Time Room does not know why each time slot is made. The Time Room only knows that a time slot has been made. This door will take Royden Doble of the fifth floor Discovery Apartments to April 12, 1965 for approximately ten minutes.”
“Hold it.” Royden said, putting his hand up. “Are you saying that I’m going back in time?”
“The Time Room is a service for time travel.” The bellhop said through barred teeth. “Time slots are made by people who have had time travelers visit them in the past so the same time travelers may visit in the future.”
Royden scratched his head. “Are you saying that the person visited by a time traveler has to tell you that they are going to visit before the time traveler even knows that they want to?”
“Yes, and in the case of Royden Doble of the fifth floor Discovery Apartments, well before the time traveler is even born.”
“That’s trippy.” Royden said in awe. “So I just go into the thing here?” He asked, walking up to look into the doorway.
A breeze gently blew up from the depths of a dark metal tube.
“Yes. You have ten minutes.”
Royden sat down on the edge of the tube. “How will I get back?”
“A door will lead you to another one of these.”
“Ok cool, so I guess Ms. Carol wants to tell me about the ring in the past. Or maybe she wants to give it to me for safe keeping for the future.”
“We at the Time Room do not know the exact reason for the time travelling.” The bellhop droned monotonously.
“Right, of course.”
Royden pushed himself to the edge and dropped down into the tube.