back door, or the side door, or the emergency exits, or even the roof access. There's no way out. The outside doors all lead right back in,” he replied.
“What is this place?”
“It is what it is.”
“What?”
The clerk shrugged. “I told you what I know. I didn't say it made any sense.”
“How long have you been here?” Isabella asked.
He shrugged. “I've always been here, as far as I know.”
“And no one leaves? How is there enough room?”
He shrugged again. “The rooms are always occupied, but there are always enough rooms when new people show up. Like I told you, there's always food and always water. Everything is sustained.”
The band looked at each other and walked a short distance away from the front desk to have a huddle.
Isabella did a quick spell to give her spirit sight.
“Do you see anything?” Maryann asked.
She scanned the lobby, the part of the restaurant she could see, and the elevators. “This is strange.”
“You got the eyes; you have to tell us what you're seeing,” Leah said.
“I'd like to check the rest of the building.”
“Well, I don't want to go knock on doors, but there's nothing to stop us from going up the elevator to at least look down the hallways,” Maryann said.
So, carting their luggage with them, the band did just that, and ended up right back in the lobby. The little girl with the stuffed elephant had disappeared but the elderly man that had been talking to her was now seated on a couch doing a crossword puzzle out of a book. There were two young boys racing each other around the potted plants and again there were no adults to be found supervising them. Isabella opened the front door and shut it again. They huddled again.
“So?” Nora asked Isabella.
“There are spirits here, but they're disconnected from the spirit world. I've never seen that before. I think these people are human, or were human, but their spirits look strange. The boys' spirits look the most normal, and the clerk, well, I'm not sure what he is. And when I look outside, it's like looking into a void. Spiritually, there's nothing.”
“Let's talk to the people here and see if we can find out any more information,” she suggested. “We can also try the doors but I have no reason to doubt what the clerk says.”
“So we're splitting up to search for clues?” Maryann asked.
“You and lampshades,” Leah commented.
“What?”
“Never mind. Let's just do what Isabella suggested.”
Still carting their luggage, they did just that.
Maryann approached the two boys. They were wearing clothes that Maryann considered 'old-fashioned' but she didn't know exactly how old. She guessed Victorian era. “Boys!” she said sharply.
They immediately stopped their racing and snapped to attention.
“What are your names?”
“I'm John,” the older and taller one said.
“I'm Michael,” the short one said.
Even with their child lisps, she could hear a British accent.
“Where are your parents?”
“Dunno,” answered John.
“You don't know where your parents are?”
“Nope,” said Michael.
“Are they in this hotel?”
“Don't think so,” said John.
“When did you last see them?”
“Don't know.”
“Then who takes care of you?” she asked.
“We do,” Michael said proudly. “We have a room and toys and we get food in there.”
“But don't you want to find your parents?”
“They're supposed to find us. And they haven't, so we're going to have fun,” said John. “Tag!” he said, smacking Michael and they took off running.
Nora sat down next to the elderly man working on crossword puzzles. His outfit did not seem particularly old-fashioned. She guessed he was probably contemporary to her time. “Excuse me, but can I ask you some questions?” she asked.
“Ah, new faces. We get those from time to time. Sure, little lady, go right ahead,” he said, putting down his puzzles.
“How did you get here?”
“Oh, same way a lot of folks get here.”
“Through the doors?” she asked.
“No, no. Not many just come right in through the doors actually. No, no. I started coming to visit awhile ago. Didn't stay long, at first, maybe a couple of days. Then after a few years, I started staying longer and longer. Finally one day I checked in and just never checked out,” he said.
“But how did you get here?”
“I was just here. Found myself in the lobby and then found myself back home just as suddenly. But that was more than a few years ago, I think.” He sighed.
“Where was home?”
“I don't remember.”
“Why don't you go back?”
He shrugged. “As the man says, once you check in, you never leave.” He picked up his book of puzzles. “I'm afraid I probably can't answer any more questions.”
Nora took the hint and left the elderly man alone.
Leah tracked down the waitress who had served them breakfast. “I'm sorry to bother you, but I'm new here and I have a couple of questions.”
The waitress was a thin, pretty woman wearing an outfit that looked like a costume of a 1950s car-hop to Leah. “Sure. Sometimes even I get a break.” She sat down at a table in the back of the restaurant area. “So, you're new?”
“Yes. We came in the door.”
“That's odd. I've hardly seen anyone use the door.”
“Well, technically I think we came in through the elevator door.”
She lit up a cigarette, which made her look more than ever like she was wearing a costume. “That's pretty strange.”
“How did you get here?”
“The more usual way. I was going to get my big break and be a star, like Marilyn Monroe. I worked hard and I auditioned all the time. But I started to get older and still had no luck. So I started coming in here. It just happened. I'd work my fingers to the bone trying to make a living at my day job and I'd be so exhausted when I came home I just didn't want to do it again another day. And I found myself here, still working. But what else was there to do? Girl's got to eat, right?” she asked, taking a drag off the cigarette.
“Wait, so you were trying to be an actress in Hollywood?”
“You're a bit slow, aren't you? Of course I was in Hollywood! Where else would I go to make it big?”
“New York?” Leah offered.
“I didn't want to do theater. I was going to be a movie star,” she said. “But life didn't work out that way for me, so here I am.”
“How long have you been here?”
“I don't know. It doesn't matter. Once you check in, you don't leave. You're stuck here just like the rest of us.” She tamped out her cigarette. “Well, that's my break. Good luck, kiddo.” She stood up and went into the kitchen.
Leah thought she saw a black cat walk through the far wall of the kitchen. She jumped up as the door swung shut. But when she opened it, there was no sign of the cat in the kitchen.
“Listen, honey,” the waitress said, “I've got work to do.”
“Sorry,” she replied, and shut the door.
Isabella walked back up to the desk clerk. “You aren't like the others here. You may look human, but I don't think you ever really were.”
He looked up at her with eyes that were suddenly very old. “So, you have a gift.”
“What are you? What were you? And what is this place really?”
“What I was is of no consequence. I came to this place before it looked like this, and I am now the guardian of those who are here,” he answered.
“What was this place before it was a hotel?”
“A different place. It changes somewhat based on
the perception of those here. No one ever leaves, you see, but most will go to their rooms and never come out again. So the place changes, in a way, over time, such as it is.”
“Are you a god?” Isabella asked.
“Maybe, once, and I have since diminished. Or maybe just a powerful being of a higher order. There is so much I can no longer recall from the depths of memory.”
“Please, if you know of any way out, please tell me.”
He shook his head. “Sometimes there is no way out.”
“I don't believe that.”
“Then that is your prerogative. Oh, before I forget,” he said, and reached under the desk. “Alice left this for you.” He held out the battered, stuffed elephant. “It came here, as many things do, as even Alice did, but since you are here, it should go back to you.”
“Mr. Snufflenose,” she said, taking the elephant. She examined it thoroughly. “It really is mine. But if the little girl wants it, she can have it. I'm way too old for these kinds of toys now.”
He smiled. “Alice is a child. She loses interest easily and I'm sure there's something new to occupy her attention.”
“How do toys get here?”
“Not just toys, but many things. They all come down the rabbit hole,” he said.
“What does that mean?”
“Whatever you think it means. I have told you all I can. You're welcome to try to find an exit. I won't stop you. But I can't help you either.”
“Would you leave, if you could?”
The desk clerk considered this for a minute. “I don't know. When you've been away from home for so long, you stop thinking of it as home. And perhaps after so long home is no longer home.”
“Well, thanks for talking with me,” she said.
He pushed door keys at her. “You'll probably need these.”
She looked at the number on the keys. “This isn't the same number.”
“Sure it is.”
“No, our room was 1414. This is