Good Lord, maybe I should have chosen a different team...

"You're no fun, Luce." Thea sighs. "This is the adventure of a lifetime. Take a risk. Or two. Or maybe more." She giggles.

"There is such a thing as calculated risks," I grumble. "Given what is at stake, I prefer to be more judicious with my decisions."

"B-o-r-i-n-g," she mouths.

"As I was saying." I clear my throat. "We should come back tomorrow during open hours. We can meet here at noon."

"Meet here? Where are we going?"

"I don't know where you're going. But I'll be heading over to my friend's place." Hopefully, it's not too late for me to make my appearance at the warehouse.

"You can't," Thea bursts out.

Both Cer and I look at her curiously.

"That is to say, it's not safe. This is a competition and others will want to defeat us. That means we need to stick together."

I frown at her explanation.

"You have guesthouses, no? We can check into one and stay there for the duration of our mission," she adds, quite pleased with herself.

"You mean a hotel?" I ask, intuiting what she's referring to. It's clear both are not very familiar with how this world works, but they seem to have at least some equivalents in their world—wherever that is. As that thought arises, I decide to carefully probe more in the coming days to arm myself with more knowledge.

"Yes, that. I saw quite a few on my way back."

"There's only one issue. You have no money. I have maybe ten dollars left. We can't afford a hotel."

"Pfft, leave that up to me," Thea declares.

Not even ten minutes later and we find ourselves in the lobby of a very expensive-looking hotel. Thea says something in a low voice to the woman at the front desk, and in a matter of seconds, she's offered the key to an apartment—their most deluxe apartment.

"How did you do that?" I ask as we all cram into the elevator to head to the tenth floor.

"I can be very charming." She winks at me.

The apartment has two bedrooms, one for me and one for the siblings. Maybe I should have offered to room with Thea considering how much they squabble, but I'm too tired and Thea has too much energy. If I'm to rest tonight and regain my strength, I can't have her hop around and talk incessantly—regardless of how endearing she might be while doing so.

After we've divided the rooms, we say good night and agree to reconvene in the morning.