Chapter Thirteen

No sooner were my arms around her neck that she zoomed into the night. The wind hit me hard and I had to put my head against the back of her head, hiding from the wind. That was the only way to keep my skin on my face. Now I knew exactly why I needed a jacket. Thank goodness this one had a hoodie but I hadn't put it over my head and I was too scared to do so now considering the speed we were moving at. There was a high chance I would slip off.

I'm not sure how long she was running, it felt like a long time but I doubted it was more than five minutes when she spoke, "I'm sorry."

I heard her loud and clear, yeah the wind was strong in my ears but my ears weren't too far from her mouth. "What?" I had no plan to make this easy for her.

"I said I was sorry," she replied, this time a little louder and more stiffly.

I didn't reply, there was nothing to say. I didn't want her apology and I certainly hadn't forgiven her, besides a conversation with her was the last thing on my mind. Seeing that I wasn't going to reply, we continued the rest of the journey in a worse awkward silence with nothing but the wind blowing against our ears.

The journey was simple, at first, we started on tarred roads and soon enough she began to scale buildings and cars. I'm sure we would have given a number of people quite a scare. I just tagged along for the ride. 

She ran for hours, half the time I wanted to fall asleep but the fear of slipping off kept me awake. Besides the wind was pretty hard. She had tied her pretty silk hair in a ponytail and mine was in pretty much the same state else I would have been chewing hair.

She came to a sudden stop in front of a hotel, my first thought was five star. It was huge, the different floors were a sight to behold and I was outside. She didn't waste any time which meant I wasn't giving enough time to study it. 

We walked straight into the hostel, more like she walked in and I tried to keep up. She didn't pause at the reception, a young woman looked like she was about to say something at our abrupt entrance but we went into the elevator. The receptionist didn't get a chance.

She pressed on a secluded button and the elevator began to go down. I was a little startled for I was pretty certain we were on the ground floor. Why down? But I wasn't about to ask any questions. She glanced at me at my surprise reaction and I threw my face away.

The elevator came to a stop and she immediately stepped out with me following behind her. It was a dark hallway, I could barely see what was ahead of me. I simply assumed it was a hallway. The light from the elevator was the only source of light and it didn't shine more than eight feet away from the elevator.

Calli walked with a purpose obviously unaffected that a few feet away was utter darkness. I tried to keep up, hoping it would get brighter as I walked on. Suddenly the elevator closed and I yelped in the intense darkness. I couldn't even see my hands that were in front of me. 

The darkness was so heavy it felt as though someone had dropped a heavy material over me. Calli clapped twice and the bulbs came on. It was so unexpected and due to the darkness, I was blinded for a full three seconds. By the time I could see again Callidora was already at the end of the hallway. 

She opened the door and was about to walk into the room when I made it to where she stood at the entrance. She clapped twice just as I stepped through the door. It slid back in place behind me. I stood panting, the brisk walking and the journey were suddenly having its toll on me coupled with the fact that I was starving.

I had stepped into the biggest sitting room I have ever seen. For a brief moment, I entertained the fact that this was going to be a fun vacation before I tossed the thought against the wall. 

The first thing I noticed was there were no curtains but why would there be when there was no window. I was surprised I noticed the absence of windows considering how great this living room looked but once I saw it, it began to look a little odd to me.

There was a huge television and a fireplace, the cushions looked like I would sink in if I sat on them. They were so inviting. I stood with my mouth agape as I studied the room. 

"Pick any room and try to get some sleep. You've been up all through the night, I'll see you in a few hours." She turned away from me and began to walk further into the house.

I was going to give a simple response and make my way to any room but I couldn't hold it. My stomach couldn't especially not for a few more hours. I wouldn't be able to get any sleep. I have always been a big eater. I loved food and considering I didn't eat lunch and only two slices of pizza had been dinner my stomach was crying out for some attention.

"Um…" I began and paused before slowly turning around. She raised an eyebrow when I didn't say more. I swallowed and tried again. "I am hungry." I was going to give a light speech about how I skipped dinner but the fact that it was her fault made me skip the whole speech thing.

Her raised eyebrow fell and she frowned, furrowing her eyebrows and squinting her eyes. "Like right now? Can't you hold it?"

It was my turn to frown, "Hold it? It's not something you can just turn down besides if I could, I never would have mentioned it. I'm freaking starving."

Her friend deepened as she stared me down but I was hungry there was no way I could talk my stomach to hold for a couple more hours. She sighed and slouched her shoulders, "Get comfortable. I will see what I can do but it might take a while."