Kenneth chuckles, and I see one of the other guests put her hand over her mouth to hold back her own laugh. I turn, frantic. Did something push me back inside the hotel? I have to get out of here!
I open the door, running out, but once again I find myself running into the lobby. As if the door only leads one way. The door only leads into the Ruby.
My body shakes uncontrollably, my sobs nearly silent and my throat aching from my screams. I cry, and when I wipe my cheeks, my hands are smeared in blood—Kenneth’s blood, even though he’s standing before me, perfectly intact.
This time I don’t run. I walk hesitantly to the door. “Please,” I whimper. I pull the handle and look outside, at the world beyond. I see the roundabout for cars, the long driveway that brought us here. I cast a glance back at Kenneth, who is waiting patiently. I walk out, but the world spins, sending me right back inside the door once again.
Tears drip over my lips. “I want to go home,” I say, earning a sympathetic tsk from a woman sitting on a chair near the fireplace. Kenneth is no longer smiling. “Please let me go,” I say, although my voice is only a strangled whisper.
“That’s not up to me,” he says curtly. “Now, if you’re quite through with this tantrum, I believe you have a party to get ready for. I’ll send your invitation up to your room.”
I need to find my brother. My father. I trip forward, catching myself. I stare down, surprised there’s blood on my feet. My pants and my shirt. The room starts to swirl, or maybe that’s just my mind. People appear and disappear from my vision, and I blink my eyes quickly, trying to get my bearings. “Daniel?” I call, even though I don’t see him. My arm begins to hurt, and I rub it absently and take a few steps forward. Words are too big, and too few, to work for me. A shadow passes over the room, and I’m afraid it’s Kenneth, growing larger, looming over me with a sinister shade. I start to fold in on myself.
There’s a whistle, a sharp whip through the air, and I dart my eyes to the other side of the lobby. Joshua stands there in his valet uniform. He has one arm outstretched to me, while the other is holding open a door that reads STAFF ONLY. He nods his chin, urging me forward, before he slides his eyes in Kenneth’s direction, looking ready to run if he has to.
Is this a trick? Another trick that will spin me back into the lobby? But when I turn to Kenneth, he’s staring at Joshua, his mouth pulled taut and strained. Kenneth doesn’t approve, and that alone is enough to send me running for Joshua. I expect Kenneth to yell for me to stop, but there isn’t a sound behind me.
When I reach the other side of the lobby, I peer through the doorway, finding a narrow hall instead of a room. I want to ask what’s going on, but this is the time for action, not explanation. My thoughts are starting to clear, and I regain control of my limbs and mouth. The pain in my arm fades away.
I don’t look back at the front desk; I rush inside. The door slams shut behind me, and I jump, terrified. But then Joshua is next to me, pulling me by the wrist, and then to the side. The hallway has deep red carpet and is impossibly long and windy; every turn exactly the same. There are no doors. No end in sight.
Joshua’s fingers are wrapped tightly, crushing my wrist as I continue to run with him. I stare at the side of his face, and I must be slowing us down, because he shoots me a look and then slows. “What?” he asks, slightly out of breath.
“Are you like him?” My voice is still a whisper, burning my throat with every syllable.
“Kenneth?” Joshua spits out. “Hardly. But we have to keep moving, Audrey, or the Ruby will start rearranging things. Then we’ll never get to the fifteenth floor.”
I pull my arm out of his grip and swallow down a shaky breath. “Why are you taking me to the fifteenth floor? What’s going on, Joshua? Please tell me I’m not crazy.” I stop. “Or tell me that I am. None of this is possible.”
Joshua rolls his eyes and roughly grabs my wrist again. “Not now.” He yanks me forward. We’re running again, and I contemplate how I can escape, get my father and my brother and leave this place, when I can’t even get out the front door.
Joshua and I reach the end of the hallway, and the valet lets go of my arm. I rub my bruised skin and turn to find the front of the old-time elevator we took last night. I have no idea how we got here. We ran for too long to end up in the same place we found so easily the night before. Joshua slides the gate over and puts his palm on my back, pushing me inside. He climbs in after me and slams the gate closed once again. I press myself against the back of the elevator as he operates the gear.