“Whatever,” said Bastian, picking up his jacket from the chair, “follow me. I’ll take you there.”
Chapter 14
Bastian guided me down a narrow alley parallel to The Champs and The Peak. We walked hand in hand, my fingers tugging at the sleeve of his shirt as if afraid to touch his bare skin. I told myself that I just didn’t want to get lost again. As closing time approached, people hurried to their destinations, trying to stretch the night as much as possible. We wove through a huge crowd heading in the opposite direction of the club, and just when it seemed like we were getting nowhere, Bastian stopped.
“Is this it?” I asked, scanning above the heads of the peoplefor a sign that would announce the place.
Bastian pointed down at the ground. Written in large, yellow letters that glowed in the dark, I could make out seven letters:
THESOR-
The rest of the words were obscured by a sea of moving feet. We were at Sortija.
“And now what?” Bastian asked.
“I think I’m looking for a room,” I grumbled. “This can’t be it.”
I searched for Enzo among the faces, unable to distinguish his brown hair in the crowd.
“Hey,” Bastian hissed. “This is the only area I know in here that’s got that weird name.”
I tried calling Enzo again, now that my phone’s signal had returned to full strength. No answer.
“Thanks for coming with me,” I said, avoiding looking him in the face. “You can go back to the casino. I’ll wait alone.”
The fluorescent lights caught Bastian’s teeth, making them gleam.
“Did you just thank me for the second time today? Wow, V, that must be a new record!”
I turned my back.
“Yeah, yeah. See you on Monday.”
Then, Bastian rested his hand on my shoulder, gently urging me to turn back around. His gaze lingered just above my brow, as if he were summoning the courage to meet my eyes. He leaned in.
“I’m not leaving you alone in this place.”
So we waited together, surrounded by a swirl of bodies that moved like a tide—muscle-boundmen and women whose laughter felt a bit too loud, a bit too carefree. Each minute felt like an eternity as I stole glances at my phone, hoping for a notification that never came. Was it really urgent, or had I been led to believe something more than what was there? I unlocked my phone and sent Enzo a message. It didn’t go through.
“Are you sure this is the right place?” I insisted.
Bastian pointed to the ground again.
“I only brought you to where you asked me to.”
THESOR-
The Sortija. I was sure Enzo had told me to come here as soon as possible. But it didn’t seem like a specific place. The Sortija. An intersection of alleys with the name painted on the ground.Sortija. A band of gold with no beginning or end. I pursed my lips.
“Are you sure this is the place?”
Bastian put his hand to his forehead in a gesture of exasperation that I was now used to.
“Can’t you see the name on the ground?”
I looked again at the yellow letters. No, I really couldn’t see the name of the place. There were too many people.
Oh, my God.
