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The atmosphere in her office seemed to shiver, like the serenity of it had been interrupted. Remember when I said that the offices were reflections of their occupants’ inner selves? I didn’t realize I was so very correct. Thea’s office darkened, just slightly so, enough to match the disapproving look on her face, and the sunlight streaming in through the windows felt that much harsher.
“This is the better option, Dustin.” Thea’s jewelry clicked against her desk as she lay her palms flat against it. “You’ll be safer here.”
I scratched at the bridge of my nose, fully aware that I should stop probing and resisting, but I just couldn’t shut up. “Why would they even want me?”
The room seemed to darken just that little bit more. “Oh, I don’t know, Dustin. Maybe because you found the bodies? You were somewhere you weren’t supposed to be. And have you considered the possibility that those men might have something to do with the night you were murdered? The Black Hand, remember? How can you be so brazen about this?”
I think I might have tuned the rest of it out, not for want of quiet, but because this was all stuff I’d heard and told myself before. I bit my lip and alternated between staring at the ground and mournfully up into Thea’s face as she gave me the tongue-lashing of a lifetime. It was a full few minutes before she stopped, and by then her cheeks were rosier from the effort, and, far likelier, the irritation.
“I’m sorry,” I said, unsure of what else to say.
Thea sighed, like a long-suffering mother. “Don’t apologize. Just promise you won’t do anything silly on your own from now on.” She shook her head and drummed her fingers against her desk. “Just stick to the inside of the Lorica for now. This isn’t a permanent thing, Dustin, don’t worry. And you’ll be allowed supervised time out if you feel like going somewhere. But for now, just keep a low profile, okay?”
I nodded. I could tell from her eyes and her tone that this was all out of concern. Thea was just looking out for me, after all, and I was being the stubborn knucklehead who kept defying her. I almost found myself saying “I’ll be good,” but caught myself in time.
“I’ll go move into my bunk, then.”
That got a small laugh out of her, at least. “Okay, you go do that. I’ll check in on you later. We might have something for you to do around here after all.” I nodded, then quietly let myself out of her office.
I was right about 17B, as it turned out. No one had heard of it, at least none of the regulars I’d asked, and it was further off into the east wing than I’d ever ventured. It gave new meaning to what Thea was saying about the Lorica providing for its own, almost as if the building had a sentience to it, accommodating me in this new section that had seemingly been carved out of empty space.
It wasn’t exactly difficult to find the room, either. I’d only taken a few steps in the general direction of my new quarters when I noticed the designs in the carpet shifting, changing shape. The carpet was unfurling a new pattern made completely out of pulsing red and blue arrows, all pointing towards the east wing.
I decided early on that sometimes it was best not to question how these things worked, though I admit I had some reservations about sleeping there. I mean, if the building could create a new room out of thin air, who was to say that it couldn’t reclaim that space whenever it wanted?
But quite a lot of my doubts dissolved just as soon as I opened the door to 17B. It was cozy, actually, and warm, and going by decor alone it was much better than my own apartment by leaps and bounds. Everything on the inside was white – a by-product of the fact that it was Thea who had requisitioned the space – but that was fine by me. I thought it would be nice to live in a room that didn’t have peeling paint or carpeting curling up in the corners for once.
All the room had were a couple of chairs and a table, a closet, and a comfy-looking bed, all in fetching shades of Thea’s signature ivory. I started to unpack on the bed, feeling extra sensitive about spilling any of my toiletries on the pristine perfection of the sheets, when I had a keen sense that something was, I don’t know, shifting, somehow. I turned around, only to find that the sparse furniture and closet had lost their gleaming whiteness, now exhibiting a wooden finish instead.
Huh. This was more my speed. Thea wasn’t kidding. The room – or the part of the Lorica that was designated as my room – was adjusting to me, and I watched with bemusement as the walls slid lazily into a pale gray, the color of a midday storm.
I turned back to the bed, ready to unpack in this decidedly more comfortable environment, and tried not to be too pleased with myself when the bed frame morphed from a white-painted metal to a much homier wooden design, the sheets dyeing themselves before my very eyes from shocking white to a deep midnight blue, finished with tiny speckles that made the bed look like a field of stars. Awesome.
I put away my stuff, hanging what clothes I had in the closet, then went to the bathroom to freshen up. Sure, I’d gotten some sleep the night before, a little to ease the exhaustion from those consecutive work days, but it didn’t quite feel like enough. I figured splashing some cold water on my face would help.
Even as I stepped into the blinding white of the bathroom it took on the same midnight blue as my bedsheets, making the shower stall and the tiles gleam like deep sapphires. Briefly I wondered how much it would cost to actually do up my place to look like this. The whole living at HQ thing might not be so bad, I figured, twisting the faucet.
Ice-cold water did the trick to help keep me standing on my feet, but I knew I’d have to down another cup of coffee before long. I turned off the faucet then rubbed at my eyes long enough to look in the mirror, then nearly jumped when I saw a different face staring back at me.
“Bastion. Jesus. You trying to kill me?”
He was standing behind me, staring back through the mirror in what was supposed to look like genuine surprise, but I knew him well enough. The bastard had crept up on me just to freak me out.
Bastion shrugged, the smile creeping across his lips just equal parts friendly and condescending. “What, hey. I was just dropping by to say hello. Why are you so jumpy all of a sudden?”
Maybe, I thought, it was because of all the bizarre surprises I’d had over the course of just a few days. Harrowing encounters with faces thrust up against mine, for example, like that episode with Arachne where I thought she was going to eat my face off shortly before she kissed me, or that run-in with the vampire who clearly had no concept of personal space. But I said none of those things and just frowned at him in the mirror.
“Can I help you, Brandt? Kind of busy here.”
Bastion snorted. “Washing your face?”
“Yes, busy washing my face. What do you want, anyway? Can’t a guy get a little bathroom time on his own around here?”
Bastion folded his arms. “I guess not. You’ve got to admit, this is all pretty – unorthodox. And I’m not here stalking you. You think I make a habit of exploring every new place that pops up in HQ?”
He had a point. I was pretty sure that nobody apart from Thea and admin knew about 17B. Which meant –
“Thea sent you?”
