Under the Altswood Sky (The Altswood Saga #2)

Chapter 17 - Presence

Author's Note: Personally, I found writing this chapter hilarious (well, a section of it. There are somber parts as well). I'm waiting for all your thoughts at the end. Also can we believe that I'm actually updating daily? This is a miracle that won't last long, folks, but I had to get this chapter out into the world, so enjoy >:D

Chapter 17 - Presence

I skidded to the potted plant, then furiously searched the perpendicular hallway. I caught sight of a blurred figure slip through the fireproof door.

"Stop!" I screamed, running after the shadow.

I smashed through the door so quickly that it slammed back against the concrete wall and left a dent. A scream echoed into the night.

"What is the matter?" the maid demanded, rushing out from the small laundry room.

"You couldn't have not just seen that person pass through!" I said, leaning over the railing to look at all the stairs at once. "Where'd they go?"

I skittered down the first set of concrete stairs, hovering at the halfway point towards the third floor. How could they have left so quickly?

The maid threw up her hands in defeat. The laundry room behind her was alight in blue-white light, and certainly too small to hide anyone.

"Listen," she said, "I'm not certain what game you're playing, but no one passed through just then."

"What—" I took a step back, hugging the lamp. " I just— I saw them come through this door."

I didn't care what the maid said. I started down the concrete stairs, needing to check for myself. There was clearly no one on the staircase anymore, so I popped my head through every door to every floor, waiting for something to move.

There were only other cleaning maids, or old ladies chatting amongst themselves.

I had reached the puddle on the ground floor, and I found no evidence of the shadow figure I saw. Defeated, I trekked back to the fourth floor.

The maid was shaking out a bed sheet as I passed by.

"Would you like me to call someone?" she asked again. She eyed the broken lamp that I was clutching, and re-directed her gaze quickly.

"Please don't," I said, pausing, "in fact, pretend you didn't see any of this on the off chance you're asked."

I exited the staircase and dragged myself back to the room, shivering in my bare-footed and pant-less state now that my adrenaline had dissipated. I nudged the lampshade out of the way and shut the door after me, trying to recall the memory of the shadow darting out from behind the plant.

A random Obfil Star employee had no reason to lie to me. But if she was telling the truth, then what had just happened?

"Think, Luca," I whispered to myself. "First the doorbell, then the person, both allegedly non-existent. Option number one, hallucination. Option number two—" My eyes traced the wires that circled around the door, trying to find where the doorbell noise came from.

Suddenly, all I could think about was the mannequin in my closet and the fact that I had no idea who had been in this hotel room before we opened the door and I had just left this room unattended and— I pulled the curtain back, checking the parking lot for Gabriel's car but only seeing an empty space. Gabriel still wasn't back. Did I need to call the police and report him missing?

I went into a frenzy. I hauled my sleeves up and opened every cupboard and drawer that I could find. Coffee packets were torn apart and checked for bugs, the mirrors were pulled from the walls and checked for cameras. I stuck my fingers into every nook and cranny in the room, clearing it inch by inch.