Chapter 6 - Niya

It was midmorning when they arrived back at the Hotel. Zara, Devil and John got out of the non-assuming car and stood outside the Hotel. Each looking very tired from a long night. They looked around at the empty mortal street. It just looked so normal, Zara could hardly remember what it was like to be normal and mortal. She supposed her life was never normal with her mother being a werecat for all of her childhood. However, three very tired looking teenagers standing around a street during this time of day was a little suspicious.

Olivia led them to the door and let them all in, "go sleep your next mission won't be for a while don't worry."

The three walked down the hall.

"I have a feeling that the next mission is going to be much harder," Zara said looking back at Olivia who was giving the three a greasy look as she slunk back to her office.

"Probably," Devil admitted.

"Are you kidding?" John sighed exasperatedly.

The three got into the lift, more than ready to be in their beds.

"On the bright side, we are getting a lot of new people arriving here so we might not be the only one next time," Devil said, "In fact, I'm supposed to be scouting all this month."

"You're coming on the next one right?" Zara asked a little worried as the three stepped out of the lift.

Devil half-smiled tiredly, "You bet ya, I brought you here so I like kinda feel responsible for you. And I guess it's nice to help out John too.

"I appreciate that," John nodded at them and turned into his room.

Zara walked over to her own door but turned back to Devil, "Thank you."

"That's ok, see ya," Devil disappeared into her room.

Zara walked into her own very empty room. She thought about all the new people who would come to the Hotel as she sat down on her bed. What kind of situation would they be in, she wondered. It wasn't the best place in the world but at least she had a roof over her head. As she coiled up under the covers Zara wished that she could make her new home a better place.

~𓃠~

It had barely felt like anything but a month had gone by since Zara first arrived at the Hotel. Olivia was yet to send Zara and John out on another mission so they spent their days preparing for whatever that might be. John found it a little hard as there wasn't another magic-user at the Hotel willing to teach him. Olivia wasn't going to, she had decided that he was on Zara's side. Whatever that meant. And treated him the same way she treated her. As far as Zara's knowledge went she wouldn't have even been able to teach John much anyway.

That pretty much just left Maxina. Who was very willing but also very unfocused. It turned out her method of teaching was a lot like her method of leading. So John trained with Devil and Zara. Though he wasn't built for it.

"Come on John. Get back up!" Devil called, fists full of fire.

John pulled himself up, summoning a storm around himself once again. Devil had been quite impressed with that move during the mission they had been trying to strengthen it.

Zara stood back watching along with Maxina who called, "Hit her with a tidal wave!"

Devil glared at her and John used this opportunity to throw hail Devil's way. She promptly burned it up and charged at him. Zara smiled and giggled.

"I would not want to be John right now," Zara whispered to Maxina as Devil's fireball narrowly missed John.

"Devil has always been so scary," Maxina whispered back.

John threw wind and ice and Devil and she fought back with an ever raging fire. John was just barely able to keep her back, lucky the storm summoned around him gave him a little defence but often he and Zara would end up seeing Jayson by the end of the day.

"Is Devil the scariest person here?" Zara asked.

Maxina shook her head, "No but she's probably up there. I don't know if you count the monsters of the underworld as people though."

Zara giggled again.

Her eyes wandered over to see her reflection on the mirrored walls. Her hair was tied up and her low cut T-shirt allowed her werecat mark to poke out just a little.

Every werecat had one, a silhouette of a big cat, mid-stride. Mary's had been on her back, Medusa's on her arm and Korina's on her left shoulder blade. That mark was the same no matter what cat they were and it brought them together. Zara had torn them apart and though over the past month she had tried to keep busy her thoughts often drifted to what happened. Coming to terms with it was difficult but now she just wondered where Medusa and Mary were, what they were doing... if they were ok.

Zara's finger traced the cat's front leg, always stepping forward while she was stuck in her past.

~𓃠~

When she first started her training with Devil, Zara would collapse onto her bed every night and in mere seconds she would be asleep. She had improved to the point where that didn't happen right away and instead she was awake. Ella had gifted her some house plants. A long pot of pansies sat on her window sill where the fake daylight could hit them best. With her strong cat-like sense of smell, the scent of the pansies was strong though she was told that pansies rarely had scents. To her, it was the best perfume ever. And they gave life to her almost empty room.

There was a buzz behind her. She turned to see a bee hovering in the air. It seemed to be just watching her and Zara watched it trying to gauge whether or not it was about to sting her then it flew up into the air vents. Perhaps it had come from the garden levels. But it was still so strange that a bee had made its way into her room. She didn't remember seeing any bees last time she was there. Also at this time of night.

Curiosity as always got the bed of her and she slid off the bed and slunk out of her room. There was more buzzing out there in the hallway but no sign of bees. She subconsciously slipped her hands into her pockets to minimise the area of exposed skin. Once she got into the lift the buzzing stopped. She got off on the most flower filled level.

Not a bee in sight.

Zara bit her lip and back up into the lift again. She must have been overtired. Or maybe the bees had just left the garden levels for some reason.

Back down on the bedroom level, Zara rushed to her room, the sound of buzzing once again filling her ears. She made sure to close her door. And leant against its cool wood surface, she rested her head against it. The air vents. She rushed over to her desk, the sound of buzzing still in her ears and grabbed some tape and paper then jumped onto her bed. She reached up as high as she could and taped the paper to cover the vents.

The buzzing seemed to stop and she took a sigh of relief. She really didn't feel like being stung in her sleep. She sat back down on her bed but she was still so tense. But everything was silent once again.

When Zara awoke the next day pollen was dusted all over her blanket. She got up in a rush. Surely Devil was playing a prank on her or something. When she stepped out of her house she noticed the room next to her own. The door was orange. She had been in the Hotel for a month but she could not recall who lived there. She had never seen anyone come in or out of that room.

Down at breakfast, she sat next to Maxina, "Who's room is next to mine?

Maxina thought for a moment, "Hmmm I'm not sure, I'm pretty sure one side is empty."

"Obviously not that one, they have an orange door," said Zara.

"Oh, cute," Maxina unhelpfully replied, Zara sighed and Maxina added, "I'll go come with you after breakfast and we'll figure it out."

"Thanks," Zara mumbled.

Devil slammed herself down into the seat beside her making the tense Zara jump out of her skin. "What's up losers," Devil called before digging into her breakfast.

After composing herself Zara dusted off some pollen onto Devil.

"Eww, what's that?" Devil brushed it off herself.

"Pollen," Zara muttered.

"And why'd you put it on me?" Devil asked, finally having stopped stuffing her face.

"Did you hear any bees last night?" Zara asked.

Devil shook her head, "Nope."

"Well there was one in my room, are you sure this wasn't some prank?"

"I don't think it's really Olivia's style to start a prank war you know?"

"And yourself?"

"As if I would do something so stupid," Devil shook her head and went back to her breakfast.

"Are there even any bees in the hotel?" Zara asked.

"Well, there clearly is now," Devil commented.

Maxina looked up, "I don't think so, we don't usually even have rain on the garden levels unless I feel like having some fun."

Zara pushed her food around on her plate. Curiosity was eating her alive. She just couldn't handle mysteries like this. And this only became more and more mysterious.

She waited patiently for Maxina to finish her breakfast which was blue lemonade. Zara was yet to see Maxina consume anything solid that wasn't ice. Maybe it was just a water witch thing. Devil had agreed to come to check out the room as well just for something to do it seemed.

So all three of them headed back up to the bedroom level after breakfast and stood outside the mysterious orange door.

Devil turned to Maxina, one eyebrow raised, "Ummm... I'm not sure who's room this is."

Maxina shrugged, "Me neither..."

Zara looked at both of them, "Really there aren't even that many people in the Hotel?"

Devil shrugged but Maxina marched forward and tried the handle. It was unlocked and the door swung open. Zara was greeted with a very musty smell. Maxina was the first to step inside, Devil gave Zara an uncertain look before stepping inside herself.

Inside was very much like the Hotel, much larger inside than you would assume possible. The ceiling was high.... At least three stories, like the ceiling of a warehouse, in fact, the whole room was about as big as a warehouse. But unlike a warehouse, mounds of ... things were in piles with a maze-like pathway between that they could only see the beginning of. Zara approached one of the piles, Maxina joined her. It was all kind of random things, from branches and sticks to side tables, to clothing.

"Hey, that's where those went," Maxina reached in and pulled out a velvet navy blue pair of heels. Zara hadn't even noticed them as her eyes were so overwhelmed.

"How long have those been missing?" Zara asked.

Maxina paused for a moment, "I don't know maybe like a few months my shoes have been going missing a lot recently."

Zara looked around at all the piles, "Do you think they could all be here?"

"I'll find them if they are. I'm just like really good at finding blue things. Like a sherlock holmes," Maxina bounced off down the path of the maze.

Devil and Zara followed along behind. Devil bend down and picked up a pair of large green socks, "It's like this is the dimension where all unexplained lost things go."

Zara nodded. It was strange, the whole room made her skin crawl. Could there really be someone living here hoarding all this stuff with no one knowing? Looking around at everything she supposed it wouldn't be impossible for there to be a hive stashed away here. There seemed to be everything under the sun. Even weapons, very dangerous looking ones too. A very wicked looking spear caught her attention.

"I suppose someone has been raiding Harry's forge," Devil commented and walked passed Zara.

Squatting down to look at it, there was a flash of rainbow in the corner of Zara's eye. Zara jumped out of her skin, turning around so fast she fell onto her back, upturned like a beetle. The rainbow swished and darted behind a pile of junk. Zara blinked and rubbed her eyes, so confused with what she just saw. Something was in there with them.

She rolled back onto her legs and came face to face with an unnaturally bright green python. It was at least two metres long and very thick. It's orange snake eyes locked onto Zara's and it stayed perfectly still. Just like the bee had.

"Maxina, Devil," Zara hissed trying not to startle the snake but she failed and it slithered away at top speeds.

Devil came got to first, Maxina was holding at least five pairs of heels.

"What did you find?" Devil asked.

"There was a massive snake in here!" Zara got to her feet.

"A monster," Maxina whispered with her eyes wide.

"Don't be stupid there's no way they could get up here," Devil dismissed her.

"They stole my shoes that means the could steal monsters out of the underworld," Maxina squealed, panic down in her voice.

Zara shook her head, "No it wasn't big or aggressive enough to be a monster."

"Oh," Devil said, "So it was just a normal snake then?"

"No... there was something strange about it, maybe it was possessed," Zara muttered.

Maxina held her many pairs of shoes to her chest and looked around at the piles terrified, "I think we should get out of here."

Both Zara and Devil didn't disagree and the three hurriedly navigated the maze back to the door. Just before Zara stepped out of the room she heard that buzzing again. She quickly slammed the door shut behind her.

~𓃠~

That door was soon boarded up and the rest of the Hotel was very wary of that room, though no one seemed to have any information on who was living there. Not even Olivia herself who was supposed to be running the Hotel. She and Leah seemed to be laughing stocks because of it and since Zara had discovered it, it just gave Olivia more reasons to hate her. Though people did pity her having to live next to that room.

Despite the paper covering the air vent and the boarding of that door, Zara was still followed by the sound of buzzing. It was haunting her at this point. Coming and going at random times in random places. She had tried being outside in the forest but it was just the same as it was in the Hotel. She could stand it but yet couldn't stomach the thought of going back into that strange room.

Trying to continue her life as normal she was getting her armour fitted by Harry. He had all the plates done was ready to adjust them to her body. There was even a tasteful splash of leopard print embossed into it. Zara didn't take Harry for someone stylish but she supposed he just had a way with armour.

Harry was measuring her forearm when he said, "I heard your first mission was a big success."

Zara nodded, "We fought a demon. It was really dangerous but we somehow pulled it off."

Harry moved on to taking the measurements of her shoulder, "My missions weren't even close to as hard as that so I have to say I'm impressed."

Zara bit her lip, "I'm concerned... what will she make us do next?"

"I'm not sure but it's likely to be more difficult than the first," Harry said, then noticing the defeated look on Zara's face added, "But you'll have this armour to protect you."

A small smile twitched in the corner of Zara's lips, "Thank you for doing this, even though I'm not technically part of the Hotel."

"Not everyone agrees with the rules," Harry offered a cheeky smile before moving to her back.

After finishing the measuring Harry told her that it wouldn't be much longer until the armour will be ready. Zara was excited she'd never had anything custom made before or even worn armour. She had always been told not to get into positions where she would need it.

She stepped out of the forge and the training room was empty. A rare sight. But the buzzing started again.

Zara pressed her hands to her ears. It got louder and louder seeming to drum down on her skull. She bit her lip and her eyes darted around desperately right to find the source of the noise to stop it. There was nothing around, she stumbled her way toward the lift. Her balance off from the insane buzzing she wobbly darted over to the lift.

But standing in front of the lift was Kat. The buzzing started to die down as Zara stared at the airhead from Olivia's group. Kat stared back at her, with unfocused eyes.

The buzzing faded to a low hum of just one single bee.

"There is someone I would like to introduce you to," Kat said. This was the first time Zara had heard Kat speak. Her voice was dreamy like she was in another universe but also melodic and haunting like the wind whispering through the trees.

There was a buzzing from behind Zara and a bee flew from the left of her and stopped beside Kat. It stared at Zara with its unblinking insect eyes. They stared at each other for a moment anger stirring up inside Zara at this little creature for terrorising her.

Suddenly it changed and shifted and there was a woman standing before her. A rainbow of a woman. It was hard for Zara to take her all in. Green hair tied up high into a ponytail, orange eyes, tanned skin and rainbow skirt. She looked like a lollypop if a lollypop were a crazy woman. For all the colours she wore the weirdest thing about her were her eyes. Something was not right in them.

Kat said, "This is Niya."

First Published - 7/11/2019

Next update - 20/11/2019