Opening the door that had suddenly appeared, the three of us stepped into the new room one by one. Incidentally, I was the last person in that line because Trev had been the one to rush forward and get the door.
So, with his and Bella’s heads in the way, I first laid my eyes on the secret of the Innkeeper’s Room. A rectangular space with a circular table right in the middle. Around it were twelve symmetrically arranged chairs that reminded me, more than anything, of the Round Table of the Arthurian myths.
But then again, yours truly spent the little bit of time she used to get after work to do internet sleuthing, so…can’t really blame me. A part of my brain was basically hardcoded to try and see patterns where there were none, and this was the perfect opportunity. You did not just hide a meeting table behind a secret door if you weren’t conducting, you know, secret meetings.
“Oh, wow!” Trev exaggerated his tone, looking around with more of a whimpering groan than the awe I had expected. “Would you look at that? Hidden behind the bookshelves are…more bookshelves. Joy. What is this? The Restricted Section or something?”
“Actually, that is precisely what I was thinking.” Bella nodded, letting the sarcasm fly over her head. “These are probably books they did not want anyone else to see, right?”
Let me paint the picture a bit more, then. I got carried away by looking at the table and imagining a valiant group of secret knights protecting society, alright? Go on, sue me for not noticing the three giant-sized bookshelves on the walls. And I mean giant.
Now, the floor-to-ceiling height of one floor of this inn was probably around twelve feet. That’s quite high already. And then the bookshelves met that entire height with books stacked until the very top shelf. It was tall enough to warrant a ladder to climb up and reach the very top. That’s what I mean by giant. Three of those giant bookshelves. One on the south wall, and one each on the west and east walls.
I had barely taken in the sheer scale of the room and the library's worth of books when Bella exclaimed once more. She had already made it to one of the shelves, the southern one, and picked a book to read. Flipping through the pages with a shocked abandon, her wide eyes were enough reason for me to go and pick one out as well.
The Great Federation of Magic: Financial Records Year 1393
“The Great Federation of Magic? What’s that?” I looked back at Trev, who had found his way to one of the chairs and cozied up in it.
Feet on the table, yawning, he shrugged, “Innkeep, if that’s a joke, then I’m not biting. Could you be more obvious with your setups?”
“I am…yeah. Just joking. I wanna see how well you can keep up with a stupid, dumb joke.” I furiously nodded, “So, like, what’s the Great Federation?”
“Ohhhh…” He nodded, as if he had finally understood my hilarious intentions behind the question. “I see, I see. So, like, the Great Federation is this massive group that basically oversees all use of Magic, and who gets to be a Magician, and all that. You can’t use Magic if the Great Federatio-”
“These are more of their records.” Bella interrupted him, even though she was still focused on the book that seemed to have pulled the floor out from under her. “Every patrol, every inquisitor, every financial record, and every publicly available layout of their headquarters with guard positioning. It’s way more detailed than it should be. What even is this place, innkeeper?”
“Look, I’m as clueless as you are, ok?” I cried. “I don’t know what’s what over here. I mean, I just woke up. For the second time, that is. That guy is the one who opened the door anyway, not me!”
I hurried to the western wall. It wasn’t like I understood the gravity of what it even meant to have all that information on the Great Federation or whatever. But still, you did not just keep blueprints of a building hidden in your room if you did not intend on breaking in. Or I guess if you were the security contractor of that place, but I wasn’t sure if those even existed in this place.
Picking out one of the books from this wall, I glanced at the title just once to see if it was related to the rest. Surprisingly, it wasn’t. This time around, the book was much more innocuous. Or so it seemed on the surface, at least.
Mana and Magic
“Mana and Magic,” I repeated. “I mean, this one doesn’t seem like it's spying on anyone, I guess?”
“What?” Trev stood up at the mention of the name. Hopping on top of the table and then walking straight to my position, he got down and took the book out of my hand. The moment he looked at the title and opened to a random page, however, he instantly closed it.
“Uh…?”
“It’s not allowed, Innkeep.” He scowled. “This is a Federation-approved textbook for schools. They teach this to, like, third-year students of something. We are not even allowed to look at it.”
“Second year.”
“Huh? “ Trev pushed the book back in my hands before turning to the elf who had corrected him. “How do you know that?”
Bella put the book back on the shelf, and I followed suit. Now quietly standing in front of the southern shelf, she gulped and light shook her head before walking over to the final eastern wall that we hadn’t checked yet.
“I…uh…”
“She can use Magic, so wouldn’t it make sense for her to have studied it?” I asked. The question felt like a complete nothing burger, after all. “What’s that expression for? I mean, we all saw her blast through those moldy monsters, right? Let’s maybe drop the act for a while and not waste all of our time?”
“What moldy monsters?” Trev asked, leaning against the wooden shelves, “I mean, there’s some weird mold stuff on the third-floor staircase. That’s why…we were here. But monsters? Did you actually hit your head that hard?”
“I…I have no idea what you’re talking about.” She barely croaked out the words as she turned and started to nervously go through the books on the western shelf. “I…I can’t use Magic, innkeeper! I don’t know where you get the misconception from, but please don’t say something like that ever again. Here…let’s look at these books!”
“I’m inclined to agree with her, Innkeep. The last thing that comes to my mind when I see this elf is Magic, you know? It hardly feels like someone as clumsy as her would be capable of it…”
“I am not clumsy! Here…”
She pulled one of the books out of the shelves, still shaking, but ended up pulling about six more with it. As they all tumbled out of their position and dropped down at once, the elf yelped and jumped away with the one book in her grip. The others were left strewn on the floor; half open and half closed, with their pages creasing on the stone.
Trev looked away, trying to stop himself from laughing at the mess she had just created. But something about seeing him being that apathetic almost forced me to want to be better. I had seen just how reluctant this girl had been to use Magic before, even on the verge of being consumed by a horde of those weird mold things. Perhaps I was being a bit too harsh by pushing her.
So, I just walked over and started picking up the books. Bella, meanwhile, stood as she was and looked down at me with suspicion.
“Uh, sorry,” I repeated, handing the books to her to put back. “Different Bella. I know another Bella, and she can…use Magic. Yeah. I just got confused. Probably because I hit my head and all that.”
“O…Oh.” She took the first book and put it back. Then we got into a rhythm. “It’s alright. We all make mistakes, right, innkeeper?”
“Laura. Laura is fine.”
If they were going to keep the whole pretense up, I would have to introduce myself all over again. And yeah, maybe the fact that the rug of the room had changed and they were acting like they actually did not know me way too well…but surely those things could not be connected. Surely, it was just a stupid little joke.
Were all of my alarms going off and trying to warn me that something was very wrong here? Yeah, totally.
But also, this was a medieval fantasy inn with mold monsters and magical elves. So…let a girl stay deluded.
“What the fuck is this?”
Just as I was about to hand Bella the last book on the floor, I opened it to satisfy my curiosity. All I got instead was a sketch. The sketch of what looked like an old man with an eccentric-looking beard, along with some information written below it.
His name, his age, where he came from. A section marking him as ‘Chosen’, even. Below that were favorite food and favorite drinks and hobbies and interests, and other fun facts. All of that bookended by a simple word, number, and date. Room 102, and the duration of their stay.
“Say, is that…”
“Room 202,” Bella whispered, looking through the books in her hand. Every single one of them, one by one. And every single time she opened a page, a different combination left her mouth. “Room 101. Room 001. The Luxury Suite. Room 201. Room 202 again. These are customer records. But…”
“Alright, I think it’s becoming increasingly important that I make it clear that I have nothing to do with this room, alright?” I handed over the last book to the elf and stood up with my heart racing.
I wasn’t sure if it was fear, or anxiety, or maybe just plain excitement. Whatever it was needed to be suppressed and dealt with. A round table with twelve chairs. Three bookshelves with weird interests filling them. Illegal blueprints, restricted textbooks, and customer records that were way too detailed and personal.
No, I told myself. That was all I could muster up the courage to say.
No! - It was a shout this time. But as I looked around the rest of the room, my eyes landed on the singular painting of a mountain that decorated the otherwise empty north wall of this secret room. And that shout was drowned out by the sheer atrocity that it would be to ignore something like this.
I stepped closer to it, noting two slots on either side of the painting that could fit something thin, tall, and cylindrical in them. Coated with bronze, they felt more like the main event in comparison to the painting, beautiful though it was. Every fiber of being felt like it was being attacked by a need to know more. Every bit of my existence was crying out that I could not now leave without finding out what was going on.
Just how often did you find yourself in a situation like this, anyway?
Yet, I knew that it was a trap. One that I was making for myself. This was not the right way to do it, was it? What if solving the entire thing only got me into trouble and got me killed? What if it made it so that I was never able to leave? You could not just jump into a problem without actually being sure about how you wanted to handle the consequences. Hell, I did not even know what the consequences were.
“Is that…”
Trev moved, bringing my sanity hope. As he got closer to the painting and looked down at the small metal counter jutting out right under it, his eyes glowed. Bella, who was also looking from afar, seemed to notice it before I did. Trying to keep up with the two, I stepped forward, but the twin had already picked the key up and was holding it for us to see.
The key. The one to the main door.
It was right there, and my heart still felt like it had been shattered into pieces. I could get out. I could leave and try to work on getting back home. But what about this room? What about all the weird, quirky stuff I had just found out about?
The twin moved, and Bella ran after him. Together, both of them rushed out of the secret room at once. Reluctantly, I walked and followed, past the bookshelves, the table, and the many mysteries that once could have been, and I dejectedly took my last walk out of the Innkeeper’s Room.
About thirty minutes ago, I would have given anything to just leave this place. But as I got out of the door and walked through the corridor into the Lobby, I felt a strange sense of loss. Day by day, cooking in that restaurant had been fun. A dream come true, even. And sure, I had been on the very verge of catching those damn art thieves before I was rudely put into that mold apocalypse.
“What do you have there!?” A voice boomed from above the stairs once we got to the Lobby. The dwarf was here. “You got the key to the main door, kid? Now, where did you find that thing?”
“Uh…it was with the innkeeper.” He tried to simplify the answer.
To my detriment, of course.
“Innkeeper!?” Poltrick snapped, coming down the stairs as he glared at me. “There you are! What do you think you’re doing, trying to mess with us, huh? Putting up those damn slabs on the windows, and the bad hygiene with the mold. Those plants are dying! And we cannot even leave the inn. What infernal service is this!?”
“Oh god…” I whispered, rubbing my forehead. “Gregson, I don’t have time for you. Actually…I’m sorry. Maybe that was too harsh. Cause I think you’ve just saved me from the worst decision I could possibly make.”
“Eh? What is that supposed to mean?’
“I…love you, Gregson!” I nodded and started for the door, increasing my pace as the realization set in. The mystery did not come alone. It came with this goofball attached to it like a free marketing item you did not ask for at the grocery store. And I hated getting those free items I didn’t ask for.
I have a whole reason for that, alright? Don’t judge!
Anyway, I reached the door and snatched the key out of Trev’s hands. If giving up on that dumb mystery meant not having to deal with this dwarf, I was more than fine with it. It was probably a stupid mystery anyway. Some shadowy terrorist organization probably had a base here and was planning to destroy Magic or something. Nothing more, nothing less.
There, I solved it. Thanks for reading.
Putting the key into the lock, I clicked it in place, and the heavy metal padlock fell down to the floor. The loosened door creaked as I pushed the handle and swung it open. This was it. I was leaving. No innkeeping for me.
“What in the name of the mythical Dons!?” Poltrick cried the moment we all got to see the view beyond the door. The view that the slabs on the windows had been hiding this entire time.
The inn was not on Earth. It wasn’t even on whatever planet these people were supposed to be from. It wasn’t on land. Or water. Or air. Or really any physical feature I had ever seen before. No, it was floating. The view in front of me was nothing but a pitch-black expanse with a few littered white dots.
The Northflame Inn was floating in deep space.
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The Room Behind the Innkeeper's Room