Heaven Gilded Zarcroft Hybrid

Thirteen

A pile of fabric hit my face. I spit the cotton out of my mouth as I opened my eyes to dim blue sunlight.

Cynaline knelt over me, fully dressed with messy hair.

"You like scavenger hunts?"

⚝⚝⚝

Dorothy, Jamie, and I hit the showers. Grumpily, I'll add.

As I stepped inside and turned on the water. The hot water streamed down my skin and I closed my eyes. I drizzled a bit of body wash into my hand and remembered...

I was supposed to be somewhere.

I think.

Did I leave something at home? Couldn't care less at this point. Did I bring a towel? No, they don't use towels to dry off here.

I was wide awake before, but the clarity I felt now was like overcoming a headache. Whatever. I knew I'd remember eventually, so I quickly washed up, dried off, and got out of the shower.

I dressed in a thin yellow hoodie and gray pants, which was the makeshift alarm Cynaline threw on me earlier. He also left a small spray bottle of lens cleaner in my pocket for my glasses. Whatever the scavenger hunt is, I guess the smallest smudge would compromise the whole task.

I walked out of the bathroom and into the main area. And noticed something off about the digital clock on the wall.

The numbers were completely foreign. Then I thought about it for a second, and remembered it was another world. Of course they were different.

Cynaline walked in, brushing his damp hair. He clearly wore liner around his eyes. And I didn't notice the wolfish canines in his smile.

"Cynaline!" I groaned. "What time is it?"

"Three o'clock," Cynaline said. "Is that too early? You can go back to sleep if you want."

"Three? In the morning?"

"Yeah! Oh wait... you have twenty-four hour days, right? That's so long."

Dorothy stepped out of her bathroom, patting her clothes down to neaten them. She wore a thin red sweater and black jeans.

"So what is this 'scavenger hunt'?" she struggled through her yawn.

"I lied. I just wanted you to come with me to find something."

"Is this another surprise?"

"I mean, it's kinda hard to explain right now. You'll get the jist once we get there. We're going to my friend's place."

Jamie got out, pressing the ends of his crazy hair with a hand towel. He wore a white jacket covered in ink designs.

Cynaline clapped his hands together. "Great! We're all set. Bring your luggage."

"We're spending the night somewhere?" I asked.

"At my friend's. I live there. And here. But mostly there."

We followed Cynaline through the hall with our bags—our very heavy bags. I started to wonder whether I over-packed or if the gravity on Exo was stronger. Probably the former in my case.
The blue light lining the top and bottom the last time were deep orange now. I thought maybe the light was a reflection of the skylight. It was sunrise, after all.

We entered the lobby, which was completely void besides two staff members. Both wore long black dusters, matching wraparound visors, and earpieces. Our footsteps echoed throughout, so of course they would ask questions. As we walked to the door we went through last night, one of them—a man—strutted over, adjusting a walkie talkie in his belt.