Gifted

X

"Are you sure this is a good idea?"

"Do you have any other ideas?"

"No, but this seems really dangerous to begin with."

"Just trust me. Go!"

Rafe approached the receptionist at the desk apprehensively. I waited behind him to overhear the conversation.

"Hi! Welcome to the Bellagio. How can I help you?" The receptionist was quite pretty actually. She had a soft creamy complexion with long black hair and Aviator glasses. I think Rafe was a little distracted by the fact because he kept staring at her.

"Sir?"

"Oh! Um, sorry. I'm here with my uh, cousins, and we need 2 rooms for..." He glanced at me with an expecting look. We were in Las Vegas, Nevada now. Allan and Poe were getting tired for flying for long periods so we had to make a stop. California was just next door. For now we had to stay in Sin City until the birds were well rested, which would take who knows how long. We found a nearby hotel, the Bellagio, and decided to stay there. Allan and Poe may or may not be on the roof of it right now, they're too unpredictable by themselves. I held up 2 fingers at Rafe and he understood.

"2 nights." he said to the receptionist.

"Do you have any reservations?"

"No."

"Hmmm, you happen to be quite lucky. We had 2 people leave unexpectedly this morning."

"Great." Rafe went through the whole buying process and identification while I sat in waiting room with the others.

"How'd it go?" Asuna asked.

"We got the rooms. We'll be here for 2 nights."

"Only 2?"

"I want to get this mission over with as quickly as possible. We've been gone for way too long." I said. Asuna frowned and sat back in her chair. Ebi and Lux were leaning against each other on the couch, still asleep. It was pretty late when we got here, and I was exhausted. Asuna was right about riding on Poe. I couldn't stretch out and go to sleep whenever I wanted. I had been awake for more than 24 hrs. I was about to drift asleep when Rafe came over.

"All right, I got the key to the rooms. Wake up sleepy heads." Asuna shook me and everyone else awake. We grabbed our things and headed towards the elevator. It was extremely crowded in there with the 5 of us, which only annoyed me. When we reached our floor, it was completely dark. There were no hallway lights on at all.

"That's weird..." Rafe said. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and turned on the flashlight.

"We're in rooms A665 and A666." Rafe said.

"Are you serious?" we all said in unison.

"We could live on the streets if you guys want." he snapped back.

"That's why those people left unexpectedly, those rooms are haunted!" Ebi exclaimed.

"There's no such thing as ghosts." Asuna assured him.

"There is such thing as Ayakashi though. Be on the look out." I summoned my katana and crept down the hallway with the rest of the group behind me.

"A660...661...662...663...664..." I shined my flashlight on the doors ahead of me. Both 665 and 666 were cracked open. Someone, or something, was in there?

"Um, sorry to interrupt, but what exactly is an 'Ayakashi' supposed to be?" said Lux.

"They're like ghosts, but not ghosts." Asuna said.