Page 29 of Smoke

We passed one motel, then another. A restaurant. A strip mall. “Not yet—it’s still getting stronger,” she said. “She’s in a small room. One bed. I wonder if she feels me with her, if she knows we’re coming.”

“Stay focused. You can ask her these questions later.”

My dragon paced impatiently, grunting, snorting, waiting for something to happen. Waiting was never his strong suit.

“Right, right.” Her eyes snapped open. “It’s fading again!”

“Shit!” I swung the wheel, turning the Jeep around without waiting to gauge the flow of traffic.

Horns blared all around us as the tires squealed and we fishtailed almost out of control, but I managed to keep us on the right side of the road.

“Whoa,” Jasmine breathed, one hand over her chest.

“Well? Do you still feel her?”

She nodded, gulping for air. “Yes. Stronger now that we’re going this way.”

I looked around. “There’s nothing here, though. I don’t see any place she could’ve stopped.” A diner, a gas station, a chain restaurant. “Maybe she’s getting something to eat.”

“No, no, I’m sure I saw flashes of a room. She’s here somewhere.” She craned her neck as she strained to see anything behind the buildings closest to the road. “Wait! There’s a motor court behind the restaurant! See it?”

I looked in the direction she pointed and could just make out a dimly-lit building with a half-working neon sign.

“She’s got to be there. That has to be it.” She sounded so sure of herself that I had no choice but to follow her instructions.

I, for one, didn’t enjoy the thought of Alina staying in what looked like a pit, but it made sense if she wanted to travel under the radar and on the cheap.

There were only a few other cars parked in front of the long, single-story building. A light rain began to fall as we pulled to a stop in one of the available spaces. Jasmine practically jumped out of the Jeep and ran for the front office with me trailing behind.

“Hello?” she called out as we entered the tiny, dingy little room with its portable television and a computer that looked as though it might have been one of the very first. My heightened senses picked up the stench of cigarettes, cheap cologne, whiskey.

“Maybe he’s gone on a break,” I suggested, leaning over the counter for a glimpse of the back office. It looked empty.

“I can’t wait for this guy to take a shit, whoever he is.”

I would’ve laughed at her frankness if the situation wasn’t so tense.

She looked out the glass door, a pensive frown on her face. “Only three of the rooms have lights on in them. See the second from the last?”

I looked over the top of her head. “Yes.”

“It’s the only one without a car parked in front of it.”

“That’s as good a place to start as any,” I agreed.

Just like that, she was off again, and I jogged to keep up with her. I hoped we weren’t about to piss off some random couple looking for a good time in a remote room, but the dragon told me she was there.

How he knew, I couldn’t say. But he was never wrong.

Jasmine banged on the door with the side of her fist. “Alina? Is that you in there? It’s Jasmine and Smoke!”

Our eyes met when we heard the creaking of bedsprings, the rapid patter of footsteps across a tile floor.

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