Page 52 of Inside the Maelstrom: Part Two
Either way, it was D-Day.
“Hotel, maybe? If he was staying here, he’d need to have a room, and there’s only one hotel which makes it easy,” Otto suggested.
Sounded like a fair plan. When we got to the end of the dock, the guys jumped the rail, landing easily on the volcanic sand below.
Sampson picked up a handful, letting it trail out from between his fingers. “Cool.”
I walked to the end of the dock, because I didn’t think I was some fucking superhero who could do graceful landings. I took off my shoes, and my feet sank into the shining black sand. It looked like the darkness was crawling up my legs to devour me.
Once the guys had finished exploring the shoreline, we walked up over a small boardwalk to the only hotel, conveniently located opposite the dock. It looked like every other building on the sloping hills that made up Stromboli, but the signs were all in English.
“We’ll wait here,” Hendrick said, and Otto sat beside him.
I hesitantly looked between Sampson and Evan. I didn’t want to do this by myself. “I’ll wait out here too. Sam will go with you.”
Sampson raised an eyebrow at the implied order, and he wrapped an arm around my waist. “Come on, Good Girl. Let’s go and find your mystery man.”
The hotel was fairly empty, despite the number of tourists that poured off the boat. There was an older woman behind the reception desk. “Buongiorno.Checking in?”
I shook my head. “Uh, no. I have a question, actually. We are trying to catch up with a friend of ours who was going to travel to Stromboli, and was looking to stay for a while. We were wondering if he was still a guest here?”
The woman gave me an appraising look, before shrugging. “I can see. We don’t have many guests this time of the year, and the volcano has been particularly active, scaring off the tourists. Name?”
“Timothy Smith.”
She typed into her old computer. Seriously, this thing looked like it was pre-2000s. She frowned, but shook her head. “There is no one registered here under that name. Are you sure he came to Stromboli?”
I shrugged. In the end, I wasn’t sure. I wasn’t sure about anything when it came to Nemo.
“Uh, fairly sure. He was doing a Jules Verne tour of Europe, so we thought he might have stopped here.”
The woman’s fingers stilled. “Jules Verne?” At my nod, her face softened. “You should go talk to Padre Paolo up at the church. He may be able to help. Head up the Via Picone, you can’t miss it.”
My heart beat faster at her words and the look on her face. Had Nemo turned to the church to fight back his demons?
“Grazie,” Sampson said quietly, leading me out the door.
The guys met us just outside. “So?” Hendrick asked, and I shook my head.
“He never stayed here, but she’s sent us up to the church to see the priest. She said he might know something.”
Evan’s face reflected my own. The guys hadn’t been there for the last few clues, and while they knew the messages, somehow standing in the same place, holding objects that Nemo had held, made it feel different. Like you could sense his desperation in his words.
Sampson led the way up the skinny roads, only the occasional Vespa and golf cart passing us. The Via Picone went almost vertically up the mountain, and I breathed through my nose in the hopes that the guys didn’t realize I was so unfit.
This was it. This was where I was going to die.
Evan looked over his shoulder and took in my puffing, red cheeks. Then had the gall to laugh.
I scowled at him. “You try being railed for four hours, then walk up the side of a damn mountain, butthead.”
Hendrick waggled his eyebrows. “I believe that's exactly what I’m doing right now.” He stopped, and tapped the stone wall that ran along the edges of the roads. “Come on, Viva. You can ride me up the mountain. I’ve got enough stamina for both of us.”
A part of me wanted to protest, but my jello thighs had other ideas. I tried to scrabble to the top of the wall, but Evan just picked me up and plopped me onto the rough stone. Dammit, where was my independent feminism now?
Hendrick slid between my thighs with a dramatic sigh. “Ah, home again. Come on, Viva, don’t make me do all the work. No one likes a starfish.”
I slapped his shoulder. “That’s it, I changed my mind. I’ll walk.”
