End of Chapter 25:
As we reached the first set of windows, I realized the walkway ran right under the outside windows of the rooms. It was pure genius. Walking around the perimeter made me aware of the mammoth size of the hotel.
“I imagine you are most interested in the lower floor. I will take you there first. If you need to enter the main room, the bookcases will move so you can enter.”
Of course, they will, I thought.
Day #4: Chapter Twenty-Six
Going down two flights of stairs to the lower floor, a large one-way window provided a view of the entire room.
“If you want to see in the bedrooms, just go on around the corner. I will leave you here. Lunch is going to be complicated today.” And with that, Alden disappeared down another set of stairs.
Turning to the room, I spotted the two women who had chosen to stay in the main room. One was talking to several teenagers in the lounge area. One of the older teens was at a table coloring with three girls who looked to be about six, seven, and eight years old. Then I saw the caretaker walking into the room carrying a baby and holding the hand of a toddler. Three was dancing around in circles around them as she walked.
Ah, this must be One, Two, and Three!
Close behind her came another older teen holding the hands of two preschool girls. They headed to the small play area where another child about five years old was already playing.
It doesn’t seem like it could be going any better!
To my surprise, the next child rode into the room on a bicycle. She was followed by another teenager talking to two girls slightly older. Then I spotted 68 with her notepad. She was checking the room with a concerned look on her face. I could not see 69 anywhere in the room.
Walking around the corner I counted the rooms until I came to the twelfth one. Sure enough, 69 and a young girl were sitting on the bed. I could barely hear the girl’s voice.
“But I don’t want to go out there. I am safe here. I don’t want more bad things to happen to me.”
“I understand how you feel,” 69 said. “I know what happened. It was painful and scary. I don’t blame you for not feeling safe. No one seemed to be watching out for you. But now there are 50 adults, and we are strong. We can protect you if you will let us.”
“There’s 50?” the girl asked as she glanced toward the door.
“Well, they all aren’t here right now but four of us are. We will keep you safe. But any time you don’t feel safe, you can come back here and lock the door again.”
“You promise?”
“Yes, I promise.”
The sound of laughter from the other room seemed to help the young girl to trust and she and 69 walked out of the room together.
Day #4: Chapter Twenty-Seven
Walking back around the corner to the one-way window, I watched as 68 marked off the last number on her checklist and gave a thumbs-up to the other three. They had done it! I surveyed the room one last time before I returned to the middle level.
To my surprise, everyone was gathered around the table. I quietly slid the bookcase forward and stepped into the room. No one seemed to notice me. Catching the eye of 66, I motioned for her to come over to where I was standing.
“It seems like it is going well here! You didn’t seem to have many problems to solve!
66 laughed, “No, my skills weren’t much needed. That is a good thing.”
“It is a good thing!” I replied.
66 continued, “They all seemed very ready to leave the bedrooms and were so excited to find things they loved in this room. We have been catching them up on the entire story and everyone wants to help us figure out how to get out of Hotel Candelabra. Some of them are irritated that they arrived here in baggage. Can’t say that I blame them.”
“No, no one could blame them!” I agreed. “They are all out of the rooms on the lower floor and I am on my way to the top floor.”
I slid back through the opening, noting the surprise on 66’s face, and headed up the stairs where I once again found everyone gathered around the table. This time, sliding the bookshelf aside proved to be less quiet and I arrived in the room with everyone’s eyes on me.
63 laughed and said, “Apparently, I am not the only one who goes exploring. Let me introduce all of you to 70 who appears to have found another secret passage but needs to practice her entering skills.”
Laughter filled the room as I was welcomed and gave my report from the other two floors. “Now I need to go back to the first floor and give this rousingly successful report to them. The bookcase repeated its less-than-quiet performance before I headed down the stairs hoping I wouldn’t frighten a room full of children when I arrived.
Then it occurred to me that I could go down one more floor to the lobby and take the elevator back up and be less likely to startle anyone. I continued down the stairs and pushed open a bookcase that landed me behind the check-in counter. I glanced at where the door to the hotel should be and sure enough it was still missing. Rounding the corner, I headed to the elevator only to run headlong into Alden who was rolling a cart in the same direction.
“Well,” Alden said. “Imagine meeting you here in the lobby! You are certainly finding your way around!”
I explained my noisy entry to the upper floor and how I didn’t want to frighten small children.
“Oh, that is right! I keep meaning to fix that. It does make a horrible sound. Well, I am headed to the lower floor, we can go together. Is everything going Okay?”
“Better than we could have imagined! Everyone is out of the rooms. Wait until you see!”
At that exact moment, the elevator arrived, and I followed Alden and the cart into the tiny space. We could hear the voices of children before the door opened. I was eager to tell them about the upper floors and was smiling when the elevator door opened.
We had barely exited the elevator when the girl on the bicycle rode into it, pushed the button, and was gone.