Syracuse for something to eat, and then I let Sky drive the rest of the way, even managing to relax enough to get a few hours sleep myself. It took in total over eight hours of driving, and probably would have been quicker to fly, but by the time we’d arranged for a jet, we would have only saved a few minutes at most.
We pulled up in front of the hotel and Sky threw the keys to the valet before we walked inside. The foyer was huge and very impressive, with some interesting artwork on the walls and massive windows that let in an extraordinary amount of light. Sky left me to look around while she walked over to the reception desk. Her ID would do little good in New York; neutral territory was just that. There was a time when the most powerful creatures on earth fought over the state, including Hades, but Avalon had eventually managed to calm everyone with a proposal that suited no one. New York was off limits to the influence of any of the major powers. It was one of only five states in America that could say they were neutral territory; Illinois, California, Louisiana, and Texas made up the rest. A number of cities also fall under the ‘ neutral ’ banner, although apart from Washington D.C, most of them are only neutral in the broadest sense of the word.
Sky had been talking to a young man behind the counter for a few minutes when she made her way back to me as I flicked through one of the hotel brochures.
“Any luck?” I asked.
“That black card, it’s only available on the top three floors.” She reached over and picked up a white card from the table beside me. “Everyone else gets these.”
“Why would they bother?”
“Apparently it’s been proven to make those who pay the extra dollars feel more exclusive. All of the cards and menus up there are different colors from those of the floors below. It’s a marketing idea.”
“Okay, so where do we go from here?”
“I slipped him a few hundred bucks and he said the third floor from the top hasn’t been used for a few weeks. Remodeling .”
“That’s out then.”
“The second floor is occupied at the moment by some Wall Street types. They’ve taken the two suites there to use for some sort of bonding retreat.”
“And the penthouse?”
“In use for the last three weeks. All paid in cash, two men and two women. Apparently they scare the shit out of th e staff.”
“You got a lot for only a few hundred bucks.”
“I’m very persuasive, and I also gave him my phone n umber.”
I chuckled. “Penthouse it is then.”
The lifts, which were just as opulent as every other thing I’d seen in the hotel, were quiet and no one else got on as we rode it to the penthouse on the twenty-second floor.
The polished lift doors opened to show a corridor filled with natural light from the huge windows that ran down one side. Arrays of colorful flowers had been placed on small tables and, apart from a door marked stairwell and the lift doors, there was only one other door on the floor.
“You going to use magic to open it?” Sky asked me.
Over the years I’d learned how to use my air magic to open locked doors, but it’s time-consuming and difficult to do. It’s also impossible to do with a lock that requires a card. “You fancy kicking it down?”
Sky smiled—it was sly and full of mischief. I stepped aside so she could use the keycard that appeared in her hand.
“Your phone number got you the door key card?”
“I’m not sure if you’re aware of this, Nate, but I’m incredibly hot.” Sky swiped the card through the door lock and then pushed the door open.
Whatever playful banter we had before the door opened ceased the second the living room was revealed. The expensive decor, and stunning views, did little to sway me as we searched the suite together. We started with the left side of the room, which contained the bedroom and an en suite bathroom, both of which were clean and tidy, with no clothes or toiletries around to suggest that