Wool of the Prince-- Chapter 33

Chapter 33

~1,404 words

They confronted the adjacent rooms: 206 and 208.

“Who’s sleeping where?” William asked.

“As a lady,” Fleta said, “I think it’s only proper that I get a room to myself.” She huffed and rolled her shoulders, sticking her nose slightly higher in the air. She looked out of the side of her eyes at Jay and smiled.

“It seems like that would be the proper thing to do,” William frowned.

“I am not sharing a bed with either of you two,” Jay interjected.

“You can sleep on the floor then,” Cabot suggested dryly.

“C’mon,” said Jay, “there’s another bed in Fleta’s room, and it’s not like we haven’t slept in the same room before.”

“I don’t want you two out of my sight,” Cabot growled. Then he glanced at William—who was raising an eyebrow, perhaps thinking that he didn’t want to share a room with Cabot either—and added, “what if either of you gets hurt?”

“Right, well there’s a connecting door between the rooms. We can just prop that open,” William suggested.

There was silence while William waited for anyone to disagree. Jay nodded, and Cabot squinted and bobbed his head as well. Fleta just sighed and shifted her weight from one foot to the other.

“Sounds good,” she said. “Can we go in now? I’m baking.”

The motel was painted in a bright salmon that went with the tendrils of sunset just starting to creep over the horizon. The walls were rough and bumpy, and the doors were wooden. Each room had wide windows with white curtains and frames. There were two full-sized mattresses in each room that squealed when someone collapsed into them.

“I’ll never be grateful enough for your indoor heating and cooling systems,” Fleta murmured as she spread her arms out on the bed.

“It wasn’t even that hot outside,” Jay said, taking off his shoes and massaging his feet.

“I’m a cool-weather girl I guess,” Fleta said.

There was a rustling at the door set into the wall. William pushed open the connecting door and stepped into the room. “How’s your room?” he asked.

“Pretty good,” Jay said. “It doesn’t look like there are mice or bedbugs. And we have clean towels and sheets. Everything seems to be in order. Although the wall color is hideous.” He gestured to the teal-hued walls.

“It’s better than ours,” William laughed.

Jay poked his head in and made a face when he saw the mustard-colored walls. Cabot was sitting on his bed looking queasy. Or maybe that was just the color reflecting on his face.

“Well I’m glad I’m in here,” said Jay. “So what’s the plan for tonight? I’m super disappointed that we couldn’t visit the studio today, but maybe that’s a good thing. Fleta and I were talking about seeing a movie. She’s never seen one before.”

“Oh really? Well then. We should see one! It’s been quite a while since I’ve had the time to go to the movies. What shall we see?” William pulled out his smartphone and fiddled with it.

“I don’t know what’s out currently… Boy, this is exciting! We get to see a movie in Hollywood! The movie capital of the world!” Jay bounced a little where he stood.

“You guys sure are obsessed with these movie things,” Fleta said.

“You’ll see how fun they are. You’ll understand all the hype. We’ll need to see a good movie though.”

“There’s the space one,” William suggested.

Jay thought for a moment. “I don’t think that would be a good one,” he finally said. “They haven’t learned about space. I think we should stay away from anything sci-fi. Any good fantasy movies?”

“Yeah, there’s the third one in the series about elves or something? Ooh there’s the one about dragons too! Fearsome.”

“That sounds better. Want to see a movie about dragons?” Jay asked Fleta.

Fleta shrugged and opened her mouth as if to speak, but Cabot cut her off. “What’s all this about seeing movies?”

“What’s wrong Cabot? We just want to have some fun,” Fleta pouted.

“We didn’t come here to have fun.”

“Loosen up a bit, Cabot,” William said. “What’s the harm.”

Cabot was silent.

“When is the next showing for Fearsome?” Jay asked.

“In an hour, at the nearest theatre. We could probably walk there in that time. Are we up for it?” William asked.

“I am, but it might be too hot for Fleta,” Jay said.

“Oh I’ll be fine. You’re right it’s not that hot outside.” Fleta stood up and yanked open the door to the outside. “What are we waiting for? Let’s go!”

Jay followed right on her heels, and William soon after. Cabot did not come.

“He said he wanted to sleep,” William shrugged.

The streets in Hollywood weren’t all glitz and glamor. In fact, the whole city looked pretty grimy and sad. The sun was going down behind the buildings, and behind them, the mountains. There were few trees, and the ones that Jay noticed the most were palm trees. They passed several dumpsters and fences covered in graffiti, and it seemed that Hollywood’s favorite food was Mexican food. The sidewalks were cracked and uneven, and Jay often tripped over the slabs of jutting concrete.

It felt oddly liberating to be away from Cabot. Jay hadn’t felt like Cabot was enforcing his “rule” very tightly, but it still felt wonderful to be away from him. It occurred to Jay that he could tell William that Cabot had kidnapped them, and they could escape. Then they’d never have to worry about finding this golden dagger, or what it would be used for.

But he wanted to make sure that Fleta got back home, and that Shep’s quest to restore the Gozgarden royalty would succeed. And the only way to do that for sure was to stay with Cabot. Jay wasn’t sure that the train he had run away on would go back to Trevon at all. No, despite Cabot’s threats, it was safer to stay with him. Plus then they would know what Cabot was planning. What was that old phrase about keeping enemies close?

They soon reached the movie theater. The sign that proclaimed “MOVIES!” in flashing lights seemed to be missing a few bulbs, and the carpet at the entrance was frayed; however the red seats in the theatre were comfortable, and the popcorn buttery.

The movie was about a dragon who hatched from an egg that had been frozen in ice for several hundred years. It breathed ice, and was the last of its kind. The humans were afraid of it, but a young boy realized that it was just confused and sad. Then the dragon found some dragons that circled the Earth unbeknownst to the humans. The dragon took off to fly with them, and it was all very touching.

There had been a scary part where the humans mounted an attack against the dragon. Fleta sank back in her seat, cringing at the dragon’s pain as it was pelted with rocks. Jay smiled inwardly and did the classic arm-protectively-over-her-shoulder move. Fleta glanced up at him and smiled a wavery smile.

“So how did you like it?” Jay asked on the walk back from the movies.

“It was good, I guess,” Fleta said, staring at her feet.

Jay was astonished. “You didn’t love it?”

“Well they got dragons wrong. A dragon would eat you so much as look at you. And they don’t look like that. But it’s still a crime to attack one, if only for your own safety. I kept waiting for that dragon to go berserk and torch the town. And that’s another thing. A dragon can’t breathe ice!” Fleta sounded frustrated.

“Well the important thing about movies is that they’re fictional,” said Jay.

“We all have our own perceptions on what dragons should be,” William laughed.

“No, but they don’t look like that,” Fleta maintained.

Jay leaned in and whispered in Fleta’s ear, “William doesn’t know that dragons exist in your world. They could look like anything as far as he’s concerned.”

“Oh right. Right. Well, I guess I like the movie part. Just not the dragon part.”

“Can you see why people love movies so much?” asked Jay.

“Yeah. I thought the big screen was so cool. It was like we were actually there.”

“If only we had gotten to see it in 3D,” William laughed.