“On the other end, I think.”
“Excellent. He’s blown his cover.” Grant set off with long strides.
Julie scurried to keep up.
At room 555, Grant tried his universal key card, slipping it in and out of the slot. It didn’t work. “This’ll take a little more effort, I think. No matter.” He waved a hand over the key card and tried again. And again. It still didn’t work.
A growl drew Julie’s attention to the other end of the hallway, back the way they’d come.
A creature huddled there, staring with eyes that glowed like hot iron. At first, she thought it was a dog. But it wasn’t. This thing was slate gray, hairless, with a stout head as big as its chest and no neck to speak of. Skin drooped in folds around its shoulders and limbs, and knobby growths covering its back gave it an armored look. Her mind went through a catalog of four-legged predators, searching for possibilities: hyena, lion, bear, badger on steroids, dragon.
Dragon?
The lips under its hooked bill seemed to curl in a smile.
She could barely squeak, “Odysseus?”
He glanced up from his work to where she pointed. Then he paused and took a longer look.
“It’s a good sign,” Grant said.
“How is that a good sign?” she hissed.
“A guardian like that means we’ve found him.”
That she couldn’t argue his logic didn’t mean he wasn’t still crazy.
“Can you distract it?” he said. “I’m almost through.”
“Distract it? How on Earth—”
“This magician works with illusions. That thing is there to frighten us off. But most likely it’s not even real. If you distract it, it’ll vanish.”
“Just like that, huh?”
“I imagine so.”
He didn’t sound as confident as she’d have liked.
She tried to picture the thing just vanishing. It looked solid enough—it filled most of the hallway. It must have been six feet tall, crouching.
“And you’re absolutely sure it’s not real.” She reminded herself about the hallways, the room service cart. All she had to do was close her eyes.
“I’m reasonably sure.”
“That’s not absolutely.”
“Julie, trust me.” He was bent over the lock again, intent on his work.
The beast wasn’t real. All right. She just had to keep telling herself that. Against her better judgment, Julie stepped toward the creature.
“Here, kitty kitty—” Okay, that was stupid. “Um, hey! Over here!” She waved her hands over her head.
The beast’s red eyes narrowed; its muscles bunched.
“Remember, it’s an illusion. Don’t believe it.”
The thing hunched and dug in claws in preparation of a charge. The carpet shredded in curling fibers under its efforts. That sure looked real.