Chapter 5

The alley was dark and a little murky but, unlike the alley I currently resided, this one held little to no stench. In addition, many of the buildings still looked brand new even from this angel where people rarely traversed.

On the side of the hotel building was the fire escape… unfortunately it was quite high up, starting on the second floor. There was a retractable ladder just at the edge of the fire escape; now i just needed to find a way to get it down.

I don't know if it was due to my living on the streets for the past two years but, I found myself to be very crafty. I found a broken pallet, likely used to carry the hotels produce, on the side of the building. I grabbed one of the loose planks and tore it off. The nail was still poking out on one end, which i would use to grab the ladder. I then tore another plank from the pallet and used the nail still on it, to attach it to the previous one. It was still a bit flimsy as i grabbed a rock from the ground, which i used to pry one final nail from the pallet, as I then hammered it into my long plank.

Now that this was done I just had to grab the ladder. I reached up with the plank and hooked it onto the ladder. It was a success. I pulled hard on the ladder which came down just low enough for me to reach out with my arm. I climbed the fire escape to the 5th floor and quietly peaked through the door, to see an empty hallway with numbered doors and either side. I walked in through the door and was careful to close it behind me.

Now to figure out where that man was.

'I could do that… I really am crafty' I couldn't help smiling at this.

20 min later I found myself knocking on the doors one by one. If no one answered I was sure to make a mental note just in case and come back later. For those that did answer I asked if they needed me to clean their rooms. That's right, who hasn't been to a hotel and found a cart in the middle of the walkway. I had dressed myself as one of the cleaners as I made my way checking each room.

Finally, I knocked on door 523 and the tall boney man answered in an obviously disturbed manner.

"Hello I'm here to clean the room it'll take just a moment if you wouldn't mind." I quickly voiced the line I had planned previously.

"I'm not interested, come back later," Unfortunately this was as far as I had planned in my mind.

I started thinking I really needed to get in this room otherwise my chance would be gone. This scroll had to be worth quite a bit for a rank B mage to be after it. Hell it even warranted killing someone in the middle of the day.

"I'm sorry sir but I must insist, it'll only take a moment… we can't have this room creating a smell that spreads to the other," Please just say yes I was begging in my head.

"Fine, but you better be quick" the man said as he turned to show me inside.

I nearly released a huge smile on my face when he let me in, but I was careful to hold it in as it might blow my cover. As I stepped inside I quickly looked around for the scroll and unfortunately, it wasn't left out in the open. 'Well lets keep up the cover at the very least, i'd hate for him to find something fishy and kill me,' I thought to myself as I grabbed a cloth and spray bottle from the cart and made my way to the bathroom.

I started scrubbing the counter and toilet as I checked the drawers for the scroll, still no sign. As I finished I walked to the bed to fix the bedding and hopefully find what I was looking for. Of coarse I had to be careful as the man sat at the corner waiting for me to leave.

While i couldn't seem to find the scroll anywhere at the corner of the bed, lying on the ground was the spare key card used to open the door. 'Yes!!! At least this way I can thoroughly check the room without being watched the whole time." I grabbed the card carefully as i tucked the comforter under the mattress and pocketed it as I made my way out the door.

"Wait!!!" The lengthy man seemed to notice something as he stopped me between the threshold of the door.

I couldn't help the memories of that man he killed earlier surfacing in my mind. My nerves were screaming at me to run, while my mind told me to stay calm and calmly ask, "yes?"