Chapter 53
POV: Damian Knight
I've stayed in hotels that had grand pianos in the lobby, private elevators, and beds large enough to lose a person in.
Tonight, I checked into a motel where the receptionist handed me a key attached to a faded plastic duck.
"Room twelve," she said. "If the air conditioner growls, growl back. It usually settles down."
I blinked.
"I'm sorry?"
"It respects confidence."
She returned to her crossword puzzle as though that sentence belonged in everyday conversation.
I walked outside carrying one duffel bag.
Everything I owned for the challenge fit inside it.
That felt strangely... right.
Room Twelve greeted me with peeling wallpaper, a tiny television from another decade, and a lamp that leaned so dramatically it looked exhausted.
I switched it on.
No
