* * *
As Rachel had driven across the state, she had felt her sense of strength fading away, replaced by a fear that got stronger the closer she got to the Bellevue Hotel. She began to doubt herself, asking herself what she could do about this. How could she hope to overpower Lewis if even Bastian couldn’t? But she also felt her connection to Bastian growing as she got closer to the hotel, and she knew her instincts had been right. Bastian was alive. He was in the hotel somewhere and he was in danger. She had no real plan, no idea what she was going to do, but she knew all the same she wasn’t backing out of this.
When she reached the end of the dirt road, she parked her car and got out. She wasn’t going to make this too easy for Lewis by arriving in her car and letting him know she was here. She walked through the trees that lined the road, staying hidden but following the path so she didn’t end up lost. She came to the end of the path and she peered out through the trees, looking at the building where her whole nightmare had started. She felt fear flood her as the memories of Lewis grabbing her, scratching her, and biting her replayed in her mind. Her heart raced and her head spun dizzily for a moment. She reached out and pressed her palm against a tree trunk, taking deep breaths.
Rachel pushed the images away, reminding herself that while this whole thing started out in a nightmare, it ended with her finding Bastian, having Stephanie, and then Bastian finding her again. Thinking of Bastian and Stephanie calmed her down a little bit and she decided to focus on the good rather than the bad.
Rachel couldn’t work out why Lewis would be keeping Bastian in the hotel, but the second she had set her eyes on it, her bear had stirred, and although she didn’t let it come out, she knew what that meant. Bastian was indeed in there. Her bear sensed his bear was close. It didn’t matter why Lewis was keeping Bastian a prisoner. It only mattered that she found a way to set him free.
She suspected he would be in the ballroom, in one of the cages like the one she had been kept in. She knew she only had to open the front door and walk down the short hallway to get to the room, but she hesitated. Lewis surely would have some sort of security system focused on the front door. He wasn’t going to just sit back and let anyone wander into the hotel and find his cages. She began to move again, staying in the trees, following the perimeter of the hotel grounds until she came to the back of the building. She peered out, squinting at the building. There was another door around here, and Rachel just had to hope this one wasn’t guarded in any way.
Rachel darted out of the trees before she could talk herself out of it. She ran to the gate, opened it, and slipped into the hotel grounds. She ran toward the door and pulled it. It was locked. Of course it was. Why hadn’t she considered that? What now? Think, Rachel, think.
She knew now she had two choices. She could break the window in this door and unlock it through the broken glass. Or she could take her chances with the front door. She decided breaking the window was safer. It would make a noise, but the Bellevue Hotel was huge and the chances of Lewis being somewhere he could hear the breaking glass had to be pretty slim. Rachel raised her elbow and smashed it into the glass pane. She winced at the sound of breaking glass and she ducked down and held her breath, listening for any running footsteps. None came and Rachel stood back up and put her hand through the broken glass, being careful not to cut herself on the wicked-looking shards that stood up from the edges of the window. She felt for the bolt and slid it back and when she pushed on the door again, it opened silently. Rachel cheered in her mind and then she stepped into the hotel.
She thought the back door was pretty much opposite the front door and she made her way across what she realized was a huge kitchen and slipped out into a hallway. If she was right, then the door at the end of it would be the room with the cages. She had no other plan and so she crept forward, moving as fast as she could while not making any noise. She reached the door and hesitated for a moment. What if Lewis was in there?
But what if he isn’t? she asked herself. This is your chance, Rachel. Don’t blow it.
She reached out and pushed the door open. She had been right about the placement of the door. She was in the ballroom, entering by the door Lewis had used when she was a prisoner here. She looked around and instantly saw Bastian in one of the cages. Her heart leapt when she saw him. He turned as she moved closer, trying to keep her movements slow and quiet.
“Rachel?” Bastian gasped. “What the hell…?”
“No time,” Rachel interrupted him. “Where are the keys?”
“I don’t know. In one of the desk drawers, I think, but it’s not safe for you to be here. The room is being watched on camera. Lewis will be here any second,” Bastian said. “You have to get out of here, Rachel.”
Rachel ignored his pleas for her to leave as she moved across the room. She ran now. If the room was on camera, there was no point in trying to be quiet. She reached
