I walked to the end of town and looked up the road toward the rock cliffs. In the fading light there wasn’t a soul on the road. Finding Aahz and Tanda would have to wait until tomorrow.
But I had a feeling that, with every hour, finding them was going to become less and less likely.
I turned and headed down the sidewalk toward the hotel. The door was closed and shutters were covering the windows, but when I pounded a very nice woman behind the desk let me in. She didn’t ask for anything, or even suggest something I could do to pay for my room. She just said it was lucky I got it when I did, then showed me a comfortable room on the second floor with a window that was bolted dosed and the shutters drawn tight.
There was a bed, a small water basin on a dresser, and an indoor toilet down the hall.
I thanked her and she went away.
I checked to see if I could open the shutters, but they were secured solidly. Whatever was going to happen tonight, I wasn’t going to be able to see it from this window.
I lay down on the fairly comfortable bed, not even bothering to take off my clothes.
Images of Tanda and Aahz floated through my mind. If Glenda had done something to them on Vortex #6 there wasn’t a darn thing I could do to help. I was stuck here, without the ability to hop dimensions, in a world where everyone ate vegetables and was afraid to go out at night.
Even though there wasn’t a sound from outside, it was a very long and sleepless night in that little room.
Chapter Seven
“You can’t go home again.”