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certain little hotel room."
    The thought of Sebastian sitting there, not knowing I'm going to break one of his rules the next morning makes me feel sick. I can't hurt someone I care so much about. I can't. But I also need to know who he is. I need to make sure I'm safe with him, and more than that, I want to be able to take our relationship to another level.
    I barely have time to mutter, "Fine" before Ash drags me out of my crappy apartment and into the icy winter air. Snow comes down little by little, white spots amid the night sky. Everything is dark, so dark, and the air feels too thick, kind of, or maybe too hazy. I'm not sure what it is, but right then I know with every bone in my body that something about tonight is off. But still, I say nothing.
    That was the second sign.
    Ash drives us to Hotel de Galaxia in her red Jeep. It's not a pleasant trip, to say the least. She speeds down the streets and slams on the brakes at every stop sign, jerking me forward against the seatbelt and then soon after, when she hits the accelerator, throwing me back against the seat. Rinse. Repeat.
    My heart is in my throat the whole drive there, and not just from her poor driving. Everything about this plan feels so wrong, sends all kinds of alarm throughout my body, but I grit my teeth and tell myself I'm just being paranoid. I tell myself I'll be okay. It's not like one little thing will matter that much, right?
    A few minutes later, we arrive at the hotel with a jolt as Ash slams on the brakes. She lets me out of her car with a smile and a blown kiss after that, watching me go. "I'll just park the car in the lot here and will wait either in the lobby or outside your room for when he comes out in the morning," she assures me. "You have nothing to worry about. Now you two lovebirds have a good time."
    I force a smile. It's amazing how fake it suddenly feels. "Okay. Thank you."
    "Night, Crystal," she calls as she hits the accelerator and starts driving toward the parking lot.
    "Night, Ash," I call back, but my voice gets carried off with the wind.
    For a minute, I just stand at the steps in front of the hotel, closing my eyes and letting the night air clear my head. I don't want to do this. I really don't want to do this. But I want to know who Sebastian is too badly, and Ash is right--it's not like anything could go wrong. The worst that can happen is he catches her following him and tells her to leave. Sighing, I turn back around and step into the hotel.
    The same warm air greets me as soon as I'm inside. The hotel lobby is not as it always is. A red carpet stretches the length of the floor, chandeliers hang overhead, a small fire is positioned in the corner where a pianist plays Beethoven, and a few people in business suits sitting beside her, whispering something in hushed voices over glasses of wine. But other than that, the place is empty. Not a single person sits in the dining room, or on one of the couches, or seems to be waiting in the stairwell. No one. At all.
    And if there's one thing I know about this hotel, it's that it's almost always packed.
    I frown. "Where is everyone?" I ask the man at the front desk, whose gray moustache seems to have doubled in size since I was last here.
    He shrugs. "I don't know, miss. It's odd, huh?"
    "Yeah," I say uncertainly, glancing around the completely empty lobby, working hard not to get paranoid. "It's… definitely odd."
    That was the third sign.
    I shake my head, telling myself it's nothing. I mean, of course it's nothing. It's not like Sebastian could know what I'm about to do, or even if somehow he did, there is no way he could make so many guests leave at once. And there's no reason he'd want to, anyway. It's not like I'm plotting to kill him or anything.
    But still, this whole situation just feels … wrong. Like everything else has tonight.
    I walk up the stairs with my head down anyway, pretending to be normal, listening to the sound of the Beethoven music fade slowly away…
    The