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“I’m gonna wake Josh.”
    Quinn returned to the window. Sunlight spilled over the landscape. The sand glistened like crushed gold. She could hear Josh grumbling in the next room.
    She crossed the room and stepped into her boots. She opened the door and peeked out. The corridor was as dim as it had been the previous evening. Light sizzled from the fake candles. She searched right and left for Kara’s parents.
    At the far end was a trolley filled with towels, rolls of toilet paper, and tiny bottles. A short, stout maid in a black dress with a frilly white apron stood beside it. She looked up and her lips curled into a smile—the same sticky-sweet smile as on all the other employees of Inn Between. She bent her head and went about her business, dumping a wastebasket into a trash bag attached to the trolley’s end.
    Quinn shut the door. She didn’t want to run into anyone, especially the old man from the night before.
    Josh stumbled into the room, his shirt hanging out of his jeans, and flopped onto the bed where his mother had slept. “Where are they? I’m starved.”
    Kara rolled her eyes. “You’re so predictable.”
    â€œAnd you’re so annoying.” He threw a pillow at her.
    Quinn caught it. “Stop bickering, children,” she said, imitating Mrs. Cawston. “Or I’ll call the mother ship to beam you both up.”
    Kara and Josh laughed.
    Josh tried the TV. Channel after channel was filled with nothing but black and white dots. They watched the frenzy for some time in silence, but no one came.
    â€œWhere could they be?” asked Quinn.
    Kara shrugged. “You know them. They like to wander off on their own. They’re weird like that.”
    Quinn nodded. It was true. The Cawstons could be unpredictable. “But don’t you think it’s strange—even for them?”
    â€œMaybe.” Kara sighed. “But I gave up trying to figure them out ages ago.”
    Josh’s stomach rumbled. He sprang to his feet and shut off the TV. “Let’s go. They’re probably having coffee. Maybe eating without us.” The thought seemed to trouble him immensely.
    â€œHe’s right,” said Kara. “Besides, this room is starting to make me feel claustrophobic.”
    â€œShould we leave a note?” asked Quinn.
    â€œGood idea,” said Kara. She rifled through the dresser drawer and found a pad of paper and a pen. She quickly jotted down a few words and left the paper on the bed.
    The three headed through the halls toward the main lobby, Josh up front, Kara in the middle, and Quinn bringing up the rear. They made it all the way to the enormous lobby without meeting a single soul.
    Morning light streamed in through the long, lean windows. In the lemony glow, the lobby was even more beautiful than Quinn remembered—the most beautiful hotel she’d ever seen.
    As she stared at the gilded wallpaper and interesting artwork, a grinding noise stole her attention. The elevator was heading upward. She caught sight of the operator’s legs standing beside a passenger wearing beige polyester pants with matching beige support shoes.
    â€œI so want to ride that thing,” said Josh. “It reminds me of the elevator in that horror movie. You know, the one where those three kids are trying to escape a city full of postapocalyptic zombies and they race into this old building and jump in the elevator, only the elevator is jammed and a zombie reaches in and pulls the one guy right through the bars, totally shredding him?”
    â€œCharming,” said Kara.
    â€œI’ll stick to the stairs,” said Quinn.
    â€œSuit yourself.” Josh shrugged. He left the girls to wait by the elevator, apparently forgetting his stomach and his parents for the moment.
    Persephone was behind the front desk, busy checking in a new guest. Quinn decided she must work long shifts. Maybe she even lived at the hotel. Maybe all