She was a pale shade of blue, like moonlit porcelain, her black hair pulled back into a long ponytail that exposed the clean lines of her neck and jaw.
An ancient, off-white Mycenaean-style dress left her breasts and stomach bare from a deep V-cut that broke at the waist into a layered skirt that fell just below her knees.
"Come on," she said. "We will figure this out together."
I looked at Bridgid, still frozen in time, kneeling with a glazed face wearing an expression that was only at the very beginning stages of surprise.
"What about her?" I asked.
"If we're gone when we fix the effects of Sugar Rush," she said, "she'll suddenly find herself with a treasure trove of Sugar on her face. She'll be alright."
"That's what Sugar is!?"
The daemon smiled. "It's nothing so crudely simple as that. Sugar is infused throughout your body, and, well, that is part of your body."
I tried inspecting Bridgid's face to see if there was anything different than what I've seen before, maybe something that looked like glitter, I don't know, but everything was the same opaque white as usual.
I shook my head.
"No, it's indecent."
The daemon raised an eyebrow.
"I'm going to clean her up," I said.
"She'll be disappointed."
"I can't just leave her there, though!"
She suddenly stood up and walked right up to me, wrestled with frustration at what looked like an inability to do anything to me physically, and then flashed her whole body so brightly that I was still seeing colors when I closed my eyes.
"If you move her, you will kill her!" she yelled. "I've rarely seen such a routine Sugar-based ability go this wrong before, so there's a lot I don't know, but I do know that at the compressed rate of speed at which you're moving, any sudden transfer of acceleration from you to her is going to break something in her."
I stared at Bridgid with horror. I had almost done something horrible to someone who had turned me into nothing less than a sexual icon. My stomach sunk a little deeper when I realized that probably limited my options on how to fix this.
"If I'm so dangerous, maybe I should just wait it out."
"That's technically an option," the daemon said as she nodded thoughtfully. "It could also drive you insane if we're here for what could be years. And because I'm dragged down here with you, being your daemon and all, it could also drive me insane, and believe me—"
She brought her face directly in front of mine as it transformed into a demonic visage.
"The last thing you want is me haunting you."
I raised up my hands in surrender. "Got it, okay."
"So," she said as she sat back down on the bed farthest from me. "Any ideas?"
I blinked, gears whirring in my head.
"You mean you don't have any ideas?"
She drew a hand to her chest in a gesture of mock offense.
"You want the damsel to rescue the knight? Oh, how things have changed since the last time Mana was abundant on this Earth...."
The last time? Another time at all?
How old was this person?
Her tone, though, reminded me of Elaine while we were walking the corridors. It reminded me of how it was true that I have been a loser my entire life, and that up to now my recent string of incredible luck has been handed me to on a silver platter, courtesy of Elaine.
It was time I started acting like there was something I could do. I could start by trying to get on better footing with the daemon.
"You know," I said. "I didn't really think of you as a person. I'm sorry. Bridgid described you as a fairy with a confirm button."
The daemon rolled her eyes as I said this.
"But," I continued. "You're a little more than that, aren't you? What is your name?"
"You can call me Princess."
I was surprised at how easy it was to control my reaction. I guess that's a testament at how much I realized I needed her help, whatever she was willing to give. The idea of this blue skinned, exotically dressed, allegedly ancient Mana-based entity was to be called something so nursery rhym-ish and quaint as Princess seemed bizarre.
"Because," she continued. "I truly am a princess among my people, and you would be incapable of pronouncing my true name. So, you may simply use my title."
Fair enough, I thought.
But what were daemons? Was there any relation to whatever Bridgid was? I had guessed she was a mermaid, and she had even called herself that, but what those words mean in this world I was so new to, I wasn't sure. Was there bad blood between mermaids and daemons? Or maybe they just had a personal beef?
It seemed that the Hotel involved a lot of coordination between a lot of different kinds of Mana sensitives, Mana-based beings, and works of Mana, or magic. Who was at the head? Was it Elaine? The Sugar Patriarch? Was Elaine even that high up in the big scheme of things? There was a lot I suddenly had questions about as I considered who best might be able to help in this situation. And then I remembered my appointment.
"Dr. Ryebald, does he have a room in this Hotel?"
Princess nodded. "All members of the Hotel have a room. Unfortunately, Dr. Ryebald's is on the other side of infinity, so whatever you were hoping to find there, you're out of luck."
"How can it be on the other side of infinity!? I thought it was in this Hotel!"
"Yes," Princess nodded again, unperturbed. "The Hotel has infinitely many rooms. On this side of infinity, we count from the bottom, so one, two, three. On the other side of infinity, we count from the top, so minus one, minus two, minus three."
I remembered the elevator ride to the Shower.
"But... I was just on Floor -17 before I woke up here. Why am I on the other side now? How is it possible to travel that distance at all? And what difference does it make that I broke time with Sugar Rush?"
Princess closed her eyes as if to soothe a headache. "None of that matters at the moment. What matters is, what were you wanting to get from Dr. Ryebald's room, anyway?"
I sighed in defeat. "I just figured that he was a doctor, and one that specialized in Mana. Even if I couldn't move him, or talk to him, I could maybe find something in his room that could help."
"Oh," the Princess said. "You're in luck, then. You don't need to go to his room. He has a private clinic set up close to the ground floor. I would've looked there before his room, anyway, if that's what you wanted."
"Awesome!"
I let myself feel excited for a few moments before another sickening thought creeped its way into my joy.
"But if I can't move things without breaking them at the speed I'm going, then how am I going to get to his room? The elevator won't work."
Princess nodded. "It won't, but that's not the only way up and down this Hotel."
I raised my eyebrows. "Oh? Got a special, magical shortcut?"
Smiling, she said, "It's called a really long rope."
My stomach dropped with the certainty that this was going to be the only way. I had one less objection, a longshot, but one I'm sure she had thought of."
"I do not have a rope."
"We are going to tie a lot of towels together. We never want our guests to run out of towels, so we already have plenty!"
"Of course."
I was the only one with a legit physical form, so I was stuck with tying the towels together. Once that was done, I anchored it in a few places around the bed.
"What floor is it on? Are you sure it's down from here?"
Princess nodded. "We're pretty low to the ground already. Floor 7. His clinic's on Floor 2. I still wouldn't recommend falling, though. With each floor, the distance will vary. Oh, and put your clothes on."
Right. There was a pile of them set up on the bench near the short little hallway to the door. A black set of silk pants and a silk robe. Initiate fit, I guessed.
I tied the silk robe with the belt and dropped the towel rope.
"Okay, are you going to wish me luck?"
"I'll be there if you need me."
"Oh."
"You just won't be able to see me. I only ever show up in person one place at a time, and I have to adjust depending on who I'm talking to, so when there's a lot of people, it gives me a headache."
"But they won't be able to see you, anyway."
"In this case, it's because until you need me, I'm going to be taking a nap. It can be very tiring being the daemon in charge of a Mana network like this one."
"Oh, well... sleep well, then."
"Thanks!"
She walked over and kissed me on the cheek. "Have fun! It's only five floors down!"
Right.
I looked out the window and over the edge. From here it looked like I could see the ground, and so I wasn't too worried. It looked like the base of a regular Western hotel, like a Red Roof Inn or Hyatt or something like that, with a decent-sized parking lot, but not one that would suggest the tremendous amount of people who should be filling up an infinite number of rooms. All that, and it was the daytime, so it would be hard to be taken by surprise.
I grabbed onto the rope, pulled it a few times, nodded to Princess, and put one leg out over the window.
I can't believe I was so close to meeting my first Sugar Baby and I literally blew it.
I sighed and then completed my exit out the window. I was surprised at how easy it was. I still had to get used to how much more physically capable I had become. So much so that I could get lost in thought as I made my way, step by step, down the wall. I felt my boot slick against some glass.
The air shifted slightly, and the wall before me got darker. I turned around. The sun had departed from the sky and been replaced by the moon. In a span of, what, a few moments? I looked down. It was no longer the parking lot of a Red Roof Inn or Hyatt. There were motorcycle bikes all around and people with mohawks and leather clothing. Some girls wore leather tops that instead of concealing their tits and ass, framed them. Many wore tattoos, but they didn't move like the mermaids did.
I heard a knock on glass and turned around. I was stepping on a window, and behind the window was a figure with an angry glare. He moved. He knocked again.
"Hey!" the man barked. "You lost, pretty boy!?"