Ambrose didn't know where the Lotus Bar was, but she could hear people thinking about it. A young couple was strolling down the street, heading to the bar, so Ambrose followed, her black hair and camouflage cloak indistinguishable from the trees and bushes in the park.
She went on Main St. and turned left on East Second, following without anyone spotting her. She heard laughter and other nighttime noises throughout the city streets.
Wow, I didn't know fish could do that! Ambrose watched a tourist look at a fish doing impressive tricks in a pool.
I wonder if there's any good place to go to for dinner, a random person thought.
I want to have a lollypop, thought a pouty kid.
The nervous chatter of the night made Ambrose exactly that – nervous. People weren't pleasant to listen to, anyway. Ambrose stopped listening. Blocking out background thoughts was probably the best trick Ambrose had learned. She weaved through the trees along the sidewalk. The foliage worked perfectly with her cloak to hide her form, her footsteps barely making a sound on the dirt.
Suddenly, Ambrose heard a rustle into the bushes next to her. "Hey," a woman said. "You know, it took me forever to find you."
Ambrose took a step back. The woman was dressed in all red, except for her strange, shiny white metallic headband. The white metal gave away the woman's position, but Ambrose couldn't hear a single thought even peak through her head. Positively strange, Ambrose though, and moved closer to the woman.
"How'd you find me?" Ambrose asked.
"It was hard, don't get me wrong, but you're you. So yellow," she answered as if that explained everything.
"Yellow?" Ambrose asked. "What do you mean by yellow?"
"I'll show you to the Lotus Bar," the woman smiled, ignoring Ambrose's question. The woman extended her hand, stepping into the light of a street lamp.
Ambrose gasped. The woman was breathtakingly beautiful. She had big brown eyes and a flawless complexion. Full lips and sharp cheekbones completed the perfect face. Smooth curly red hair framed her perfect features. But something about her made Ambrose feel annoyed, disgusted. Something was wrong with the beautiful woman. And it was not the thought-blocking headband.
"Please go away," Ambrose said as politely as she could utter that sentence. She had a feeling that there was something really wrong with this woman. Something beyond Ambrose's control. And she didn't like things beyond her control.
Ambrose knew a quick way to get people to leave when they didn't want to. Focusing on her own face, Ambrose made her eyes darker, her cheeks more hollow, her teeth seem sharper. Suddenly, she looked lean and mean. The perfect natural defense.
Her face shifting had the intended effect. The woman's features went from quite excited to positively terrified. Ambrose smiled, her pointy teeth gleaming in the dull shade of the trees.
The woman shuddered, but she stayed put. "Still, follow me. Mysteries of the Night is there," the woman insisted, and started walking away. Ambrose followed her silently. The woman's red cloak shimmered as she moved, and every time she turned to make sure Ambrose followed, she got that exposed feeling. Something about that woman's face was just wrong. She shouldn't look like that, but she does anyway.
Finally, they arrived at the Lotus Bar. The dim light of the bar set a certain calm ambiance, but the arrival of the extremely striking woman interrupted the atmosphere, and the people inside inevitably stared at that woman, and at Ambrose. Ambrose ducked away from the attention, turning back and heading for the door.
Hello there, someone in the bar thought. Ambrose stopped just before the door. Now that was strange. Ambrose only heard other people's thoughts when she was listening in, but she heard this thought even without trying to listen. That shouldn't have happened. That'd only happened once before. With Jessica, and Jessica was like her.
Hey, I know you can hear me, that person thought. The thought felt female. That's better. Come and sit by me. Two seats from the statue.
Whoever Mysteries of the Night was, she was like Ambrose.
Ambrose turned around, spotting an enormous statue of a lotus flower. A woman with reddish-brown hair sat two seats left of the lotus flower. Ambrose headed towards her and sat to her right.
Are you Mysteries of the Night? Ambrose asked her, looking at her and linking that thought to the reddish-brown haired woman's face. That just felt right to Ambrose, like that's what the woman did.
The reddish-brown haired woman turned and looked at Ambrose, her blue eyes searching Ambrose's face. She smiled, got up, and walked away. Wait two minutes before leaving. Meet me at the park. I know you know where that is. There has been a change in plans.
By the end of the thought, the mysterious woman had already left. When Ambrose looked for the other woman with the headband, Ambrose found she had gone as well.
That's the end of the preview! Enjoyed it? You can read the rest of it on Amazon! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07383KJDB
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