“Yeah. I wasn’t sure how to get there.”
“You don’t need to know how to get there, Pie.”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s magic. You just think where you want to go and the hallways will get you there.”
“Who controls them, Luciano? How does it work?”
Luciano shrugs. “Who knows? How does anything work?”
“So that’s it, then? This world is just filled with… what, magic thoughts?”
“Most people aren’t like you, Pie. Or me. Or Tarq. Or… anyone else who works in this building. Most people are normal.”
“What do you mean? What’s normal here?”
“You know. People who go about their lives mostly doing what they want.”
“I don’t get it.”
“People who…” He pauses to think. “People who don’t have a destination.”
“Destination? You mean destiny?”
“No. A destination. A place to be.”
“Doesn’t everyone have a place to be?” I still don’t get it.
“Of course. Normal places. They need to be at work. Or home. They need to meet friends, or pick up children, or attend school. But you don’t have those destinations. You have other destinations.”
All right. I’ve had enough. So I put up a hand to stop him. “Ya know what, Luciano? I’m done for today. Can you please take me to the door? I’d like to go home.”
“Sure.” He smiles. I like him, I guess. He’s kind of a cliché mobster type, but whatever. “Follow me.”
I grab my bag, sling it over my shoulder, then follow him into the hallway. It’s not an elevator or a long corridor this time. It’s a few steps to another massive double door and that’s it. Luciano opens them both at the same time in a very dramatic fashion, and then there I am. In the reception area. Right where I’m supposed to be.
“You have your key?” Luciano asks.
I pull my necklace out of my shirt and hold it up. “I do.” Then I look around. “But there’s no door, Luciano. Where do I go?”
He points to the spot where I came in this morning. “Right over there. I have to go back to my desk to open the portal. Then you can step through.”
I know I shouldn’t ask because this question will just lead me to a hundred more, but I do anyway. “How does it work?”
“The portal?”
I nod.
“Well, normally we can’t just open them. Anything could come through.”
“What?” I don’t like the sound of that.
“But,” Luciano continues without acknowledging my question, “if someone has a key, then I can unlock it, and it will open.”
“So you can only open it if I’m standing nearby?”
“Correct.”