"Issac, what is he talking about?" Haiti was the first to ask as Araya looked at him with disgust.
"Who would pay to see YOU pole dance?" She asked, moving further away from him. "You must be wearing a mask or something right?"
"Why have I never heard of this?" Zadie asked, tilting her head to him. "What is this all about now?"
"Let me talk to him first." Orion piped in, pulling Issac to the side and whispered, "How much money you making, kid? If it is a lot, recommend me as well."
"Orion!" Haiti scolded the man. "You shouldn't encourage this."
"Why not?" Orion asked, turning to them with the whisky bottle still in his hands. "Any job is still a job right? You must demean anyone."
"Are you ... are you not making enough money in your clinic?" Haiti said, voice full of concern as she placed her hand on his lap. "A-are you in debt or something?"
Issac looked at everyone in the car blankly as Soren continued to laugh uncontrollably.
"Soren is lying." was the only thing he said.
"Issac, you don't have to try and hide it," Haiti said as supportively as she could while Orion began to drown the bottle of whisky.
"Are you ok, Zadie?" Araya asked the woman staring blankly at the floor of the car without saying a word.
"We will be supportiv-"
"This is too funny." Soren finally began to calm down, wiping the tears out of his eyes he said, "Don't worry, I was lying. Issac has no such job like that."
Everyone seemed to snap back to reality with Soren's words and they all simultaneously turned to Issac. "I told you. Everything I paid for with my money from the clinic."
Almost instantly everyone in the car calmed down, returning back to normal as Orion began pouring more drinks for everyone and shoving the cups into their hands.
"Drink!" he shouted happily. "Don't worry, I am not tipsy. Yet."
"I highly doubt that," Haiti said, taking the bottle away from the man. "You can drink more later."
"Let's clink our glasses together," Araya said to Soren as the two clinked their glasses happily.
"I am curious, Issac," Zadie said, turning to the man as she swirled the drink in her cup. "Why would you bring Araya? Forget her, what about Soren. He knows nothing about this ... occurrence."
"I brought him to look after Araya." He said, playing with his glass of whisky. "He agreed to look after her and I know he will. He is the only one I would trust her with."
"I see." She said, taking a sip of her drink, contorting her face in disgust at the taste and putting it back down. "That tastes awful."
"Not a big fan of alcoholic drinks?" Issac mused as he stared out the window, the hotel coming into view once again as he stared at his watch.
Right on time.
"No," Zadie said. "And thank goodness for that."
"Right." He said, remembering her family background. "That is a fortunate thing."
She offered him a small smiled before looking at the hotel gates opening for their car. "Everyone, we are here. Please fix yourselves up."
In a second, everything was placed back in its original places. Like nothing happened as Haiti took the time to sprits everyone with a bit of her 'Miracle Perfume'.
"Why is it called 'Miracle Perfume'?" Araya asked as she sprayed her twice.
"It takes away all trace of you having been near or consumed alcohol. It works for smokes too." She said, proudly holding the little bottle up. "I use this all the time."
"Where did you get that from?" Soren asked, smelling himself. "It really works. I will be needing it."
"It is a long process. Come here, Issac." She leaned in closer to the man and sprayed him twice. "And takes a lot of effort to make and I am busy most of the time. So I only have the chance to make a small bottle every time it is over."
"Could you make me one? I promise to pay well." Soren said, pleading with Haiti.
"I do-"
"How much?" Orion asked, leaning to Soren.
"I don't know," Soren said, thinking. "If one bottle is that size then … how about a hundred thousand per bottle?"
"Deal," Orion said, grinning. "I will even help clear her schedule so that you can get it sooner."
"Thank you," Soren said happily before turning to Issac. "Would you like one too?"
"I don't need it," Issac said, rolling up his windows as the guards finally allowed them through.
They have been asking the driver questions for a minute or so and the driver answered every one of them calmly while Issac observed.
"Besides, why use that much money?"
"I agree," Haiti said, elbowing Orion on the stomach. "That is too much."
"Don't worry, I am not a miser like Issac." He said, grinning at the man.
"I am not a miser," Issac said, hand in his pocket while he looked as they entered the grounds successfully. "Right?"
Araya burst out laughing, "You use plastic water bottles that you buy from the side of the road as your water bottle."
"You collect the sauce packets they give you in restaurants and have a drawer full of them," Soren said, raising an eyebrow at him.
"You plant your plants in anything you can get your hands on, from damaged tires to empty containers." Zadie piped in as well.
"Not you too," Issac said, looking at her.
"I am sorry, Issac," Haiti said apologetically. "But … they are not wrong."
Before Issac would say anything else, the car stopped and the driver pulled down the partition, nodding at Issac.
"Time to get out," Haiti said, looking at everyone. "You all know what you are to do. DO they know?"
She pointed to Araya and Soren who only smiled at them like they were just happy to be there.
"As for Araya and Soren, have fun," Issac said as the doors opened by the chauffeurs.
"Will you dance for us?" Soren teased, making Araya laugh even louder.
"Don't be like that, Soren." Haiti scolded but not very seriously as Orion stepped out of the Limo first.
"Can you even dance?" Zadie asked, entirely too serious.
"DO you even dance?" Araya asked, about to step out of the car.
"I do," Issac said as the door on his side opened. "In fact, I do dance with the pole too. But I do not do that in public."
"WHAT???!!!" Soren shouted as Issac stepped out with a slight smile on his face.
"What happened?" Orion asked, slinging his arms over Issac's shoulder as some people turned to them and whispered. "We are drawing more attention than we intended."
"I just told them that I pole dance in private," Issac said nonchalantly. "And that happened."
Orion looked confused at first but then he broke out into a smile, patting Issac on the back. "I am impressed. No wonder you are so fit."
"Thank you." Issac nodded at him while taking a look at everything around him.
The first part is to get through the gate. He thought then turned to the building behind him. Now it is to get in there and find him.
Something flickered in one of the windows of the hotel and Issac could have sworn that he saw someone standing there. But they disappeared in no time.
"Look," Orion said, pointing Issac to look at the others filed out of the car one by one, a look of horror mixed with disgust and intrigue in all their expressions. "You clearly did a number on them."
"I didn't think they would be that affected." He said, slightly amused.
"Well, this is you after all. Not anyone else so hearing something like that would surprising." Orion began to walk to them, hands on his pocket.
Issac gave one last look at the window before walking to the others with Orion who was talking with some of the staff.
_____________
"This is the plan," Haiti whispered to the others as they pretended to admire the fountains and lights like all the other pretentious people there. "This is how they do things. Zadie?"
She leaned in a little closer and explained, "Everyone got their group, yes?"
All six held up matching cards of 'Spade', 'Ace' and 'Joker'.
"What are these for?" Orion asked, looking at his 'Spade' card, similar to Haiti's.
"Depending on which group you get, you will be able to explore different parts of this hotel. There are three groups and those three groups never meet in the middle."
"So that is why you got three of us?" Soren asked, smiling. "That is very smart."
Zadie turned to Haiti who continued, "Now, once you get your group, you will go in from any of the three entrances and then they will scan you.
"Once they scan you, everything about you will remain in their database. This is just for them to know that you are who you say you are."
"So you made us fake identities or something like that, right?" Araya asked, her excited expression falling once she saw her shaking her head. "T-then what are we going to say?"
"Be honest." She said firmly. "Be honest about who you are and do not show a hint of fear."
"But, I don't know if I can do that," Araya said, panicking.
"Don't sweat it," Soren said, grinning at her. "We will be fine. Just introduce yourself as you would to anyone."
A whistle blew as everyone turned to the hotel's front doors. There stood five people in bellboy uniforms and masks on.
Three had the marks of the cards on their masks.
"This is it. Good luck." Haiti whispered to everyone as Araya gripped onto Soren's sleeve, shaking.
Issac looked at her before turning back to the front. This had better be worth the effort everyone is putting in, Chester.