The rest of the ride passes with fairly little interruption, until we stop at another village along the way. It is a short stop, but the cabin becomes much more filled than it was previously. There's a bunch of people around now, which makes it harder to have a conversation with my friends. Thankfully the train only rides along for another hour before it stops at our destination, Pearl City.
Everyone in our cabin gets off at Pearl City, so I figure it must be a popular stop. It isn't until I get off the train that I realize what is in store for me.
Even though it is around midnight, I am absolutely awestruck by what I see. When we step off the train, I find myself suddenly in a world of white marbled streets and brilliant, soft yellow lights. The entire city is lit up to the point where I can see everything. Tall, pearly white buildings that are higher than even the Vitarine building in Arcona Village are all around. The streets are all white cobblestone as well, and it is absolutely beautiful.
At this late hour, I'd expect the city to be desolate, but I can't believe how wrong I am. There are people shuffling back and forth, getting off and on the train, and in the streets around me it is absolutely crowded. I turn to Kael and I see the same brightness in his eyes. This place, without a doubt, is fantastic.
"Don't get too crazy," Kavella smiles. "We need to find a hotel room around here. We won't get much done at midnight. There's a lot of people around, but I know how cities like this work. All the main buildings are closed. Just lots of clubs and street vendors at a time like this."
I follow the group through the myriad of streets as they search for a hotel room. Kael and Natalia seem enthralled by the place we're in, but they aren't as captivated as I am by any means.
Just as soon as I start taking in the beauty of the city of pearls, I find myself being led into a hotel. This building is lit up as well, but it contains a much different atmosphere than what I was just going through. This place is rather glitzy, I can tell that from the elaborate chandeliers and the posh red carpet. It's nothing like the motel we stayed in the other night.
Kavella walks up to the front desk to get our rooms. She's getting one to share with Natalia, and one for Kael and me.
"Excuse me," Kavella says to the man working the counter. I tune in to the conversation when I hear this. "Did you say one hundred and sixty for each room?"
"Yes, ma'am. I trust that won't be a problem?"
Kavella shakes her head and reaches into her bag. She bought it at the same time she bought her outfit in Greenwald. "I can pay, but holy hell. It cost me forty-seven dollars to get a room in Greenwald Village."
"At this rate, we're only going to have enough money to last us for a week," Kavella looks back at Kael and gives a frustrated smile. "We're going to have to take care of everything quite soon," Kavella says. "We don't have the money to stay here for long. We only have two months' pay each."
We were all given two thousand dollars by Ms. Borden, which is about two months' base salary for a Spiritguard. That brings us to eight thousand total. We have to factor in the costs we've been going through, though. This stay at the hotel, for one night alone, is going to run us nearly four hundred dollars. Kavella and I each buying an entire outfit is about another hundred-something, and we still need to eat. In just a week of staying here, half of our money will be depleted.
If we'd been active Spiritguards for a while, we could have gotten around three thousand five hundred…but we're just starting out. That makes living a little trickier.
If only we could stay in the Spiritguard barracks here…of course, we can't. I'm supposed to be in hiding. Natalia, Kavella, and Kael could…but I guess they don't want to leave me alone. We have to let our finances take a hit instead.
When we get upstairs to our rooms, Kavella freaks out at how huge the beds are. "If we stay another night, we're only getting one room," she announces. "Kael and Sigmund can share a bed, and I'll share with Natalia. Hell, we could fit all four of us on one of these things!"
She's not exaggerating too much. The beds are humongous. Two people could very comfortably share one without touching each other or disturbing each other in the slightest. I like her idea, it's a shame we've already paid for this.
I wonder…what will we do if our mission takes us longer than two months? We're going to be in the hole quite a bit. There's another part to that too, though. What if we finish tomorrow? I'll be a thousand dollars richer!
I could buy five hundred salads with that much money…and Natalia could buy two hundred bottles of Vitarine. We'll all be happy. I don't know how much books are going for these days, but I bet Kael could get a lot of those as well.
Well, wait. Kael's too smart to buy books. He gets them from the library.
I try not to think about little trivial things like that. I get settled in my room and I change into my Spiritguard uniform. I leave the jacket off, because that seems a little bit over the top to sleep in.
"What'd you think of that guy from the train?" Kael asks me.
"Something seemed a little weird about him," I suppose. "I can't say what, but something."
Kael doesn't say anything else, and I fall asleep. Thankfully, I don't have any disturbing dreams that night.
The next morning, I gather up alongside Natalia, Kavella, and Kael, and we discuss what our plans for the day are. Our goal is to find out where the 'sealed Spirit' Merava is going, and there's a few different ways we can do that.
"I'll go to the library and see if there's anything in the public records," Kael offers. That seems like a solid plan to me.
"I'm going to go to the library too," Kavella says. "I want to look up some information on this staff, and see if I can find anything that will help me fight. Then after, I'll swing by the Church. They might have some information there. All they preach about is dispelling Spirits and all that, after all."
"I can go to the government building and ask around," Natalia smirks. "A whole bunch of stuffy old men in suits will be on their knees in a minute to answer any questions I have."
I laugh at how open and shameless Natalia is about her powers of seduction. I don't question it, though. There's no need.
"What about you, Sigmund?"
"Oh, me!?" I laugh. "I'll just walk around town and see if I find something that looks suspicious, I guess."
I don't tell them what my actual plan is, because they won't approve. My plan is to find the Vitarine building here and see if I can figure something out. If there's a sealed Spirit somewhere in Pearl City, I have no doubt it will be in the Vitarine building.
We all part ways, and I ask a few people on the street if they know where I can find the regional Vitarine Headquarters. Everyone seems to be well aware of it, and they tell me it is in the center of the city. I wish I knew where the center was.
After about two hours of tedious searching and a Vitarine elixir later, I find the Vitarine building. I scope it out from the outside for a bit, and I watch the people walking in and out. I don't know exactly what I want to accomplish here. I guess I'm half expecting to just see Merava walk into the building, and for me to jump her and send her back to the Spirit World, but that never happens.
I take a deep sigh. Maybe undercover research isn't for me. I walk in anyway, and I see what's going on inside.
The building looks very similar on the inside to the one in Arcona Village, except this one is much larger and filled with people.
I walk up to the receptionist, gulp, and just ask the question. "Do you know anything about a Spirit that was sealed here in Pearl City, during the Spirit War?"
The receptionist blinks twice. "Why yes, I do," he looks at me strangely. "We keep it locked up in the basement here for safekeeping. Why do you ask?"
I smirk. It looks like getting the information I wanted was easier than I realized. "I just wanted to know," I say, trying to make up a quick excuse. "Wanted to know how big it was! I've never seen a Spirit before, and I am fascinated!"
"Oh!? You too!?" he squeals. He reaches down under her desk and pulls out a giant tome. "I just got this for my birthday," he shrieks. I can tell he's geeking out on me. I should bring Kael over, they'd be a cute couple.
I am stuck looking at artist renditions of various types of Spirits for about ten minutes before I finally feel like I can break away from the conversation. He looks at me like I just made his day, and I walk away. As I am leaving the Vitarine Headquarters, I get a tap on the shoulder.
I turn and see a girl who is quite a bit shorter than me, and she is wearing a hat that is pulled up over her face. I notice she's wearing a Vitarine uniform, so I deduce she's one of their employees.
She snaps her fingers on her hand so I look down, and she tilts her pocket so I can see something inside of it. I gulp as I realize it is a gun.
"You're going to tell me everything, right now," the girl commands. "I want to know what the hell you're looking into that Spirit downstairs for."