Sunlight was a painful thing, Claire thought, trying to drag a sheet over her eyes. But thin pinpricks of morning seared her retinas, and she knew it was pointless to hold it off any longer.
Carefully she pried one eyelid open. The hazy view of her broken wooden window screen showed her it was maybe only two in the afternoon. Not too bad.
The bed was sunken weirdly-she was rolling toward the middle, A survey revealed a human form sleeping next to her, his straight black hair tossed across a pillow. No one she recognized. Well, that happened.
She sighed, A bath would revive her, and no one did baths better than the Golden Blossom hotel.
"Please, ma'am?"
Claire willed her head to turn and somehow managed to switch her gaze a bit to the left, A small Thai maid, no more than fifteen, knelt on the black wooden floor. She held up a silver tray covered with a stack of neatly folded telephone messages. Her head was bowed-she was reluctant to disturb ma'am. Especially this ma'am, who often threw things and broke things when she was unwillingly disturbed.
"Please, ma'am? Messages for you, Man call many times. He say very urgent"
With supreme effort, Claire swung her feet over the side of the bed. She glanced at herself in the mirror. Ouch. Reaching out for the messages, a sudden surge of nausea made her freeze momentarily. She muttered some words under her breath and waited a moment for the feeling to pass. The maid bowed her head lower, as if to avoid a blow. Claire took the messages. She muttered thanks in Thai.
The little maid bowed deeply, then stood and started to shuffle backward out of the room.
"Make a bath for met" Claire remembered to call, then winced as the words reverberated inside her pain-racked skull, making it feel like all the little blood vessels in her brain were leaking, "Please make a bath," Claire whispered again, adding the word bath in Thai.
Claire glanced at the first message. From Daedalus, She tossed it on the floor and looked at the second, Daedalus, Onto the floor. The third one read, Get your ass to New Orleans, damn you. She laughed and tossed it after its companions. The rest were just more of the same, just old Daedalus playing mayor, wanting an audience so he could pontificate about nothing, blah, blah, blah.
Claire reached over, found a bottle by the bed with a few inches of a pale yellow liquor in it. She took a swig, winced, and drew her sleeve across her mouth. Time to start the day.