Karina walked discreetly in the direction of the mysterious room. She had rehearsed her plan a million times by now. The girl would walk right into the room, and if it was empty, then fine. But if there were people in the room, she would play it cool. Like she was lost and ended up in the room by accident. She knew that the people behind everything were careful about magic, too, so she was safe about her plan.

  "What would May do?" Karina placed a finger on her chin. Most of the time, the planning part of every mission was relegated to her friend.

  Karina placed her hand on the doorknob knob and she felt sweat as it formed on her palms. Chills ran down her spine as the skin touched the cold metal. And when she opened the door, it was pitch black. Not the supernatural kind of darkness May and her had had to deal with a few days ago. Karina moved a step forward. With her right hand, she searched for the light switch.

  When the lights turned on, the scene in front of Karina made her fears dissipate. She furrowed her brows as she inspected the room.

  The place was filled with banners, flyers and all kinds of stuff. Everything related to the same figure she saw everywhere on the TV: the Preacher. If it wasn't for being at a Casino, she would mistake the place for some kind of campaigning headquarters.

  "What is all this stuff? What is it doing here?" Karina asked herself. "And most importantly, where are all the people they took here?"

  Karina thought that they couldn't have disappeared like that. And they weren't hidden, because the place had nowhere to hide a person. She tried to look behind the biggest posters, and yet, she found nothing.

  "I better get out of h..." Karina said to herself when a man appeared at the door.

  He was tall and slim, and by his face, she guessed that he was middle-aged. He wore a sleek suit that complemented his figure, but also made him look like a cartoon figure. He adjusted the glasses he wore as he said:

  "What are you doing here, mademoiselle, if I might ask?" The man said with a slurred voice.

  "Oh, I'm actually lost... You know, I was looking for the bar." Karina said as she walked in the direction of the man. "A friend said that there's a drink I should really taste."

  "Well, if that's so." He looked around. "I guess you already noticed that you're in the wrong room. But please don't worry, I will accompany you to the bar. Follow me." The way he said it, it sounded like an order.

  The man gestured for Karina to follow, and as soon as she passed by his side and got out of the room, he closed the door. The girl saw that he used a key to lock the door.

  "This place is big, and I get lost so easily when I'm all by myself," Karina said and adjusted her necklace.

  "Yeah, yeah. It's easy to get lost here. In fact, you're not the first person who ended up in that room looking for some other place." The man said, and he looked in Karina's eyes, before he added. "And I guess you wanted to ask what those things there are..."

  "Now that you said it yourself, I won't lie and pretend I wasn't a little curious. I mean, come on."

  The man suppressed a laugh.

  "It would be strange if you weren't curious. But it's just a minor thing, you see. Being that big and influential, the Casino has all kinds of clients and services. It's not like we're directly tied to the politics, but I guess money is money, right? And to store some stuff, it's not that bad, huh?"

  Karina nodded her head, but there was something weird about the way the man spoke. It was almost as if he lied blatantly. Like he wanted to be caught in the lie. "Is he testing me?" Karina thought to herself before she said out loud.

  "It's very interesting, although politics, economics and stuff like that... It doesn't interest me much. But it seems to be everything people are talking about these days."

  "And you would be right, in a sense, it's all they talk about. But it's such a shame a young woman like you doesn't take an interest in discussing politics. You could always learn a thing or two." The man stopped abruptly in his tracks. "Oh, here it is, the bar. The place you were looking for, right?"

  "Yeah, that's right. I guess I'll taste that drink."

  The man smiled at Karina, and she noticed that his smile didn't quite reach his eyes.

  She felt his stare burn on her back as she walked in the direction of the bar and ordered a drink.

  Karina sipped on the drink and thought about everything.

  "There's something off about that man..."

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  "Oh, talking to yourself, darling?" An older woman approached, and she wore a fur coat that Karina was sure it cost what the girl would earn in a whole year. "This bar can feel lonely, you know. It's you and a drink, and sooner than you would believe, the barman becomes your new shrink."

  "I was lost in thought. Actually, it's my first time here in the bar."

  "Really? Anyway, name's Angela. Nice to meet you."

  "Nice to meet you, too, Angela. I'm Karina."

  "It's such a pretty name you have, Karina. It means pure, right? If I had a daughter, that's a name I would consider." The woman turned to the barman. "Hey, bring me a martini, please."

  "I never thought about the meaning, to be honest." The girl answered.

  "You look a little down, my darling. Alone in the bar and everything. What is a young girl like you doing here?"

  "Oh, this is not... I mean, I was curious about the place and everything here. It's quite big."

  "It sure is an attention grabber, isn't it? You can lose yourself easily here."

  "Right? But winning, I must admit, it's fun."

  "You know what they say, it's fun because of the risk of losing it all. The good is equally balanced by the bad. It's similar to seasoning; if you get it right, it's a success. But if one thing is unbalanced, then everything is mixed wrong, and the taste in the end is terrible." Angela seemed lost in her own thoughts as she put a hand on her chest. "You know I used to come here a lot, before everything, I mean. This place looks new, but it opened a long time ago. I guess now that people are paying attention to it."

  "Really? I thought it had been inaugurated a few months ago."

  "I guess the right word would be re-inaugurated. And in a sense, you could call it new, but that wouldn't be quite right. The Casino has been here for at least some decades, you know, it started as a hotel only. But when they installed the first games, it changed everything. But as I said, I believe people weren't paying much attention. The glamour of the casinos had started to fade out. Then, boom, a renovation, and they opened it again. And by the crowd gathered here, you see it's a success."

  "I never imagined this place had such a history behind it. Did it change a lot? I mean, it must have, right?"

  "Oh, it sure changed. The people changed. I saw some things... I would rather not talk about it, but they are unpleasant things. Things I wouldn't see back then. Maybe I'm just being nostalgic, lost in a past that's not coming back any time soon."

  Karina wanted to press the woman about the things she had seen, but she saw that the woman was reluctant to talk about it. So she sipped on her drink and let the information seep into her mind. Like before, these were times when she knew May would act best.

  "Hey, I thought I had cheered you up with all my talking and blabbering."

  "I'm sorry, it's that I'm a little worried about a friend. She's in the middle of a hard job."

  "But tell me, Karina. Do you trust your friend?"

  "I do. I trust her with my life."

  "Then if you trust her, you shouldn't worry. I don't know what she's doing," the woman's eyes glinted, "but I'm sure she's giving her best."

  "I guess you're right, I'm just feeling a little insecure."

  The woman laughed and gestured with her hand.

  "You know, I miss when I was young and insecure. A beautiful woman like you shouldn't feel insecure. Because with a simple movement of your hands, you could have the whole world at your feet."

  Karina smiled, and she looked at the woman.

  "You know I wish it were that easy!"

  "But it is! To make things easy or hard, it's something up to you and how you deal with everything around you. I mean, look at me here taking control of everything. If it were how they wanted, I would be at home all the time, crying for things that have passed. But I wanted it to be different."

  Karina couldn't help but admire the woman. And the more she watched, the more Angela appeared to exude power and confidence. It was like she radiated a light, similar to the moon itself. Karina wished she had half of the confidence the woman had in herself.

  "You make it sound so easy, Angela."

  "Because it is easy. It's inside of you. Sometimes you can lose sight of what you need to do. I get it. I was young like you once. But what I wanted to say is that you shouldn't be afraid. You should trust in your friend, and you should trust in yourself too."

  Angela sipped on her drink. Karina felt marvelled by the woman and all the elegance she exuded.

  "You know what, that's exactly what I needed to hear tonight. I was feeling so down..."

  "And so I'm happy that I was here to talk to you tonight. Even an older woman can have a trick or two up her sleeve, you know."

  Karina laughed to herself while she emptied her own glass. The girl felt much better than she had felt before. Now she was reassured about what she needed to do, even if she didn't know exactly where to go or how to begin.

  "I don't know if it's something about your expression, but you seem better. I would say you got a hold of yourself."

  "I feel so much better, I don't know how to explain, but even not knowing where I should go. It's like I can do anything."

  "That's incredible. And about your little problem, I guess I can help you a little..."

  "Oh, no. I'm sorry, but I don't think so. I mean, it's very specific to my work and all that stuff."

  "Don't be silly. You should know all the roads lead to the same places. It's like politics, don't you think so? You find something, but you have to dig deeper to find the truth. I don't take the first few words as an absolute truth. I'm always looking for what's underneath."

  Karina didn't know how, but the words of the woman appeared to talk exactly about what the girl was thinking.

  "Wow, I can't explain, but this was helpful."

  Angela got up as she was about to leave. She looked at Karina and smiled fondly. And the girl could barely hear her answer before the woman disappeared amid the crowd.

  "You should know better than that: in a night hunt, the moon is always your best friend. And I'm always willing to help my beloved daughters, especially when they're in need of light." The words echoed in her head.

  Karina wanted to go after the woman, but like magic, Angela had vanished completely.