Chapter 32
HEATHER
Lucy patted Jaime on the head. ‘Child, you don’t have to lie. I promise I won’t kill any of the guests. They’re already dead! A little roasting is quite good for the complexion – my complexion, at least. I’m also told that screaming can be cathartic and healthy.’
Heather would have liked to believe it had been a lie, but she had a bad feeling.
This explained so much: Jaime’s evasiveness and her earlier statement about having a secret she needed to tell Heather.
Jaime had always been an adventurer, exploring every last part of the hotel.
Hadn’t she said that she’d already been on all the floors, and perhaps passed all the trials?
Kneeling down, Heather took Jaime’s shoulders. ‘Thank you for telling us the truth. That was brave.’
Jaime sniffled.
Heather brushed away her tears. ‘Why did you sabotage the hotel?’ She had a suspicion already, but she needed to hear it directly.
‘I didn’t plan it at the beginning.’ Jaime hung her head.
‘I took all the trials thinking that maybe if I passed all of them I wouldn’t be stuck here.
It didn’t work. Then I stumbled on the engine room by accident.
I saw the glowing door and got curious. I didn’t do anything bad the first time I found the room, just explored and took some notes on how it worked.
It was quite fascinating, a system that runs on magic instead of science.
Then . . . then you said you were going to take your test and leave the hotel. ’
Heather understood perfectly. Her own guilt formed in her stomach. She was the adult, she should have tried harder to communicate instead of being hurt by Jaime’s rejections.
Jaime hung her head. ‘I dropped gumballs into the perpetual-motion machine because I thought it would stop you from taking your test and leaving me behind. Since I didn’t know which one represented Floor Anger, I damaged them all.
I didn’t think about the consequences. At the time, I was blinded by anger and fear.
I regretted it, but by then it was too late. ’
‘If you’d asked me to stay, then I would have.
I gave you an opportunity to talk to me.
You didn’t need to sabotage the entire hotel.
’ Heather kept her tone calm and level, not angry.
After what she’d seen on the previous floors, she understood all Jaime’s fears and insecurities around abandonment, but it still needed to be said.
Looking after a child also included a duty to correct her when she’d done something wrong.
‘I know,’ Jaime whispered. ‘I’m sorry. Please don’t hate me.’
‘I could never, ever hate you.’ Heather hugged Jaime. ‘I love you. I’ll never leave you behind, I promise. I will never abandon you. I’m going to stay here with you.’
Then Jaime was crying even harder, clinging to Heather like a sailor holding driftwood in the middle of a stormy shipwreck. Heather held on, patting her back and stroking her hair.
When Jaime’s tears finally subsided, Heather said, ‘You should apologise to everyone else too.’
Jaime turned round. Her eyes on the ground, she said, ‘I’m sorry.’
Heather put her hands on Jaime’s shoulders.
‘Well done. I know that was hard for you.’ She looked up at the others.
‘Can you forgive Jaime? This is partly my fault too. I should have done a better job of keeping an eye on her. And I should have encouraged her to speak to me more. If we’d communicated better, then it never would have come to this. ’
Lucy sighed deeply, shoulders sagging. ‘I was certain I would toss whoever had damaged my beloved hotel to the hellhounds. But I can’t do that to a child.
’ Turning to Jaime, she said, ‘I will make an exception for this crime because my hotel wronged you first. You should never have been trapped here.’ Her tone brightened.
‘I must reluctantly admit that I’m impressed you made it through all the floors on your own and figured out to wreck the engine room.
For a mortal, you have a real diabolical streak.
Come to me as an adult if you want a job. ’
Delilah rubbed the back of her neck. ‘Eh, I suppose I can’t be too hard on a kid. Besides, this journey was fun. I learned a lot about myself and became closer to everyone.’
‘I have no complaints, either,’ Howard said.
‘I love adventures. This was like being alive again. And this will always be my most special adventure, because I found the greatest treasure of all at the end.’ He reached out and took Lucy’s hand.
‘I’m glad that this journey forced me to face my feelings. ’
‘Oh, Howard . . .’ Lucy breathed.
John stood up, brushing off his knees. ‘Well spoken. I couldn’t have said it better myself. It was painful and scary at times, but because I went on this journey I became a better person, faced my past and made my first real friends.’
A brief moment of peace, camaraderie and acceptance hung over the group. They smiled at each other.
Then John added, ‘A shame about the people who got lost in Limbo forever, though. They didn’t get any self-actualisation and valuable life lessons. They’re just lost for eternity, miserable souls trapped in the abyss who can never go to Heaven.’
Jaime burst into tears.
Hugging Jaime, Heather glared at John.
He paled. ‘Sorry! I have a gift for saying the wrong thing at the wrong moment. I should have said that we’re going to save everyone trapped in Limbo, along with the rest of the hotel.
’ He straightened, standing tall and proud.
His eyes became firm and his tone professional.
‘Jaime, I need you to tell me exactly what you did to the control panel.’
Jaime shuffled her feet. ‘Uh, besides sticking in the gumballs, I also poked a hole in one of the glass cases.’ She pointed at the top tube.
Lucy snapped her fingers. ‘Ah-ha! That particular tube controls Floor Limbo. A hole could account for how the space has been expanding uncontrollably.’
‘Thank you.’ John knelt down again. ‘I can patch that up easily.’ His fingers ran along the surface. ‘Found the hole!’
Lucy said, ‘You may apply your temporary mortal patch for now. I will later bring in completely new parts. I have a major overhaul to do, as well as rebuilding the empty floor previously testing heresy. In addition, I believe the engine room could use slightly better security.’
‘Yeah, next time it could be Godfrey sneaking in here,’ Delilah joked.
‘Perhaps I will grow some carnivorous daffodils with leafy wings and many teeth,’ Lucy mused. ‘Or would aggressive cacti thrive better in the heat?’
John applied a piece of black duct tape over the hole. ‘My teacher in trade school once told me that duct tape is the single most useful maintenance tool in existence and can work miracles. I never thought I’d see the day I’d use duct tape to repair Purgatory itself.’
The hotel rocked and tipped over.
Everyone went falling to the left. John latched on to a tube, legs flailing behind him. Lucy and Howard thumped against the wall. Delilah hit the railing, clinging on for dear life.
Heather grabbed Jaime to protect her as they both rolled into the wall, on top of Howard. She had the presence of mind to cover up Jaime’s ears as Delilah said several very bad words.
The biggest shake subsided, but small tremors shook the floor.
Lucy rose first. Her shadow had formed the outline of at least six wings.
Her voice boomed about the small engine room.
‘Merely tampering with the control panel would not shift the entire hotel like this. The tape should have worked. What else did you do?’
Heather placed a hand on Jaime’s arm. ‘Go on. Tell everyone. We’ll figure out a way to fix this. I promise.’
Jaime crouched into herself, her shoulders going up around her ears.
‘Um. I also stuck a piece of chewing gum on that big steering wheel to hold it in place.’ She pointed at the enormous wheel on the wall.
It looked to be made of oak, although who knew if it used any mortal material.
A giant red gemstone gleamed in the middle, the facets seeming to briefly flash with the reflections of strange and distant places.
One moment it showed a bustling city, the next strange creatures swimming in the depths of the ocean.
Eight spokes extended from the gem. Strange golden runes ran down the wood.
The words twisted, vanished, then re-formed differently.
The air around the device hummed at a frequency just barely audible to the human ear.
‘Oh, yes, that would do it.’ Lucy placed a hand on the wheel. ‘This is even more important than the control panel. My wheel connects us to the greater universe. I’m impressed that you touched it and remained sane.’
‘I don’t believe in the supernatural, so I ignored all the strange voices,’ Jaime said.
‘Most impressive willpower, small child,’ Lucy said. ‘You have truly reality-bending levels of heresy. Although I fear your very touch has tainted this creation of Heaven and Hell with mortal energy.’
‘Anything else that you broke?’ John asked, standing up and straightening his hair.
Jaime hung her head even lower. ‘I took the axe from Floor Violence and hacked at the lift cables. I wanted to be completely certain that no one could leave. At the time, I thought it didn’t work.
That’s why I went to tamper with the engine room next.
But the cables broke later, I think because I weakened them.
I really am very sorry. If it had gone as I’d planned, only one cable would have broken.
The lift was supposed to stop working, not fall to Hell. I never wanted to hurt anyone.’
‘I don’t think I can fix that with duct tape.’ John rubbed his forehead.
‘I can provide assistance.’ Lucy extended her hands.
A silver coil appeared between her arms. ‘Take this and repair the lift. I must be the one to repair the wheel. No one except me and apparently one very stubborn heretical girl can touch it. I will enact a ritual to cleanse my wheel and restore the basic structure of the hotel.’ Even as she spoke, her hair raised around her shoulders like a crown.
Fire poured from her eyes. The air around her throbbed and hummed, becoming even hotter than the flames below.
‘I’ll stay with Lucy and clean off the gum.’ Howard was already pulling out a handkerchief from his pocket. ‘I have a small amount of experience with rituals too.’
John nodded. ‘Then I’m on duty to repair the lift.’
‘Although it may not seem so, it’s important to repair all the major components of the hotel at once,’ Lucy said.
‘This is a delicate mystical working. As long as one major aspect of the hotel remains out of alignment, it will affect the others. It may be difficult to repair the hotel while it is still shaking, but please do your best. Even a temporary fix of the lift would be better than nothing. My hotel has in some ways become a living being. If we can hold it together even temporarily, then I can heal it. But anything broken when I finish my ritual may remain broken forever.’
‘Then I’ll go with John,’ Heather said. ‘I have no background in maintenance, but at least I can provide an extra pair of hands.’
‘I’ll come too,’ Jaime said. ‘I want to help, even if it’s in a small way. It’s the least I can do.’
‘Good kid.’ Heather helped Jaime up to her feet.
‘This is the best tool for amateur repairs.’ John handed out rolls of duct tape to everyone.
Delilah stood with a groan. ‘I only know mathematical rituals. I’ll be on repair duty as well. John, you’re the leader of the crew.’
‘Leader of the maintenance crew,’ John said slowly. He smiled. ‘I like the sound of that.’