Chapter 7
Chapter Seven
Grace left them in the lobby and hopped on the elevator to head back to the room. She had some hours to kill, and that would give her plenty of time to finish the book she’d started.
As the doors to the elevator opened to her floor, she was greeted by a loud, ear-piercing scream. She stepped out directly into the path of a woman shrieking, a towel haphazardly pulled around her body. Grace barely caught the woman and herself from falling on their asses.
“Are you okay?” Grace asked.
The woman’s face was covered in a green goop beauty mask that had hardened to look like concrete on her face. It was complete with cracks that reminded her of the roads back home. Her chest was heaving as she looked back toward the open door of her room. A look of horror was etched across her face.
“I had just stepped into the shower when I heard a noise. I opened the shower curtain and a ghost was standing there watching me.” The woman clutched the towel tighter to her trembling body. Goosebumps covered her bare arms.
A peeping ghost. Perfect. There went her idea for a pleasant afternoon of catching up with a certain hero. The ravishing would have to wait.
“I’m Grace Thatcher, room 404 and I’m a medium. It just so happens to be your lucky day. I know how to get rid of ghosts. Do you want me to kick his ass out?”
She nodded as if words eluded her.
Grace walked in through the opened door to find the layout of the woman’s room was identical to her own. The curtains were pulled closed. The light was on, as was the television. The lady in the towel stood at the door as if afraid to cross the threshold.
“He was in the bathroom.” The woman’s voice came out as a squeak.
Grace headed for the bathroom to find the ghost still in there, as if he’d been waiting for the woman to return. “Listen Perv, that lady doesn’t want you here, so you’re gonna have to go.”
The ghost turned toward her with a sheepish grin on his face. No.
She heard the word loud and clear in her mind, as if the ghost had said it out loud. “Fine. You want me to do this the hard way?”
The ghost’s laughter rang loud in her head.
“You can’t say I didn’t warn you.” Grace spun on her heels and left the room. The woman in the towel followed her across the hall and into Grace’s room.
“Did he leave?”
“Not yet, but he will.” Grace grabbed a hotel robe from her bathroom and handed it to the woman before she grabbed a lighter, sage, a small cigarette-type ashtray to catch the ashes, and salt from her purse. She never left home without it.
“What are you going to do with that?” The woman asked while securing the robe at her waist.
“Give you back your space,” she answered, as if the answer was obvious.
Returning to the room, she found the ghost hovering above the bed. She lit the sage and was rewarded with a glare from the ghost. He knew what was coming next. “You know what this does?”
He didn’t budge. He didn’t disappear or move as if in a standoff.
Grace moved to the corner of the room and smudged the corner.
She made quick work, moving through the room while she demanded her intentions in her mind.
I reclaim this space. All others energies MUST leave in the name of the Father, The Son, and the Holy Spirt.
She continued with saging the room until she’d moved the ghost out the open door. He stood just beyond the threshold as Grace grinned and slammed it in his face, saging that as well. She quickly layered salt at the door and along the window. “You should be good now.”
“Is he gone?”
“For now, until the cleaning lady vacuums up your salt.” Grace dabbed the burning embers of the sage stick into the tray just as the smoke alarm started to blare in the rooms.
Grace glanced around the room and spotted the smoke detector. She hurried to the phone and dialed the front desk.
No one answered.
“You might want to get dressed while I go explain what happened.”
The woman nodded and grabbed her clothes just as Grace left the room. Grace didn’t wait. She jogged down the emergency stairs pushing past the other hotel guests and out into the lobby. She spotted the man that had checked her and Sam in. He was holding the front door open as people rushed out.
“There’s no fire. It’s a false alarm.”
“What? Were you smoking in your room?”
“I don’t smoke,” Grace argued. “A ghost was harassing one of your guests, and I got rid of him by saging.”
“By what?”
She shook her head. “It’s like incense.”
The fully clothed, frightened woman approached them, and the desk clerk stood taller. “Mrs. Wymore. It’s a false alarm.”
Wymore? Grace tilted her head. “You own the place.”
“I do. I’m Eleonore Wymore.” She patted the desk clerk’s arm. “Johnny, be a dear and call the fire department to let them know it’s a false alarm and that we already know what happened.”
“Yes, Ms., right away.”
“If you own the place, why aren’t you staying in the penthouse suite?”
Eleonore smiled and wrapped her arm around Grace’s. “I got a call from my manager that we were having some paranormal issues, so I came to check it out myself. I took the room that was having the most activity. It frightened the guests before me so badly that they left in the middle of the night.”
The alarm shut off and Johnny nodded with the phone still pressed to his ear as Eleonore led us both into the bar attached to the restaurant. “Why don’t you tell me a bit more about what it is you do, Ms. Thatcher, while I have a drink to calm my nerves?”
“You can call me Grace.”
Grace spend the next two hours talking to Eleonore and hearing about how the place had always been haunted, but even more so since renovations had started on the top floor and Eleonore had taken some heirlooms home from the attic.
Grace told her a bit about all of the ghosts she’d seen since arriving.
The conversation had morphed into the history of the place, and Grace lost track of time, sharing stories with Eleonore about the things they’d both experienced.
“I hope you two aren’t getting sloshed,” Sam said laying his palms on Grace’s arm.
“Ah.” Eleonore smiled. “You’re here with Sam Stone. I should have guessed.”
“You two know each other?” Grace asked.
“We grew up together,” Sam said with a nod. “It’s nice to see you, Ellie.”
Eleonore rose from her seat. “You too, Sam. You’re looking well.
” She gave a polite smile, and I had the feeling these two had some sort of deeper history, but who was I to pry.
“If you and Grace need anything while you’re here, don’t hesitate to ask.
I’m in Grace’s debt. She helped me out of a jam. ”
“So I hear.” Sam raised a brow as he looked at Grace. “I heard there was an issue with the fire detectors.”
“Not an issue. I was banishing a ghost from her room,” Grace said when standing.
“A ghost? Really?”
“I know what I saw, Sam,” Eleonore exclaimed. “It was a ghost; Grace was a dear and sent it packing.”
“She’s right.” Grace smiled and glanced at Eleonore. “It was a pleasure meeting you. I’m in town for the rest of the week for a wedding. Let me know if he comes around again. Only this time, we’ll disable the fire alarms first.”
“Yes. Next time, we should do that first.”
“Let’s hope there isn’t a next time.” Grace clasped her hands together. She really did hope that there wouldn’t be, but even she knew how pesky spirits could be.