5. Chapter 5
If there was anything duller than spending the day working in a dreary office cubicle, it was dreaming about doing so. And Zoe knew that better than anyone. For years, her dreams had picked up on where she’d left the office; of filing reports and meeting deadlines; of epic battles with the office printer; of giving presentations to the board, only to find she was wearing nothing but her underwear. But as she slept in the Underworld Motel, she left behind her dreams of work, and, for the first time, dreamed of something quite different. She dreamed of shadows imbued with the essence of frosty winter air. Of dark eyes that burned with an inner power. Of hands that held her for the briefest moment, before she slipped into the darkness, where he awaited…
A series of shrill beeps blasted through the bedroom, pulling Zoe from her dreams. She rubbed her bleary eyes, surprised to find herself in an ornate bedchamber. She glanced at the Gothic baroque wallpaper, and to the elaborate silk sheets of the four-poster bed, until last night’s events drifted back to her. But as the beeps continued to disturb the peace of the room, she pulled her laptop to her in surprise.
“That’s odd. I don’t remember there being Wi-Fi here…” She watched curiously as a tiny flicker of golden light rested on her laptop, its body no bigger than a firefly. “Hey, you’re that creature from last night…”
But Zoe groaned as her laptop continued to beep shrilly, knowing it could only mean one thing. She smoothed out her hair, before she forced a smile and opened the video call.
“Mr. Gravesend?”
An elderly figure with hooded eyes peered through her laptop screen. His suit of muted grays and blacks hung from his skeletal frame, while his skin was paper-thin, sustained only by the blood-red pomegranate juice diet he seemed to survive on. He looked, thought Zoe, like a reanimated skeleton. Only far more terrifying.
“Zoe! Why haven’t I been able to contact you?” The man barked crossly, before he peered closer at the screen. “And where on earth areyou?”
“Sorry Mr. Gravesend. You wouldn’t believe me if I told you…” Zoe gulped as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes, and was greeted with the view of a giant bison skull mounted on the wall. “Trust me. And my internet connection isn’t exactly stable around here…”
“And is there a reason why you’re not in Spring Valley?”
“Let’s just say cars and bramble patches don’t mix.” Zoe peered out of the window, to see Spooks juggle parts of her car engine. “And the local mechanic wasn’t much help either…”
“I don’t need your excuses, Zoe. What I need are results!”
“And I’ll get you results, Mr. Gravesend. I’m sure there’s a car rental place near here. Or perhaps I could find a way to reassemble my car…” Zoe forced a smile of confidence, ignoring Mr. Gravesend’s incredulous look. “Leave it with me. By the end of today, the deeds to Spring Valley will be yours!”
“Well, that’s why I was calling, Zoe. The deeds to Spring Valley were sent to me this morning.”
Zoe balked in surprise. “What do you mean?”
“I’ve always said nothing can stand in the way of this organization’s goals. And that includes unreliable employees who take scenic detours through bramble patches. And so, I ensured we had a contingency plan.” Mr. Gravesend took a long sip of his pomegranate juice, and broke into a cold smile. “Swindleton.”
“You sent him to Spring Valley?”
“Of course, my dear. The city needs to keep its lights on, and Spring Valley just so happens to be sitting on vast reserves of energy.” Zoe shivered as one of Mr. Gravesend’s mining machines scuttled past in the background, its spindly legs giving it a spider-like appearance. “I couldn’t possibly have let such an opportunity go to waste.”
“But that was my deal!”
“And now it’s Swindleton’s. His tactics might be underhand, but he gets results. And results are what keeps the motors of Chthonic Power Solutions running.” Mr. Gravesend caressed the head of his machine like a pet, before he tutted in disappointment. “Such a pity. I could have sworn you would have made the perfect successor for my role. But perhaps I was wrong…”
Zoe’s grip tightened on her laptop. It was one thing for Swindleton to steal her deal, but it was quite another for him to steal the promotion she had worked so hard for, too.
“Just give me another chance, Mr. Gravesend…”
“My dear, the board will appoint my successor in a matter of days. And unless you can prove your loyalty to the business before then, I’m afraid Swindleton is the clear choice.”
“Please, I’m begging you. I’ll do anything…”
“Anything, you say?” Mr. Gravesend sighed, and clasped his slender hands together. “Very well. If you want that promotion, you must find a new site for Chthonic Power Solutions. A place of power, with even more energy than Spring Valley, so that the board will have no choice but to appoint you…”
“But it took me months to find Spring Valley. I can’t possibly do that in a few days…”
“I’m afraid you have no other choice. If you want this promotion, then you must do everything in your power to prove yourself to the company. Why, you should be willing to sell your very soul for the betterment of our cause! Succeed, and everything you ever wanted will be yours.” Zoe shivered as a cold breeze drifted through the chambers. “Fail, and you can stay in whatever backwater town you’ve ended up in.”
“But Mr. Gravesend…”
Zoe cursed as the golden light fluttered from her laptop and the call went dead. She gazed at her blank laptop screen in horror, before she placed her head in her hands. She’d spent months scouring for a site as perfect as Spring Valley, just for it to be snatched from right under her nose. And to find something better in just a few days… it was impossible. She paced the dark and foreboding bedchambers, her mind reeling as she tried, and failed, to think of a solution. She sighed in defeat, knowing that such thinking required one key ingredient. Coffee.
Zoe gathered her work things, before she made her way downstairs to the saloon. In the pale morning light, she took in details of the motel she’d missed before. Its decor was a captivating blend of gothic allure and western ruggedness, where cowboy hats and bison skulls were proudly displayed besides ornate crimson wallpaper and lush velvet drapes. Zoe passed a series of gently flickering sconces, each adorned with intricate designs of desert flora, before entering the main hallway, where a wrought-iron chandelier hung from the ceiling, its beautiful frame encrusted with elegant layers of candle wax. But despite the opulence and beauty of her surroundings, Zoe couldn’t help but notice its wear and tear. The Underworld Motel might have once been the hottest destination in the afterlife, but it had certainly seen better days.
“Good morning, sugar!”
Zoe drew a startled breath as she walked through a pair of swing doors, to find Misty clattering around the saloon. She watched in bewilderment as the spirit squeezed a glass of fresh orange juice, using her incorporeal body as a strainer to collect the pulp. Despite what she had seen last night, some sights would take some getting used to.
“Come on in, there’s no need to be shy! Just make yourself at home and I’ll whip up something real nice for breakfast.” Misty beckoned Zoe to a nearby table, before she smiled warmly. “Now remind me what you fleshies like to start the day with? Perhaps a stack of my Hocus Pocus Pancakes? Or my Spooky Breakfast Scramble? Or my Seance Smoothie Bowl?”
“Actually, just a coffee would be great.” Zoe helped herself to the fresh pot, and gratefully drank from her mug. “I rarely have time for breakfast…”
“But where’s the joy in that, sugar? Life is about enjoying the simple pleasures, like the first sip of a good cup of coffee in the morning…” Misty wrung her hands on her apron, before her eyes brightened once more. “I know just the thing! How about another batch of Boo-Berry Muffins, fresh from the oven? Oh, I’d forgotten how much fun it is to have guests who can actually digest my food!”
As Misty disappeared into the kitchen, Zoe sipped her coffee and laid out her work files on the dining table. She pored over maps of energy deposits, analyzed reports of previous sites, and scrolled mindlessly on her laptop, hoping she might discover something. But as she read through each report, she sighed in despair. Spring Valley had been the perfect site. A treasure trove of energy lurking beneath the ground, that had taken months of work to find. And she didn’t need one of Misty’s Seance Smoothie Bowls to know that her chances of finding another site in time were practically non-existent.
A clattering of saucepans filled the air, accompanied by Misty’s shriek of annoyance, before Spooks tumbled through the swing doors into the saloon. At once, he began juggling the contents of a fruit bowl, while he somersaulted excitedly through the air.
“Morning, fleshie!” “Isn’t this a fantastic day?”
“It’s more like a nightmare.” Zoe placed her head in her hands. “I wish I could just turn back and forget this place ever existed.”
“Well, you’re in luck! The River Lethe might be frozen, but cross its bridge and it’ll make your memories here disappear in a puff of smoke.” Spooks pointed through the window, to the arched bridge leading beyond the Underworld’s boundary. “How else do you think we’ve kept this place a secret for so long?”
“Something tells me I won’t be able to forget about you in a hurry.” Zoe narrowed her eyes at the troublesome poltergeist. “Besides, I can’t leave yet. Not until I have a plan.”
“Whatever you say, fleshie!” Spooks dived towards her table in a trail of smoke, before he peered at her work files. “Ooh, what have you got here? Hmmm, what’s with the maps and the coordinates? Are you some kind of pirate?”
“Not exactly…” Zoe groaned and snatched a folder from the mischief-making poltergeist. “Although right now it does feel like I’m on a treasure hunt of sorts.”
“Is that so? Well, perhaps I can help!” Spooks rolled up the sleeves of his tunic, and began merrily fiddling with her laptop. “Ooh, what is this curious fleshie machine? Is it a typewriter? A moving picture reel? And what happens if I press this button?”
“No, don’t–”
Zoe cursed as dozens of files closed down on her laptop, losing her morning’s work. The screen flickered as Spooks trawled through pages of the internet with wild abandon, his eyes gleaming with child-like glee at each discovery.
“Why, this is a veritable treasure trove of information. An entire encyclopedia of delights! A cornucopia of knowledge capable of answering the problems of the universe itself. Oooh, look at these cat videos!” Spooks gasped in delight, before a new screen flashed before him. “Hmm, what’s this?”
Zoe looked in surprise at the website that appeared on the laptop.
“I’d forgotten that even existed…” Zoe smiled as Spooks scrolled through photographs of beautiful landscapes and wonders of the natural world. “That’s my travel blog. A diary, of sorts, where I shared my photos with the world.”
“Paradise Heights. Serenity Meadows, Whispering Pines…” Spooks looked at each of the photos in awe. “Your work sends you to some nice places, huh?”
“I guess…”
But Zoe’s heart sank as she looked at each of the photos. Those places might once have looked beautiful, but after Chthonic Power Solutions had drained them of their energy, none of their magic remained. One by one, they’d been lost, just like the dreams she’d once held. And she hadn’t touched her camera ever since.
“So, what else have you got in this bag of magic tricks?” Spooks rummaged through her satchel, tossing its contents onto the table. “Ooh, what’s this? Another one of your treasure-hunting devices?”
Zoe sighed as Spooks toyed with her tracker, like an over-excited child at Christmas. As the small device emitted a series of sharp beeps, he cackled with delight.
“That’s a… magic wand, of sorts.” Zoe glanced at the screen of the tracker, where several lines danced across the screen. “It helps detect special places that my company is interested in.”
“What kind of places?”
“Places of power. Specifically natural energy deposits that we can mine and use to power the city…” Zoe groaned as Spooks ignored her, his attention focused on juggling the device along with the contents of a fruit bowl. “It also costs more than I make in a decade, so be careful with that thing!”
“So your work sends you from town to town, where you follow this tracker to X marks the spot. And then what do you do?”
“Well, I write up a report, and if my colleagues agree with me, the area will be transformed. People like me flock to the area, and…” Despite Spooks’ innocent smile, Zoe’s heart sank as she spoke. “And it never looks the same again.”
“Oh boy, that sounds fun!” Spooks cackled merrily, oblivious to Zoe’s melancholy. “Look, it’s beeping!”
“Hey, cut that out.” But Zoe paused and looked at the device in confusion. “Huh, that’s odd. Why would it be beeping around here?”
“Let’s see where it leads! Plus, I can give you a tour of the best sights on the way!” Spooks somersaulted through the air before he broke into a wide grin. “Come on, it’ll be fun!”
“I don’t have time for a tour, and I certainly don’t have time for fun. If I don’t find a new site for Mr. Gravesend, I’ll lose everything.” Zoe groaned as Spooks started juggling the tracker once more. “And give that back, before you break it!”
Zoe sighed in frustration as the ghost, and her tracker, disappeared in a puff of blue smoke. How was she supposed to get any work done when she had a meddling poltergeist for a co-worker?
“Breakfast is served, sugar! Nothing beats the smell of my freshly–baked muffins.” Misty inhaled deeply, before she placed an overflowing basket on the table with a beaming smile. “So, has Spooks proved himself a worthy assistant?”
“Something tells me he isn’t cut out for the corporate world.” Zoe sighed as she watched the poltergeist zoom along the desert landscape outside, cackling with childlike glee at every beep of the tracker. “Although now he’s distracted, perhaps I can get some real work done. Like figuring out where I should go next.”
“Well, there’s no need to rush, sugar. It sure is good to have a guest, after all these years.”
“I suppose you don’t get many visitors out here, huh?” Zoe glanced at the layers of dust and thick cobwebs that hung from the rafters. “No offense, but this isn’t quite the afterlife I had in mind.”
“Don’t tell me you still expected to be rowed across rivers of the dead, and taken to the fields of Elysium? No, no, no, a little reinvention is the perfect thing to breathe new life into the place. Besides, we might look a little different, but our goal remains the same.” Misty smiled as she gazed at the motel sign. “To help lost souls resolve their unfinished business.”
“But… where is everybody?” Zoe glanced at the deserted landscape, where no signs of life, or afterlife, stirred. “This place is a ghost town in every sense of the word.”
“Once, it was quite different. These rooms were filled with a gaggle of ghosts, the streets swarming with spirits. At night, the entire town would come to life with magic.” Misty sighed, before she floated onto the seat opposite Zoe. “Then one day, our guests simply stopped arriving.”
“What happened?”
“Charon happened.” A cold breeze swept through the saloon, until goosebumps rose on Zoe’s flesh. “He was the Ferryman of the Underworld. A guide for lost souls, who spread the word of our little establishment, and helped those with unfinished business find this place. Until the day he was banished. Without him, our visitors dried up, and so did the magic within this place.”
Zoe turned as the darkness stirred nearby. She watched as Shadow prowled through the gloom of the motel, like a dark storm cloud blooming in the sky.
“Is that why Shadow is so…”
“Moody? Brooding? A party-pooper extraordinaire?” Misty’s shoulders slumped, until she sighed sadly. “Once, his eyes would sparkle with joy, with purpose, with life. But after Charon’s banishment, everything changed. With no way to reach lost souls, the visitors dwindled, and so too did our magic. And Shadow became just like those he sought to help… a lost soul.”
Zoe thought back to her encounter with the King of the Underworld. With such a formidable and frosty exterior, she found it hard to imagine a time when his eyes had sparkled with joy.
“So without Charon, there’s no way for lost souls to find this town?” Zoe took another sip of her coffee and shrugged. “Couldn’t you just invite him back here, and force him and Shadow to make amends?”
Zoe noticed a flash of something pass in Misty’s eyes. Fear. As a cold breeze swept through the saloon, she shuddered at the thought of what could possibly frighten a ghost.
“That wouldn’t be a good idea, trust me.” Misty gulped, before she returned to her usual sunny smile. “Now, why don’t we move on to brighter topics? We mustn’t let an old ghoul like Charon ruin a perfect day to explore the beauty of our town.”
Zoe peered through the dusty windows, where a ball of tumbleweed blew across the frozen tundra.
“No offense, but I think I’ve seen all there is to see.”
“The Underworld Motel might not look like much, but there’s a power in this town. A magic.” Misty’s eyes sparkled as she peered outside of the window, where wisps of light danced in the air. “We just need the right person to breathe life into this town. Who knows, perhaps you’re the one we’ve been waiting for.”
With a knowing smile, Misty disappeared into the kitchen, leaving Zoe alone in the saloon once more. She shook her head, knowing that the mysteries of this town were better left unsolved. Right now, she needed to focus on her work. And she couldn’t afford any distractions.
Zoe studied her maps, following every curve of the land and checking every geothermal reading for any signs of energy deposits. But the more she searched, the more futile she realized her task became. It would take more than a stroke of luck to find an energy deposit worthy of impressing Mr. Gravesend. What she needed was a miracle.
“Wheeeeeeee!”
Zoe groaned as Spooks sped past the window, with Cerberus excitedly following behind. As his cackles of excitement echoed through the empty town, Zoe put her head in her hands.
“Would you cut that out? I’m trying to work here!”
Spooks blew a raspberry towards her, before he juggled the device in the air.
“That sounds dreadfully dull, fleshie. Besides, it’s your gadget that’s making all the noise. Look at these fun wiggly lines!” Spooks laughed in delight as he pointed the device at a vast rock, until it emitted a series of shrill blasts. “It’s not too late to join me on a tour, you know. It could be fun!”
“For the last time, I don’t have time for…”
But Zoe drew a breath as she glanced at the screen of the tracker. She followed the curve of the lines, and listened to the shrill beeps that escaped the device. They were readings she knew all too well. Readings that meant one thing.
The Underworld Motel might not look like much, but there’s a power in this town. A magic.
Zoe studied the tracker in bewilderment. And she realized perhaps it was time for her to see the true power of the Underworld Motel, after all. She stuffed a Boo-Berry muffin in her satchel, and marched out of the saloon towards the poltergeist.
“Spooks, change of plan.” Zoe smiled as the specter cartwheeled through the air, before her gaze rested on the tracker. “I’d like that tour of the town after all.”