Chapter 11
Chapter Eleven
JOSH
“…and that’s where we are,” I finish. At my request, they let me tell it all without interrupting, although I think it might have caused Kieran physical pain to keep his mouth shut once I started.
Skye sat there with his mouth open for the first minute, then started scribbling notes at a speed that actually scared me.
“Joe is here to answer your questions.” I gesture to the ghost, who’s scowling from a chair at the end of the staff room table.
The silence is deafening. I glance around at the shocked faces. Yeah, that’s pretty much what I was expecting.
“So…” Kieran stops and clears his throat. “So what you’re saying is that there’s a demon in the basement and a doorway to hell in one of the guest rooms?”
“Yes. No. Maybe?” I flounder. “We don’t know exactly where the vortex goes. Or what the thing in the basement really is. So… not sure about what terminology to use?” I look at Joe to help me.
“What I want to know,” Skye says, “is have you been in the Garden Suite? What does the, uh, vortex look like? Feel like? This is so weird.”
I spread my hands. “I don’t know. I’ve never had to go in there before. I did stand outside it for a couple hours on Saturday night,” I admit. “But I couldn’t sense anything, really. Maybe a tad more energy flow? But that could have been my imagination.”
Kieran sucks in a deep breath. “Okay. Okay. There’s a couple in there, right?”
I nod. “The Himmels. They haven’t checked out yet, but they’re due to leave this morning.”
“First thing we need to do is rearrange reservations for that room,” he orders.
“I’ve done everything except the weekends. We’re full for months.”
“Leave it with me,” Skye says confidently. “We’ll tart up the cabin teachers use during school camps. We can call it the executive suite or something and tell people they’re getting an upgrade.”
Kieran points to him. “Yes. Excellent idea. What do you need to get it done?”
Skye bites his lip. “I can take a lot of the stuff from the Garden Suite and storage, but I might need to buy a few bits and pieces. It could probably do with some paint? And furniture needs to be moved, so maybe muscle?”
“We’ll help,” Daniel volunteers, and Ewan immediately nods. I can’t hold back the mental image of his broad back flexing as he lifts furniture. Maybe the veins on his forearms will show themselves.
“I will too,” I say, my voice a little hoarse. “I don’t have a lot of muscle, but I can paint and follow directions.”
“There’s a kitchenette in the cabin, isn’t there?
” Arissa muses. “We can stock it with some basics so the guests don’t feel like they’re missing out, being so far from the house.
And we could do optional basket deliveries for meals.
Make it the honeymoon suite and allow the guests to choose how much interaction they want with other people. ”
“Good plan,” Kieran says, making a note on his tablet. “If you all can pull this off before the weekend, I’ll double your Christmas bonuses.”
“Consider it done,” Daniel declares. “I’ll even plant a little garden out the front, make the outside pretty.”
“Okay.” Kieran runs his hands through his hair, leaving it sticking out at funny angles.
I’m beginning to think “okay” is a mantra for him—a word he says to organize his mind.
“So we’re getting the guests out of the Garden Suite.
I’m changing the code on the lock panel, and only the people in this room will have access.
And the ghosts,” he tacks on, turning his gaze on Joe.
“Is there anything we can do to make it easier for you to maintain the block?”
Joe shakes his head. “If there is, we don’t know about it.”
“It seems like not knowing is a big part of our problem here,” Ewan says quietly. “How do we increase our knowledge?”
Everyone looks at me.
“I don’t know.” I try not to look at Ewan.
Ever since our conversation yesterday, when he called me pretty and sunshiny, I’ve felt…
vulnerable about him. I’m not ready to deal with those feelings yet, and fuck knows they’re not the priority right now.
“I can start with some internet searches, see if I stumble across anything. I want to call the medium who offered to train me a few years back. I won’t tell her what’s happened,” I rush to add when Joe opens his mouth to protest. “I get that we need to be careful about who we trust. But I can tell her I’ve been reading stuff online and need help working out what’s true and not. ”
“That might work.” Kieran taps his fingertips on the tabletop.
“I don’t know any of the mediums who’ve stayed here before well enough to know if they can be trusted, I’m afraid.
But I think one of them might have stayed in the Garden Suite?
” His brow furrows. “I remember him saying the room had great energy. I’ll check on that. ” He makes another note on his tablet.
“What are our goals?” Skye asks. “Get rid of the bogeyman and close the portal so it can’t come back?”
Joe grumbles, and I know it’s because of the words Skye chose. I shoot him a warning look. Terminology really isn’t important right now. For all we know, the ghosts have been using the wrong labels for the past fifty years.
“Those seem like sensible goals,” Daniel says dryly.
“They’re certainly my goals,” Kieran mutters.
“But won’t closing the portal or whatever mean the ghosts won’t be able to manifest anymore?”
Silence falls. I can’t believe I didn’t think of that. Maybe because I don’t need them to manifest for me to talk to them.
“We know,” Joe says heavily. “We’ll miss talking to all of you, but it will be nice not to have to worry all the time. And Josh is here now to interpret for us.”
Be the mouthpiece of half a dozen ghosts? No pressure or anything. But they’re making a real sacrifice here, so the least I can do is pass on messages.
Kieran sighs. “Let’s see what we can find out before we make any major decisions. This is your home too, and we want you to be comfortable here.”
“Maybe we’ll be able to find a way to get rid of the dark spirit without having to close the vortex,” Ewan suggests, winning an approving glance from Joe for using the right words.
“But then others might sneak in,” Arissa points out. “Still, Kieran’s right. We don’t need to decide right now. We might not even be able to do anything.”
“There’s a depressing thought.” Daniel looks across the table at me. “You’re going into the Garden Suite as soon as the guests check out?”
“I’ll be in there while they’re still at reception,” I confirm. “Why? You wanna come?”
“Yes. And then I want to go down to the basement.”
“Me too,” Ewan adds. “Maybe there’s something I can build to make it more secure.”
“You work with metal, not crystals or stone,” Daniel points out. “But yeah. We should check.”
“You’re not getting me down there,” Arissa declares. “I don’t know anything about demons anyway.”
Joe shifts in his chair, scowling irritably.
“Could you watch reception?” Skye asks her. “I want to see, and I don’t know if this thing will work in the basement.” He gestures to the baby-monitor-type thing that allows him to see if anyone is at reception.
“No problem.”
“Okay,” Kieran says, and I bite the inside of my cheek to keep from laughing.
This really isn’t the time for it. “First step is for Josh to have a look at the vortex and hopefully discover there’s a really easy way to close it.
Don’t make that face, Josh. Until you see it, I’m living in my bubble of hope. ”
I smooth out my doubting grimace and nod. “Bubble of hope for the win.”
He snorts. “From this moment, the only people permitted into the Garden Suite are senior staff, even if that means we need to cancel some reservations. Which leads to the next step, converting the teachers’ cabin into a honeymoon or executive suite. Skye’s taking the lead on that.”
“Got it,” Skye promises. Not for the first time, I wish I had his confidence. Although moving furniture and painting is probably not comparable to closing a vortex to hell.
“Concurrent with that, we’re going to start researching what the thing in the basement is and ways to get rid of it.
I’ll stop by the library and see if I can find any books that might help.
” He holds up a hand when Joe opens his mouth.
“I know you’ve already tried that, but I can speak to the librarian and get some help.
Maybe we can find something via inter-library loan. ”
“We should check out too,” Ewan suggests. “The library might not have some of the more niche books, and if we’re looking for a how-to on banishing demons, we probably need something pretty specific.”
Kieran points his pen at Ewan. “Yes. Good thinking. We can also contact some of the paranormal investigation groups. Most of them are whack jobs, but some are genuinely doing research.”
“What’ll you tell them we want it for?” Joe demands. “Remember, you can trust no one.”
“I promise, Joe, I won’t let anyone use this place or you to achieve nefarious ends,” Kieran says solemnly, and Daniel mouths “nefarious.” “I’ll come up with something to tell them.
Maybe that we’re putting together a pamphlet on paranormal activity for our guests, since we’re recognized as being a haunted building. ”
Joe doesn’t look happy but doesn’t argue.
“Josh, are you happy to take the lead on research? Since you’re the one who’ll have to implement whatever plan we come up with?”
I’m nodding before he finishes speaking. “Yeah, definitely. I won’t object to help, but I’ll coordinate the research.”
“Good. Let’s reassess at the staff meeting on Thursday, see how we’re going. For now, while we’re waiting for the Himmels to check out, let’s go look at the basement.”
Arissa reaches across the table to take the monitor from Skye. “That’s my cue to go find the charm my sister gave me that’s supposed to ward off the devil.”
“They make those?” I wonder. “I mean, legit make them? It’s not a velvet bag of herbs or anything?” We all get up and start moving toward the door.