The Secret of the Aurora Hotel

by Danny McAleese

  Holding it overhead you pause, and then finally heave the ball downward. It smashes spectacularly against the cobblestone floor. You shield your eyes as shards of glass fly in every direction. At the point of impact, a dark spiral of black smoke is all that remains.

  The voices in your head scream all at once, but this time the screams sound triumphant. One by one tendrils of smoke spin off across the room. They disappear into the nethergate, as if drawn by some invisible, irresistible whirlpool operating at its center. Eventually, there's only one thread left. The last one, much darker than the rest, seems to resist being pulled away. But it can't fight forever. With what sounds like a gut-wrenching shriek, it too disappears into the void.

  Everything stops at once. The noise, the wind, even the cold. You're suddenly aware of the room again. Whatever was holding Evan and Jenna abruptly releases them.

  "What..." Evan gasps. "What just happened?"

  You blink a few times to clear your vision. "I don't know. Mr. Roakes, what did we--"

  There's a groan as James Roakes stirs from where he rests face down on the table. Jenna hurries over and helps him to a sitting position. He rubs his eyes for what seems like forever before finally opening them again. When he notices the crystal ball is missing he turns to you curiously.

  "Did you..."

  "He shattered it," Jenna confirms. "Yes." Her nose twitches trying to gauge the man's reaction.

  Did you do the right thing? Or did you mess everything up?

  Much to your relief, Mr. Roakes breaks into a smile.

  71

  "So uh," Evan starts warily, "what exactly just happened?"

  Mr. Roakes clears his throat. "Long ago," he begins, "this hotel was plagued by restless spirits. My great grandfather considered himself a medium of sorts. He traveled to the Aurora in order to help put those souls at rest." He gestures to the objects still on the table. "The ceremony Alastair was performing was designed to open a gateway. One that would allow these spirits to travel to their next place in the universe."

  "But he failed, right?" Jenna jumps in. "He never got the chance to finish?"

  James shakes his head. "I wouldn't say he failed, but you're exactly right. The ceremony was never finished. The gateway was left open, but only partially. This allowed even more spirits to enter the Aurora and become stuck here."

  "Why did he fail?" you ask. "What happened?"

  "And who's Warrick?" Evan adds.

  "Ah, Warrick." You can't help but notice Mr. Roakes shudder visibly at the name. "Most of the spirits were harmless, but not him. Of his life we know little, but his was an angry demise. For reasons unknown, he was bound to this place from the very beginning. Since even before the hotel was built."

  Jenna gulps. "And now?"

  "And now," James sighs, "he's gone too. Passed through the portal, along with all of the others. Even Alastair." The man turns to face you and smiles. "The Aurora is safe now, thanks to you. It is no longer a place of sorrow."

  "You mean it's no longer haunted?" Evan asks.

  "Yes," Mr. Roakes chuckles. "That's one way to put it."

  72

  Your cousins look at each other and smile. For a split-second you think they might even hug, but then Jenna blows another bubble. "Well," she says, "dad's going to love that. It'll be good for business."

  A thought suddenly crosses your mind. "Know what's even better for business?" you ask.

  Your two cousins stare back at you, not sure what to expect.

  "Ghost tours!"

  Evan opens his mouth, presumably to say something sarcastic. You cut him off. "No, really! Think about it. This place has the most haunted history of any hotel ever. Lots of people love that!"

  "They do?" Evan asks.

  "Yeah," Jenna confirms. "They actually do."

  "Now you can have all the spooky appeal of a haunted hotel," you continue, "without the actual danger of some nethergate still being open. Uncle Gus-- I mean, your dad can use the Aurora's past to his advantage."

  Your cousins look contemplative. It's certainly something to consider.

  As the four of you head to the elevator, you cast one final glance backward. Maybe it's just a trick of the light, but you swear you still see a glimmer in the mirror. A tiny spark, somewhere deep in the glass...

  Congratulations on saving your uncle's hotel! You're sure to have lots more adventures with Evan and Jenna, but for now this is very happily

  THE END

  73

  You don't want to risk breaking whatever happens to be in the vase. Evan looks on as you reach inside...

  OUCH!

  Something bites you!

  You leap back, startled, clutching your hand. As you do, the vase tips over. A humongous centipede slithers out, feeling the air with its antennae for a moment before scurrying away. Evan gasps.

  "Did it--"

  "Bite me? Yeah." Apprehensively, you look down. On the back of your hand, a nasty red welt is rising up. A thick droplet of blood oozes forth, running down toward your fingers.

  "At least you're not allergic," your cousin speculates. His expression goes grave. "Are you?"

  You don't answer. You've never been bitten by a centipede before, but already the skin around the wound is turning an angry purple. Your hand no longer stings. Where there was pain just a minute ago, now you can barely feel anything.

  "Flex your fingers."

  You do what Evan tells you. Or at least, you try to. Your whole hand has gone totally numb! You can't move it, or flex it, or anything at all. Your cousin's look of worry tells the rest of the story.

  "I'm... fine..." you say. But the wooziness is undeniable. You struggle to keep upright, but then Evan is there to catch you as your legs give out. It's time to see a doctor. Fast.

  Well, at least now you know you're allergic to bug bites. The bad news however, is that it makes this

  THE END

  74

  Chucking things up at the chandelier sounds noisy and risky. As much as you hate to admit it, the ladder seems like the safer choice. "Let's see how high this thing will get us," you say.

  Jenna helps you set up directly beneath the candelabra. Carefully you climb to the second to last step and stretch your arms upward. The candles are almost within reach... but not quite.

  "I'm coming up," Jenna says. You feel the ladder creak beneath her added weight. She climbs over your back, grabbing your head for leverage. At one point she leans too far forward and has to dig in to keep her balance. You end up with a thumb in your mouth. "Oops! Sorry Scotty!"

  "Just go slow," you say, wincing. "Real slow."

  Finally she's in position, legs over your shoulders. This is crazy, you think. But it's already done. You do your best to keep Jenna stable while using your hands to grip the ladder. It feels like your whole body is shaking.

  "Almost there!" your cousin says. "I just need to stretch a little bit more..."

  You raise your chin slightly and dare to look up. The candles are close now. Three of them seem older, more yellowed than the rest. They also have markings on them.

  "Which one do I take?" Jenna calls down to you.

  75

  If you tell Jenna to take candle number 1, TURN TO PAGE 60

  If you tell Jenna to take candle number 2, TURN TO PAGE 110

  If you tell Jenna to take candle number 3, TURN TO PAGE 158

  76

  Evan stands frozen, looking over your shoulder and out the strange window. He hasn't even answered you.

  "Well I'm stepping out," you say defiantly. "You can stay here if you want."

  Carefully you pull yourself through the window and step onto the ledge. The Aurora's fancy stone facade holds your weight easily, even if there isn't much room to maneuver. Right away you're struck with how bright everything is. High up in the sky, the sun is a muted yellow coin the size of a dime.

  That can't be, you think. It's after midnight.

  The weird desert landscape stretches all the way to the hor
izon. You see nothing but cracked earth and mounds of sand. Directly below you, a dune has piled high enough against the side of the hotel you can almost reach out and touch it. If you were to hang from the ledge by your fingertips, you could drop into the sand and go exploring.

  "Scott!" Evan's voice sounds dull and muted from inside the room. He pokes his head out nervously and calls again. "Scott, get back in here! This isn't... right."

  You look back one last time and think you see something poking up from the sand. Something white.

  "Scott, come on!"

  You're torn. You want to investigate further, but you're also not sure you could get back up to the ledge once you dropped. And hey, maybe Evan's right after all. Maybe.

  Do you drop down from the ledge? If so, FLIP TO PAGE 159

  Or do you climb back in through the window? GO TO PAGE 20

  77

  A sprawling fireplace dominates the rear of the main lobby, surrounded by couches on a plush area rug. The temperature rises pleasantly as you approach, driving away any last trace of chill in the air.

  "Here look at this," Jenna says as she runs a hand over the stonework. Her palm stops on a cornerstone, deeply etched with writing:

  The Aurora, 1903

  "Pretty cool, huh?" she says. "Told you this place was old."

  You nod, scanning the area for clues. The hearth, shelf, the mantle -- all of it is worn and well-used, but also well taken care of. Without warning, the fire flickers. A blast of cold air blows over you, causing the flames to dance wildly in the firebox.

  "You... will never..." The whisper is low and barely audible -- more of a growl, really. One look into Jenna's face tells you that she hears it too. "have... what's mine!"

  Another blast of air forces you instinctively backward. The flames settle again, and the air returns to normal. But when you look to Jenna, she's holding something large in her hand. It's the cornerstone from the fireplace.

  "It... it was loose!" she stammers. "I didn't mean to take it. I just stumbled backward and--"

  "Hang on," you say. In the depression created by the missing stone, something glimmers. You reach inside and pull out a small pewter figurine, in the shape of a cannon. It could be a toy, or maybe a chess piece.

  "Who do you think put this in there?" you say. You turn the figure over a few times before dropping it in your pocket.

  "Whoever it was, they're long gone by now," Jenna answers. Carefully she replaces the cornerstone. "Come on," she says. "Let's keep moving."

  Straight ahead is the hotel's main hall. To continue the search there, TURN TO PAGE 133

  You can also check out the Aurora's dining room. If so HEAD OVER TO PAGE 102

  78

  You're not sure what the square hole is for, and there's no time to find out. Already the cold is making your fingers numb. Evan is shaking.

  "Follow Jenna," you tell your cousin. "I'll be right behind you."

  You start the ascent, trying to ignore the fact that the handholds are more icy than you originally thought. You also try not to look down. While you're not terrified of heights, like Evan, you're not too crazy about them either.

  "Almost there," Jenna calls down. "Just a few more--"

  It happens fast. Evan's left hand slips, then his right. He falls straight into you, butting you away from the wall. You fall.

  "Evan! Scotty!"

  Jenna's cry is muffled by the storm. It's almost peaceful as you fall end over end, tumbling downward into the swirling snow...

  Maybe if you're lucky you'll hit a snowbank. Hey, it happens all the time. But for right now at least, this seems to be

  THE END

  79

  You turn to face Jenna. Tears stream down both of your cousin's cheeks. You wipe them away gently with the back of your hand, then pluck the pretty flower from behind her ear.

  The woman stirs and looks over at you. You offer her the flower. A smile spreads over her face as she takes it.

  "Wow cuz!" Jenna cries happily. "Nice thinking!"

  The ghost-woman bows her head at you gracefully. When she looks up again, she wears a beautiful smile. You feel suddenly warm. Euphoric. You're overcome with the urge to reach out and embrace her, but before you can do that she floats away.

  Before leaving the room however, the woman gazes back at you one last time. Her hand goes up, and she points to something on the wall. Then she disappears.

  "Whoa," Evan breathes. He's back now, but still recovering.

  Your own eyes are locked on the wall, and soon you're examining the place the woman indicated. High up on the printed wallpaper, a pudgy little cherub is ringing a bell.

  "Yuck!" Jenna shudders from over your shoulder. "Ghosts I can handle. But cherubs are creepy."

  There's a suite door here leading into the adjoining room. Check it out OVER ON PAGE 66

  80

  "Go talk to him," you tell Jenna. "But do it quickly. And quietly."

  Jenna delivers her brother an 'I told you so' smirk before slipping around the corner. Evan on the other hand, is staring back at you. He doesn't look pleased.

  "Look, maybe he'll listen to her," you say. "Your sister has a certain way with people."

  "Yeah," your cousin says. "That's what I'm afraid of."

  A minute ticks by. Then two. You're about to go look for Jenna when she comes gliding back, a long silver key spinning from her finger. "Piece of cake," she smiles.

  "How'd you get it?" you ask.

  Jenna shrugs. "I just told him what we were doing and he gave it to me. Said he didn't even know what the key was for."

  Evan looks stunned. "You told him? And he just gave it to you?"

  "Yeah," Jenna says. "Don't forget, Vincent's been here longer than any of us. He knows there are lots of things going on in this place. Oh, and he told me to be careful. Of Warrick."

  "Warrick?" Evan asks. "Who's that?"

  "I'm willing to bet," you say, "it's the guy in the letter. The him Alastair keeps referring to." You return to the elevator and take the key from Jenna. It fits perfectly into the silver keyhole. There's a muffled click as you turn it, and the elevator begins rumbling downward.

  "If Alastair is afraid of him," Evan says, "then we'd better be really careful."

  Find out what's under the basement when you TURN TO PAGE 42

  81

  You unwrap Evan's sweatshirt from your arm and hand it back to him. Jenna looks utterly disappointed.

  "Umm," you say to her, "aren't you forgetting about something?"

  Jenna looks confused. You make a motion toward her pocket. She reaches in and pulls out a tiny, square-shaped key. It's the one she swiped from the janitor's closet.

  "Oh yeah!" she cries happily. "I forgot all about this thing!"

  You try to smile as Jenna unlocks the cupola, but your face is way too frozen. When the door swings open you can't get inside fast enough.

  Sweet! Now get out of the wind and warm yourself up a bit OVER ON PAGE 88

  82

  You look to the places where the moonlight touches the floor. Maybe those squares are safe, you reason. Maybe that's why they're lit up.

  "Stick to the moonlit squares," you tell Jenna. "Don't step on the shadow."

  Your cousin nods and steps forward. Her foot slips into the moonlight, bearing down on the first illuminated square. Nothing happens. She hops to the second square, the third, the fourth -- everything goes smoothly and without incident. You're about to chide yourself for being too cautious when you hear a faint, muffled click.

  "What was that?" Evan asks nervously.

  Jenna freezes, arms extended outward to keep her balance. "I don't know. It happened on that last step, though."

  A grinding noise reaches your ears. It grows in volume, filling the room until it's a deafening roar. The floor trembles. Evan clutches the wall as Jenna is thrown to her knees.

  "Help!"

  The floor drops out from under you. Or rather, it tilts alarmingly in one direction. The three of
you are flung involuntarily sideways, sliding along its length until you're deposited into darkness. The floor then pivots back into position above you, trapping you in the space beneath.

  "We're stuck!" Jenna cries. You hear her pounding against the ceiling but you can't see anything. Dust fills your nose as you sneeze in the pitch blackness.

  "We'll never get out of here!" Evan shouts. You can hear the panic in his voice. Apparently he's got a healthy dose of claustrophobia to go along with his fear of heights. "We'll be trapped down here forever!"

  "I doubt it," you say between sneezes. "Did you hear that noise? It must've woken up the whole hotel!" You sneeze again. "I'm sure your father will be here in a matter of minutes."

  That last thought sends a wave of dread through you. Then again, explaining things to Uncle Gus sounds a whole lot better than being stuck under a hotel floor for the rest of your life.

  Either way, this is certainly

  THE END

  83

  You crouch there, pinned against the dish washing machine. A few long seconds tick by, and then Jenna grabs your hand and pulls you out into the open.

  "Come on, if we move fast we can-- UMPF!" The two of you run full force into a big, stocky giant of a man.