by Morgana Best
We both jumped as his phone rang, causing several heads to turn in our direction in annoyance. I knew that ring tone, and I tried not to let my disappointment show. There would be only one reason his phone wouldn’t be on silent mode during a date.
“Work?” I watched him glance down and turn off the phone.
“Not exactly how I planned things to go.” He gave a thin smile and nodded in acknowledgment. “I apologise, but can we continue this conversation later? It is really important that I ask, um, that we talk.”
Uh oh. No one wants a mysteriously vague ‘talk.’ Those don’t usually end well, I thought. I was tempted to push him to go ahead. However, there was something in his expression that made me hesitate.
We walked out of the restaurant together. “In case I didn’t say so earlier, you were the most beautiful woman there tonight,” John said with his trademark handsome smile.
“Better late than never,” I teased. “Are you still going to be here a while?” I asked with concern.
He gave a nod of affirmation. “Don’t worry. I’m not going anywhere yet. I’ll be close enough to come running if you need help with anything.”
I let out a sigh of relief and felt his hand reach to clasp mine.
“So, what’s really been bothering you tonight?” he asked. “Anything I can help with?”
I frowned. I didn’t want to talk about seeing people in the restaurant who could not possibly be there. I was probably just tired and worried about this assignment. I just needed a good night’s sleep. Oh yeah. Evil portal monster waiting to attack at the next opportunity. A good night’s sleep was so not going to happen.
“Do you know how to clear a room of bad energy?” I asked, half joking.
John took me seriously. “Salt, white sage, Palo Santo, but you know that already. Are you planning on clearing out that bathroom when they finish with it?”
I bit my bottom lip. “Actually…” I explained the symbols that were on the wall and the attack. It already felt like a lifetime ago. My time with John had done wonders to fade the memory. It was hard to believe that it had happened only a few hours earlier.
He was oddly quiet as I explained the encounter. He didn’t even interrupt to ask for extra details about the beast.
He stopped walking and turned me to face him. “Why didn’t you tell me about this sooner?”
I didn’t know what to make of the tone of his voice. He sounded both irritated and worried. He very well could have been both.
“Sorry, I didn’t want to make a fuss of it. I thought about telling you, but this was the first time we’ve had dinner together in forever, and the portal was already sealed. It might not even open again.”
“But it could open again?” The concern in his voice was heavy this time.
“I’m not sure. I just want to be on the safe side.” I clasped and unclasped my hands.
He reached out and covered both my hands in his, giving them a reassuring squeeze. “You should stay with Cordelia tonight. Deal with it in the daylight.”
I smiled. “I will take Cordelia up on her offer tonight.”
“I’d feel better if you did.” He stared at me. “Be careful. I want to help you in any way I can, but I’m not a lot of use against ghosts and magical portals.”
“I will,” I promised, before he left to deal with whatever case was beckoning him.
Chapter 11
“Wake up,” Cordelia’s voice called out as my groggy self felt a solid thump on the side of my pillow. “If we don’t get moving, they’ll stop serving breakfast by the time we get there.”
“Breakfast is overrated,” I said with a yawn, burying my face in my pillow to try to block out the light. I had been too creeped out by the feel of the portal’s presence to sleep in my room, so I had stayed the night with Cordelia.
Cordelia was doing her best to be supportive, but her concerns over my international long-distance relationship with John could be tedious. Two in the morning tedious.
It had been a long night after I had returned from dinner. I had gone to the kitchens to find some salt, despite the fact that I had no idea how to explain away why I would need it. When I had finally found someone able to get me some salt, it had been in a pathetically tiny shaker. By the time I managed to get enough salt to do the room, I was pretty sure they thought I ate salt with a spoon.
Housekeeping was no doubt going to be highly irritated. Yesterday they had to scrub chalk off the walls. Today it would be salt out of the floor and the bedding. I needed to go back to the room and make sure the portal was still closed. If I hadn’t done the salt correctly, I might have a really irritated creature on my hands. No need to let the maids deal with that.
“Come on. We need a good breakfast before we start work for the day.”
I groaned and pulled myself up into a sitting position. I raked my fingers through my hair to remove the bed head. I needed to get up and check that room. If someone got mauled in there, I would never forgive myself. “Okay. Give me a minute to go get dressed.”
“Are you okay?” Cordelia looked at me with concern. “I could go and get your clothes for you if…”
“No, no, I’ll do it.” I stumbled to my feet. Cordelia shot me a suspicious look, which I pretended not to notice. I did not want to try to explain the white powder all over my room. “See you in a few minutes?”
I yawned again and rubbed at my eyes as I started down the hallway. For a place that was booked to capacity, it was oddly quiet. There were no heated conversations leaking through the doors, and only a couple of people were in the halls. That suited me fine. I wasn’t exactly dressed to impress on my way to my room.
“Oh my goodness, look at you taking the walk of shame,” a gratingly familiar voice proclaimed out of nowhere.
I spun around. My jaw dropped. “Julie?” I screeched in dismay.
My mail lady was standing there in a wild-looking summer dress with a neckline down to her naval. She looked like a wardrobe malfunction waiting to happen—or maybe it already had. Her hair was down in a wild, tangled mess. Her lips were way too red, and her eyes were almost hidden by the pools of blue eye shadow painted all over them.
“What are you doing here?” I said in shock.
“You’re not the only one who deserves a luxury holiday, Miss Thing.” Julie smirked at me. “Looks like you didn’t waste any time finding some company.”
“Nothing like that,” I said, not knowing whether to be confused or irritated. “What brought you here?”
“Funny you should ask. You inspired it after all.” Julie patted her wild hair into place, making it look all the more like she had an echidna on her head.
“I did what?” I blinked as I stood in the middle of the hallway. It was way too early to deal with my nosy mail lady. Actually, it was never a good time to deal with her.
“Well, there I was stewing over my husband, Craig, spending all my hard-earned money on yet another useless video game, right. And I was thinking, ‘Julie, you deserve a holiday. You should just up and go.’ And then…”
“What in the world are you doing here?” Cordelia demanded from her doorway, my handbag dangling from her hand, staring in shock at Julie.
“This place doesn’t have elite membership, you know,” Julie declared in a huff. “And even if it did, I know you two couldn’t afford it.” Her brows furrowed. She looked over at Cordelia, then slowly back to me. Her eyes widened as she looked me up and down. “Well, I would have thought it would have been that hot English muffin I heard you were spending time with. This is a big surprise.”
“Wrong,” I said shortly. “Wrong and wrong. Cordelia and I are on assignment for work.”
“You know what work is?” Cordelia said.
“That so?” Julie asked sceptically, and gave a dismissive half shrug. “Well, I wondered where you got the money for a holiday like this. You certainly didn’t win any lotteries.”
“Wondered?” I blinked. “How in the world did you know w
e were coming here?”
“Yeah, I’d like to know that too,” Cordelia said irritably, as she walked over to hand me my handbag.
“I’ll tell you what. I’ll let you ladies clean up and I’ll meet you at breakfast. I’m sure you had a long night, with work and all.”
She sashayed past me. I tried to think of something witty to say, but came up short. I needed at least two full cups of coffee to function in the morning, and a minimum of three to deal with Julie. And there was not enough coffee in the world to have breakfast with her.
“What in the world is going on?” Cordelia asked me as soon as Julie was out of earshot.
I shook my head. “Your guess is as good as mine.” It was way too early and I was way too caffeine-depleted for all this.
"Surprise!" a voice said behind me.
I swung around. "Aunty June! What are you doing here?"
"I'll tell you all about it," she said. "Hello Cordelia. Misty and I will join you for breakfast at the restaurant soon."
With that, Aunty June propelled me at speed along the corridor. She didn't speak until we were safely in my room and the door was locked.
"What are you doing here, Aunty June?" I asked her. "I mean, I'm thrilled to see you, it's just that it's a surprise."
"I don't like to interfere." Aunty June pulled a large red candle glass encased candle from her oversized handbag.
"What is it?" I asked her.
"What is it?" Aunty June parroted. She shook her head. "Sometimes I wonder about you, Misty. This is obviously a Saint Michael candle."
"Like in the Archangel Michael?" I asked her.
She made a clicking sound with her tongue. "Honestly, Misty. For someone who does Hoodoo, your education is lacking at times. Saint Michael is a wonderful protector. Burn his candle and make sure not to put it out, and by the time it burns down, you’re protected. Extremely protected," she said firmly.
Before I could speak, she hurried into the bathroom. "It needs to be going at all times, so obviously it will be unattended at some point. It's best to place it in a small bowl of water, so the water will catch the flames if anything goes wrong.”
I simply shrugged.
Aunty June pressed on. "Luckily for you, I brought a flameproof glass bowl. You can stand the Saint Michael candle in that. And maybe leave it in the shower. This shower is old, sturdy, and well tiled so even if the flames did escape the bowl of water, they couldn't go anywhere."
She hurried back to her handbag and produced some cinnamon sticks.
"Cinnamon?" I said.
Aunty June nodded. "Cinnamon is associated with Saint Michael. I can't interfere, so I want you to make seven holes in the top of the candle and pour in this Saint Michael oil." She thrust a tiny bottle of red liquid into my hands. "Then you can break a cinnamon stick into the top. Write your name nine times on a piece of paper and put it under the candle."
She broke off and laughed. "No, that won't do it all, will it? The paper would dissolve in the water. Put the name paper under the glass bowl. I'd love to show you what to do, but I can't. I haven't told you anything you couldn't find out for yourself. Do you understand or do you want me to repeat anything?"
I ran through it on my mind. "No, I've got it. I don't know why I haven't done this before. I usually just use Fiery Wall of Protection incense."
Aunty June nodded slowly. "Yes, that's always good and so is wearing a protective stone such as black tourmaline or labradorite. I brought the Saint Michael candle because you're in terrible danger. Anyway, I'll meet you at breakfast." Without another word, she sailed out of the door, leaving me alone with my thoughts.
I hoped I could remember everything Aunty June said. It did seem obvious at the time, but now that she was gone I was worried I'd missed a step. Still, I could always google it on my phone.
I picked up the glass-encased candle and with my nail scissors made seven holes in the top of the red wax. I poured some red Saint Michael Oil into each hole and then broke the cinnamon stick into the top. I had brought a travelling spell kit with me and it included some brown paper. I retrieved it from the top of the chest of drawers over by the window and pulled off a small piece on which I wrote my name nine times.
As soon as I was in the bathroom, I put the name paper under the bowl on the floor before pouring some water in the glass bowl, making sure the bottom of it was dry so it wouldn't wet my name paper. After that, I lit the candle while focusing on my intent of protection. It lit at once which was a good sign, but then the flame made popping sounds as the sparks flew off. I knew that was usually interpreted as spirits wanting to come through.
That done, I hurried out the door.
The dining area was elegant, the tables dripping with yellow roses. Golden cut glass glistened in the morning light as the sound of a piano playing a soft melody wafted from the back. The morning lattés were served in elegant glasses, and the scent of citrus mingled delightfully with the smell of gardenias and roses. It would have been a lovely time, but for one hideous blot on the whole experience.
“You know, my doctor says I shouldn’t eat grapefruit. It doesn’t agree with my medication. I wonder what’s so special about grapefruit? People say it’s a superfood, but you can’t eat it if you take any sort of medicine. That’s crazy, don’t you think?” Julie chattered on as she gored her grapefruit with her fork. “Here’s to living dangerously!”
Cordelia and I had considered hiding in a room and ordering breakfast sent up, but that would have given Julie fuel for a most inaccurate line of gossip. Plus, Julie knew where Cordelia’s room was. Sadly, there was no hiding. She would have come looking for us.
“I’m glad you two decided to join me.” Julie momentarily paused from gnawed a mauled piece of grapefruit. “I had a feeling you would be here, but what are the chances of actually running into each other in this place? It’s huge.”
“Speaking of that, how did you know we were coming here?” Cordelia demanded irritably, not sharing Julie’s enthusiasm.
Julie frowned. “I’m not stupid, am I? I saw the address on the envelopes. Anyway, like I was telling you before, my worthless husband spent half my wages on booze and video games. And I realised that while he was mooching off my hard-earned wages, I haven’t treated myself in ages. I was thinking it would be nice to get away for a while. Then I saw that envelope. It was so much fancier than you usually get, with that metallic print and all. I did an internet search on the name on the envelope, and this place popped up.”
“You researched the address off my mail?” I asked, only just resisting the urge to splash my coffee all over the woman. I knew Julie was nosy, but this took things to a whole new level.
“Of course. It’s not exactly classified. It’s on an envelope, after all.” Julie sprinkled her mushrooms with a heavy cloud of pepper. “I have to say, this is a fantastic place to pamper yourself. I was curious about how you found it. I didn’t think you had such good taste. But if it’s for work, then it makes a lot more sense. I’d have thought you won the lottery, but I know you don’t play. No letters from them, of course.”
Cordelia folded her arms. “Honestly, Julie, that’s something a stalker would do. Does Misty need a restraining order or something?”
Julie snorted. “You’re completely blowing it out of proportion. It was just a little peek online. Anybody could have done it.” Julie waved one hand over the table. “You’d better eat something. You two are so crabby first thing in the morning. It’s probably low blood sugar.”
“More like high blood pressure,” Cordelia said. “You said you thought Misty would be here now. How would you possibly know that?”
Julie shrugged. “I deliver the mail to both you girls. When you both put in the request to have your mail held, I figured you might be coming here.”
“That’s not creepy at all,” Cordelia said in a careful tone.
I kept my eyes trained on my plate, poking at my fruit. If I’d had an appetite, I had lost it with how easily Jul
ie had figured out my comings and goings. I had never realised exactly how much Julie knew about my life. It was even a little scary. She knew where I lived, when I was home—and apparently when I wasn’t.
“Not in the least bit, right?” Julie said. “It’s not like I knew you would be here. Not for a fact. And besides, the more the merrier! Especially with all that’s going on. Did you hear? Somebody found a body in their bedroom when they checked in. Of course, it’s just gossip, but it could be real. Do you ladies know anything about it?”
“We didn’t come to investigate bodies,” Cordelia said shortly.
“But you guys see dead people, don’t you?” Julie asked. “You write ghost stories for the magazines!”
“We research the paranormal and mysterious happenings,” I said carefully in response.
“Well, what’s more mysterious than that?” Julie asked. “If this is work, what did you come to write about?”
“That’s classified,” I said quickly.
“Classified? What is this about classified? You think you’re a secret agent now?” Julie asked.
An uneasy feeling washed over me. Exactly what, I didn’t know. Yet there was something about the look in her eyes that disturbed me.
“Well, while you’re researching your classified mystery case, why don’t I hang around and help? I bet I could dig up lots of interesting stuff.”
“I bet you could,” I said without enthusiasm.
“Sorry, no outside help.” Cordelia added sharply, giving the woman a smile that did not quite reach her eyes. “I’m sure you understand. Just not possible.”
“Oh come now, you’re just being silly.” Julie turned her attention back to me. “You ladies take your work far too seriously. Here you are in a lavish hotel with a missing person and a dead man. You think your work is really going to stay classified here?”
