Page 14 of Spark
“Oh, poor Javier!” Ariela said, with genuine distress. “We were all so worried about him!” Then she paused. When she spoke again, her dark eyes were uncomfortably assessing. “Mythtrust News, eh? Better not let Uncle Eddy find out that you’re here.”
“So I’ve heard,” Sophie managed, despite the sudden buzz of panic in her head.
Stop that, she ordered herself.You’re not doing anything wrong. This is business. And Caitlyn is counting on you to do a good job.
She plowed gamely ahead. “Well, um, it’s come to my attention that a lot of the people working here have experienced some, ah, strange things.”
Ariela sighed. “And you’re interested in seeing Room 444 for yourself?”
“Room 444?” Sophie asked, confused.
She turned her head to look at Chris, and received a wide-eyed shrug in response.
“Where that poor woman was murdered,” Ariela explained. “It used to be the honeymoon suite, before the new wing was built.”
“And strange things have been happening in that room?” Sophie asked, trying to catch up.
She had heard that there had been a murder at the hotel a long time ago, but couldn’t remember any specific details.
Ariela nodded. “One time, when I was still in high school, I was in here cleaning the bathroom, I saw…something…in the mirror.”
She shuddered. Visibly collecting herself, she continued, “Nowadays, we always block out this room as unavailable in our online reservations system. It’s been labeled as ‘undergoing repairs,’ for the past few years.”
“Cool,” Chris said, sounding impressed.
Sophie shot him an incredulous look before turning back to Ariela.
I definitely need to investigate a haunted hotel room for this story,she told herself.
She tried not to think about what might be lurking there. It was bad enough that in her normal day-to-day life, she sometimes saw specters lurking in the most unexpected places.
“If you don’t mind, I’d like to visit that room,” she said before she could chicken out.
Ariela darted a nervous look around the lobby.
“Okay, coast is clear,” she told them, her smile returning. “Follow me.”
She led them towards the bank of elevators discreetly tucked into the corner of the lobby nearest to the reception desk.
When they reached the fourth floor, at the top of the hotel’s main building, they followed down to the end of a long hallway.
She halted in front of a door with a brass plate inscribed with “444” and unlocked the door using the master card key she carried on a lanyard around her neck.
She stepped aside, and ushered them in. “I’ll wait for you out here.”
Great,Sophie thought as she followed Chris into the room.It’s been how many years since she saw something, and she still won’t set foot inside this room?
Chris came to a halt in the middle of the room, at the foot of a king-sized bed. He gazed around, frowning. “Looks pretty normal to me.”
Sophie had to agree that itlookedlike an ordinary upscale hotel room. But it sure didn’t feel like one.
The hairs on the nape of her neck were prickling, as if something invisible was lurking nearby, watching every move she made, ready to jump out at her.
And the room was icy. Her bare arms and legs were instantly covered in goosebumps. “It’s really cold in here.”
Chris looked surprised. “Feels okay to me.”
Sophie’s stomach tightened in dread. Any minute now, he’d start looking at her like she was Crazy Sophie. “You really don’t feel anything?”
