Page 34 of The King of Halloween
“It’s amazing what you’ve done with the old trash heap,” the mayor said, gazing at the fountain currently on its clear cycle. When the clock struck midnight, red powder would dump into the water, turning it into blood. Or it should. They’d been having troubles getting the mechanism to work. But that’s what soft opens were for.
“Thank you.” Raj bowed his head, then he scooped up their bags.
The mayor’s wife laughed. “Such service.”
“Only the best at our hotel. You will be staying in the Ambassador suite.” That caused both important people to ooh. The truth was that nearly all of the rooms were the same level of luxurious for the sake of uniformity, but he gave every one a fancy-sounding title to impress people. It seemed to be working.
Raj whistled for the bellhop, a man in pale makeup and fake vampire fangs. As he gathered the light suitcases into the old bag cart, Raj leaned in closer. “Do you know the tale of the countess who stayed in your room?”
“No. Is it a spooky story?” the mayor’s wife asked, her eyes wide like the story must be true.
After glancing to the left and right, Raj leaned in. “She was a widow thrice over, always married to important and wealthy men. The people say she was cursed to lose so many husbands so quickly. And they also whispered how every night her dead husbands would scream out for their Countess. She wore a talisman of pure gold across her neck to protect her from their vengeance.”
“What happened to her?”
Internally, Raj smiled while his face was the picture of concern. “No one knows. Come checkout, she’d vanished. All of her luggage was still unpacked, her things left out, but hanging on the doorknob was her special medallion. When the maid had closed the door, she’d gasped. Etched into the back of the door by fingernails was the black widow’s confession to poisoning all three of her husbands. People say they can hear her mournful wails at midnight, and they might find a gold talisman on the floor beside the bed. Its clasp broken.”
“Goodness gracious. And we’re staying in her room?” She turned pale as a sheet and started to tremble.
“It’s a story, dear. Make believe.” Her husband wrapped a comforting arm around her. “Ghosts aren’t real.”
Smiling widely, Raj handed over the key. “Of course they aren’t. Have a restful sleep. We’ll see you come morning…if you survive.”
He pushed a button on the fob in his pocket, and thunder crashed through the hotel. It caused both the wife and mayor to jump. She laughed nervously while he clung tighter to her hand. “You got me good. This’ll be something else.”
Another terrified and satisfied customer. Raj beamed on the inside while wearing his ‘mysterious innkeeper’ face. The hope was that eventually they’d get someone better suited for this creepy job. But, for now, he’d work in a pinch. Happy with his timing, Raj bent over the huge book. With a quill dipped in red ink, he crossed out the Gundersons.
“How are we looking?” Logan had nearly bitten to the quick on three of his nails.
“That’s the last of them. They’re all in their rooms, snug as bugs. For now.”
“It’s nice to have one thing go right,” Logan muttered.
They’d turned off the bed-shaking for now. At least until they could figure out a way to get it to work without hurling anyone at a wall. They still had the lights and sound effects. A few closet doors were primed to open on their own. It’d be great. “If you’ve got this in hand, I should check on the progress of the haunt.”
There’d been tension between them since the incident at the festival. Logan had at least held off from chastising Raj like a disappointed teacher, but there’d been a lot of talk about skipping the haunt this year. Instead, Raj had sworn to buckle down. No more Halloween events, no teas with vampires, or spooky carriage rides with ghosts. He’d only focus on the hotel and haunt.
With the hotel in swing, Raj reached for his jacket just as Logan finished biting his pinkie nail off. “I don’t know if that’s a good idea.”
“Why? You can handle pushing a few buttons. If anyone is freaked out, we’ve got flashlights and the s’mores cart ready to go.”
“Maybe we should focus on this for tonight. The guys mentioned a dripping in the basement. What if that gets worse? We could flood the place.”
“There’s an old well down there. Just turn on the sump pump. Problem solved.” For every problem here, there were a dozen in the haunt. He needed to spend a few hours trying to get the props he’d spent thousands on to do anything other than stand there looking good.
That was a job Mr. Stein would excel at.
The thought came so quickly despite him not running into that infuriating man for nearly a week. He’d buckled down hard on the hotel and not once wondered what vest was wrapped around that lithe chest. There wasn’t time for any flights of fancy; he had a haunt to get up and running.
“Raj…” Logan pivoted to trail him walking for the door. “Why don’t we let it go this year? It’s already the tenth. There aren’t a lot of days left in October.”
“It’s the principle of the thing. We need to be known as the haunt and hotel. People should be so scared out of their wits that they have to stay the night.”
“How long until it’s up?”
He stared through space, doing his best to not contemplate how much it’d take to get everything running. It should be working by now, but one problem kept leading to another and another until half the power was out. “Soon,” Raj promised. “If anything goes wrong, I’ve got my phone on me.”
Logan dropped his hands and sighed. “I guess I’ll go work on the ballroom. Since we have to host a movie night tomorrow.”
