Price Hills Resort was an ambitious undertaking. The owners wanted to create a winter fun land for families. It was located between two major cities in the hilly landscape of southern Wisconsin. The Wisconsin Dells were a goldmine in the summertime, and Price Hills Resort would hopefully become as successful during the winter. The slopes would never rival anything the west had to offer, but it did provide more sedate runs for youngsters to learn to ski under the careful watch of their parents and the future staff of the hotel. Large indoor pools were being planned. All would depend on whether PEEPs could convince the rough and tumble ghosts to leave Price Hills Resort, where they had been scaring workers and staff alike with their violent activities.
The doors opened, and Burt began to pull out the large black containers with Ted. Mia was glad to give up her job as mover. She walked over and stared at what should have been a welcoming façade. Mia saw otherwise. The ground seemed to reject the stones that were placed on it. The landscape, although cleverly done, could not disguise that something evil lurked inside. She jumped as a hand fell on her shoulder.
“Sorry, you were so deep in thought that I don’t think you heard me tell you that Cid has pulled up. He’s concerned about Murphy,” Burt told her.
“I’ll go back down and help,” Mia said, turning away from the hotel. “Burt, that’s an evil place.”
“If it weren’t, they wouldn’t be paying us so much money to clear it,” he reasoned. “Mike has us situated in the new wing. Perhaps the evil has yet to permeate the new construction.”
“Permeate. My, your vocabulary has changed,” Mia observed. “I wish it didn’t raise goose bumps,” she confessed.
“I’ve been working on my script,” Burt admitted. “I thought this investigation needed a little more effort than, ‘We’re PEEPs. We’ve come to help.’”
Mia laughed. “We’ve come a long way since then,” she said. Mia turned around and stared once more at the hotel. “So they’re calling it Price Hills Resort Hotel? I don’t get it. To me, it just looks like another old house.”
Ted pulled the last box out, and Mia got back in the gondola and headed downward. This time she saw the magnificent view. She wondered if this was what it would feel like to fly.
“Flying is better,” Sariel said from behind her.
“How?”
“I have my ways.”
Mia looked into the visage of Sariel and was drawn into his blue on blue eyes for a moment. “Your eyes are so different.”
“They were made this way so I could see in all dimensions. My kin were here before the earth had form.”
“How long have you been here?”
“I don’t exactly know how to answer that…”
“I’m sorry, how long have you been here, right now, at Price Hills Resort?”
“I arrived seconds ago.”
“Should I be worried?”
He laughed. “It depends, are you going to throw rocks… Oh look, no rocks in here.” He laughed heartily. “Mia, I’ve come to apologize. I have no excuse. Please forgive my forwardness.”
“Will you take off this thing you’ve done to me?”
He looked at her oddly.
Mia turned beet red. “It’s not you then? Oh my word, I’m so embarrassed.”
“Can you explain?” he asked.
“I would be mortified. I can’t believe I discussed it with Murphy. Okay, let me turn around and say it quick.”
Sariel was very amused by Mia’s actions yet intrigued. “Go ahead.”
Mia put her back to him and blurted out, “I have been so aroused since you touched my chest. I assumed it was you causing my body to be craving sex all the time.”
He laughed but felt bad when he saw her shoulders stiffen. He walked over and turned her around. “Mia, I’m sorry. It may have been incidental contact. I was feeling aroused and must have transferred the feeling to you. Here, I am at peace.” He put his hand on her again and looked deep into Mia’s eyes and read her soul. It startled him how much in conflict she was. “Calm, be calm, take my peace and breathe, that’s my girl. Breathe slowly, feel the energy of the sun, yes…”
Mia managed to close her eyes to break the gaze. She no longer heard the echoes of her screams that followed her from her youth. She felt the ill will of Roumain being forced out of the corners of her mind where he had taken refuge. She felt the love of Ted with every brick he had placed to mend her mind. She couldn’t help the tears that began to fall, and she would have crumpled to the floor had Sariel not scooped her up and cradled her. Mia fell asleep.
“You poor tortured being. So alone, yet so loved.” He held her to him as if she were a child. He set her down, turned her around and lifted up her shirt. He traced her shoulder blades and saw the black feathers just under the surface. He hadn’t been too late. He plucked one of his own and held it against her soft skin until it moved inside of her body. “There, that should give you some control over your own fate,” he said. “No genetics are going to force you to make a decision before you are ready.”
He pulled her shirt back down and set her on the cushion of one of the observation seats before he woke her.
Mia opened her eyes to see the angel still looking at her. “I’m sorry, Sariel, I don’t know what came over me. The fatigue of the last few months has taken a toll, I imagine.”
“How do you feel?”
“Calm. Thank you. I’m sorry for the whole rock thing,” she said.
“But not the knee?”
“Oh no, you had that coming,” she said.
“I did. I was acting foolish. It happens from time to time. Mia, I don’t always play fair. It’s probably
