Cyryl handed her a sweatshirt. She pulled it over her soiled clothes. “Thank you, I was freezing.”
Mia lost track of Ray for a moment.
The lights went on.
“Oh my god, the lights are back on,” she said. “How about the phones?” she asked.
Carl lifted the receiver and shook his head. “It’s typical for these parts. The phones will be out for a few days.”
Mia raised her cell phone and frowned. “I can’t get any bars.”
Ray reappeared and gently took her phone from her. “Honey, your phone is out of charge. Let old Ray help you out. Do you have your charger?”
“It’s back in my room.”
“Why don’t the two of us go and…”
“Ahem,” Cyryl said. “We’ll all go. Now we have lights, we can search the place for the little lady. Did you know I grew up in that house?”
“I thought it was hotel.”
“No, that’s what the Price Corporation did to my home. It was a large old house that my family built. It started out a small house, and they added on when they hit it big. It used to have entrances to the mine under the wing that houses the bar and the expensive suites.”
“I don’t understand?” Mia said, acting confused.
“My ancestors were miners.”
“Goldminers?” Mia asked.
“No, copper.”
“Like pennies?”
“Yes.”
“Why did they stop?” she asked as Cyryl led her outside.
“The copper played out. Then they cut the lumber from the hillside and sold that until it was gone. Finally, my grandpa had the idea of having a ski run here. The house was expanded again, and I guess it was a hotel for a while.”
Mia stopped, looked up at the hotel, and shrieked.
“Child, what is the matter?” Cyryl asked, annoyed.
Mia pointed to the upper story of the older part of the house. Silhouetted behind a curtain was a man. He stood there a minute and then vanished.
Ray pulled his gun out and went running inside.
“Maybe it’s one of your friends,” Carl said.
“Do you think so?” Mia asked, trembling. “I’ve got to go and find them.”
“You stay with me,” Cyryl instructed. “I’ll keep you safe.”
“How could I have been so wrong about you?” Mia lied. She clung to his arm.
Cyryl was getting tired of being the woman’s protector. Maybe he ought to let the boys have fun with her. That should drive her over the edge. But still, he couldn’t have that, no matter what an annoyance she was becoming. His mother raised a gentleman, and that was that.
~
Ray took the stairs two at a time. He walked down the hall, checking the doors of the rooms on the front side of the building. All of them were locked. He estimated which room had had the figure in it. He used the passkey and let himself into the room. It was a suite that hadn’t been refurbished yet. The room was clean of dust, but nothing could mask the smell of aging draperies and carpets. He walked over to the window but didn’t see anything amiss. He looked down at the trio and shook his head. The woman began pointing at him, jumping up and down.
He turned around and faced a madman holding an axe!
“You buried us alive!” the madman screamed and swung his axe towards Ray.
Ray shot off a round, but still the man kept coming.
“You’re not real,” he said, backing up.
“You buried us alive!” the ghost repeated. “All Nowickis must die!”
“I’m not a Nowicki,” he said, twisting to the side, the axe just missing him. Ray ran out of the room and down the hall.
Murphy could have easily unarmed the man and probably dispatched him too, but there was a plan in place, and he’d promised to do his part.
Ray burst out of the hotel shouting, “The place is haunted!”
Cyryl, amused by the guard’s playacting, said, “That’s why the Corporation invited Mia and her friends here.”
“You’re not listening to me,” Ray said, pulling Mia off of Cyryl’s arm. “You stand there,” he ordered Mia.
He pulled Cyryl out of, what he hoped was, earshot and told him of the axe-carrying man and his threats. “I wouldn’t be you for a million dollars,” he said.
“You’re spouting nonsense,” Cyryl insisted. “Remember the plan. We drive the woman mad and…”
The front door crashed open. There, standing, backlit by the lobby lights, were two dust-covered men and a boy. They had their arms out. One of them shouted, “Nowicki!”
Carl went for his gun, but two of the three disappeared before he could get a shot off. He fired repeatedly at the lone ghost. The ghost just stood there.
“It’s a trick, you moron,” Cyryl said. “Watch. I’m going to walk up to this hologram and,” he said, closing the distance between himself and the man raising his axe, “walk…” He stopped talking as he connected with something icy cold.
The ghost growled at him, “Nowicki, now you die!”
Cyryl dropped his rifle and turned tail and ran.
Mia picked up a few rocks with her mind and threw them at the running man. One hit him with such force that it knocked the legs out from under him.
“What the hell is going on?” she screamed, pulling at her hair, looking wild-eyed at the guards.
Ray screamed as he felt something move up his trouser leg. “Get it off me!” he said, lowering his gun and firing at the rising in his pant leg. “Argh!”
“You idiot, you just shot yourself!” Carl said, taking the gun from Ray and tucking it at his back. “You,” he ordered, “get me something…” He stopped speaking. The woman was hanging upside down, her mouth frozen open in a silent scream. “What the hell is happening?”
Mia choked out a few words, “Demon… ghost… blood…” before she passed out. Carl and Ray watched as whatever had ahold of her dragged her off into the darkness.
There was
