CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
My eyes fluttered open and I stared at an impossible face "J-James?"
He grinned. "Hello, my dear. Have you missed me? I know that I missed you."
It was too early. I had to be hallucinating. My brain was so full of fluff that it was trying to conjure something that would ease me.
"John… John, wake up. I think I'm going crazy," I hissed, nudging frantically at his shoulders. "John!"
He groaned, rubbing his eyes before opening them to gaze blearily at me. "What is it, Madison?"
Seeing the look of horror on my face, he turned and froze. "James?"
Alright, so I wasn't crazy. That was good to know, but that also didn't explain how he was right in front of us when we clearly saw him die.
"Why are you both looking at me like that?" he asked with a confused look on his face as if we were the strange ones.
"H-How are you alive?" I stuttered before quickly correcting myself. "I mean… Not alive alive, but… How are you here?! I saw you die! Again! That woman pushed you down the stairs. I heard your neck snap!"
He rubbed his neck. "Yes, that wasn't very pleasant. I would like to avoid that happening, again."
Pushing the sheets away, I threw myself into his arms. My knees were probably digging into John's ribs, but he was just going to have to deal with it, until I was ready to let our ghostly lover go.
James chuckled, happily holding me in his arms as I refused to let go of him. "Is there a reason you are blubbering all over my suit?"
"I thought I was never going to see you, again!" I sobbed into his shoulder.
"Get off, Madison!" John grumbled before eventually managing to wiggle away. "If you weren't fuckin' dead, again, then where were you? She's been crying all night!"
"Hey, I needed time to get back here," James argued. "You try dying! It's not fun and games for me, either."
It was then that he explained how spirits could still die, but they would wake up in a dark room before emerging somewhere in a broom closet. It was extremely undignifying for him, which didn't matter to me, at all. He could wake up in a trash bin and I'd still be happy.
I just needed him to be there with me in any place; any form. I wasn't complete without him, so I clung on to him like a baby koala. At random times of the day, he'd carry me naked around the suite when John had the kids at the park. They didn't need to see us like this.
"Mm… I like this," he groaned. "Makes up for missing the rest of my Hallowe'en Day."
I kissed up his neck before giving his ear a soft nip.
"I still would've preferred to never see you die," I scolded, brushing his hair back and pulling him into another kiss.
Suddenly, there was a knock on the door that made us freeze. Who could it be? Everyone knew better than to disturb us when we were in here and John would've sauntered in without even informing us, unless the kids were with him.
I unwrapped my legs around his waist and tried to wiggle away from his arms, but he held on tight, rubbing his moustache along my cheek, until I was squirming and giggling. "Ignore them. We have better things to do," he groaned.
"James!" I exclaimed, playfully pushing his face away.
The door clicked and someone walked in, causing me to freeze in horror, while James was unaffected as he continued to roam his hand around my body.
"Don't mind me! Don't mind me!" she stated, dusting at the lighting as if she hadn't just interrupted a very intimate moment.
James cleared his throat, reaching over to retrieve a blanket to wrap about my naked body. "Ms. Evers! What a pleasant surprise! We haven't seen you as of late. Have you been busy?"
I slinked away to find some clothes, while he continued to engage in the very awkward conversation. I really wished that he, too, would just cover himself a little.
What was she doing here after disappearing for so long and why did she think it was alright to just burst in here without receiving permission? True, she had done this a couple of times before when I was in the room, but it was really starting to get on my nerves that she was bold enough to carry on while we were clearly busy. It didn't help that I knew how enamoured she was with James.
"I heard you finally got rid of her," Ms. Evers said, while I threw James' clothes over to him. "It was about time. Her presence here had run its course."
"Ah, yes…" James nodded. "John did a good job there. I really should've had it done, sooner, but the moment had to be perfect."
"Of course! Nothing but the best for you, Mr. March," she laughed, ripping the bed sheets from the mattress as she did so.
Something about her actions didn't quite fit her tone of voice. In fact, her sudden reappearance was very suspicious to me. Where had she gone and why did she return, now? There had to be a reason.
"Come on, my dear. We shall allow her to clean. We will go to the dining room for supper," James murmured before turning back to Ms. Evers. "We'll be back in a couple of hours. I'm sure you'll be done by then?"
"Most certainly! Have a good dinner! Call me if you need anything – anything, at all!" She waved rather joyously at us.
If James didn't find anything peculiar about this, I was really going to have to start questioning his intelligence. When I mentioned it to him, he shot me a look.
"Why the Hell did you think I got us out of there?" he exclaimed in the elevator. "I've done some nasty things, but that was more than I could handle! I'd prefer it more if it was John in that maid outfit watching us!"
I rolled my eyes. I really didn't want to see my brother in that old, rumple dress.
After dinner, it was fortunate that Ms. Evers was already gone. That was good. I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to handle anymore of her, today.
I told John about what happened when he brought the kids back. Like me, he found the encounter highly unusual and was going to have to look into it, but what could he really find? It wasn't as if he could just search up her criminal record and have a list of all her infractions.
Even if I didn't quite trust my own judgment, I definitely trusted John. He still had his detective instincts and it had rarely led him astray. That was… barring all the murders and marrying Alex, of course. I still wasn't quite sure how that happened.
A few days later, we found nothing strange. Ms. Evers continued to stroll in at three in the afternoon every day like clockwork and would leave an hour later with a cheerful look on her face.
James had tried to reassure me that everything was fine and that she was probably just in a strange mood, but I was still on guard.
I watched her clean every furniture and reorganise anything that seemed remotely out of place. I even watched her in the small kitchen corner, wondering if she was going to poison any of the products, but nothing. She did nothing but clean and then, leave with a happy declaration.
"Hey, Madi…" James appeared out of nowhere in front of me. 'You know that weird thing you did after draining the weirdo witch bitch?"
"Not really… I mean, I know that somehow, I had broken the windows, but nothing unusual has happened since then," I told him, looking down at my hands as if it could somehow give me the answers that I didn't have.
"Maybe we can do something fun with it," he suggested with a mischievous grin on his face.
"Like I said, I don't think it's going to happen, again." I really didn't want to know exactly what fun he thought I would be able to do with shattering windows.
Unfortunately, he was not easily deterred. He nagged and nagged, until I let out a sigh and agreed to go with him on to the roof where he made me do random hand motions like a stupid magician.
"Just say it, Madi," he urged.
"No, James. This is stupid," I groaned, dropping on to the floor to stare aimlessly at the clouds.
"Madi…"
Clenching my eye shut in frustration, I eventually gave in because it was easier and waved my hands around. "Abra kedabra alakazam!"
We waited five whole seconds.
"I told you it's not going to work!" I cried. "Can we just lay here and do nothing? I'm feeling lazy. I don't want to do anything right now."
"You guys are pathetic!"
I was on my feet in a split second and readied myself for an attack, but the dark-skinned woman didn't appear to be in an aggressive mood, today.
"Calm down," she scoffed. "I can't kill you, obviously." She gestured to James. "And I don't really want to kill you." She looked at me. "So I'm just going to have to deal with being stuck here in this stupid hotel. It's so fuckin' old and fuckin' stinks! I better have a nice room to myself with full room service. If I do, I'll help you control the powers you got from me."
I shared a look with James before shrugging. It wasn't as if the rooms were ever full and the ghosts tend to do whatever they wanted, anyway.
I nodded at her. "So what's your name? I'm Madison Lowe."
"You married? You have a new last name," she pointed out, making me frown.
"No, I was born with this name," I told her. She kept implying as if she somehow knew us, but I had never seen her before.
Giving me a strange look, she decided not to pursue the subject. Instead, she finally gave me her name – Queenie – and went on about these "powers" I had obtained after consuming her blood.
"Alright, so first, you have to clear your mind," she started.
I listened intently to what she had to say and after hours of doing random things that nearly made me fall asleep, I somehow managed to make little sparks of fire with my hands. Well… Sparks of fire may have been a bit of an overstatement. It was more like a wisp of smoke that clung on to my clothes and made me smell like a smoker.
"Wow… You're fuckin' horrible," she snickered.
"Shut up," I mumbled, ignoring James who also seemed to be having a jolly at my expense.
There were many days spent where Queenie tried to teach me magic, but I wasn't particularly talented at it. It was as if the stolen powers wanted nothing to do with me, so when she suggested I try her voodoo tricks and stab myself in the hand, I adamantly refused.
The likelihood was that I was going to hit an artery and bleed out. Then, James was going to go on another guest to give me a slew of blood from whatever human guests were left in the hotel.
"Whatever… Get me cabled TV and I'll try to see if anything can be done about your incompetence." She smirked at me before disappearing.
I sighed. I wasn't sure if this was ever going to work out, but if I could control even a fraction of the power, it would be nice.
When I returned to my room, I spotted James with Holden in his lap. To say the least, he was not looking happy, at all.
"Get off!" he grumbled, gently pushing the boy off who remained compliant for all of two minutes. 'Stop it. I said, get off!" The cycle continued, until I couldn't handle it anymore.
I walked up to him and picked up Holden from his lap.
"Auntie Madi!" he cried, vibrating with energy only a child like him would have. "Look what I made!" He thrust a block figure, which had one leg longer than the other, in front of my face.
"Looks good." I grinned at him. "Have you been having fun with Uncle James?"
He nodded happily. "He got me ice cream with chocolate syrup and sprinkles!"
James glared at him as I lifted an eyebrow. "Oh? Did he? After I told him that there will be no more sweets after six?"
Holden nodded, again.
"Well, I'll need to have a good talk with Uncle James. He should know better by now. What if you lose all your teeth? You wouldn't want that, would you?" I bounced him in my lap.
He shook his head. "But daddy gives us ice cream before bed!"
Ah… The things one can learn from children's inability to filter anything.
"Still?" These men were really trying to drive me mad. "I will have a word with daddy, too. No more sweets."
He let out a high pitch whine.
"Now, it's time for you to brush your teeth and get ready for bed," I told him, dropping him off in the bathroom.
I sighed, walking back to James who had a sheepish look on his face. "Ice cream?"
"It's still up here." He gestured to the small cardboard container on the counter. "I'm sure we can think of a few things to do with it." He placed his hand on my thigh and gave it a firm squeeze.
I brushed his hand off. "Not until all the kids are asleep and no more ice cream for them before bed!"
He, of course, eagerly agreed, while sidling up closer.
It was going to be another one of those nights…
For the next few days, strange things started happening. They were little things at first. Objects were misplaced, some were missing. Many were items that James had given me and although I was going to miss them, they were replaceable. It soon became things that were a little more dire. T He kids would disappear for a few hours and no one seemed to know where they had gone.
Every time, I'd panic, wondering if Alex had taken them, again, but they'd return shortly after with grnis on their faces.
Whenever I asked where they had gone, they told me that a kind lady played with them. They couldn't tell me a name or anything too specific about her because it was part of their "secret mission."
"Scarlett, we have to know who this mystery woman is. Do you remember what happened the last time you left without telling any of us?" I gently asked her. It didn't give me any joy to bring up that day. I knew how distraught she had been afterwards, but it was necessary for her safety. I couldn't allow anyone with malicious intents spending time with them and having the chance to take them away.
She looked down with a small pout on her face. "But she said I won't be able to play anymore if I tell anyone."
"Come on, sweetheart. DO you really want to play with someone who is trying to make you lie to your parents?" I don't know when I actually began to think of myself as their mother, but it seemed appropriate, now.
Eventually, she spilled, despite Holden's protests on the side. John caught him before he could run off.
"It's a lady with red hair," she replied. "She said we could call her Auntie Hazel."
Both men looked at me with frowns on their faces.
"It's Ms. Evers," they stated in unison.
AUTHOR'S NOTE
Not really a cliffhanger, this time! I decided to be a good girl!
Also… I can't seem to digest sugar-free chocolates… I bought one 'cause it was near where I was working and I was craving sweets… Biiigggesssttt mistake of my liiiife!
Thank you Brookie Twiling, BOOdalinski, guests (Guest and anonymouscsifan) for reviewing!
Brookie Twiling: Thank you so much for pointing them out! I really need to stop working on these at 3am… I'm also not sure if it should be grind or grinded there xD Grinded sounds so strange to me… Aaaaand James isn't actually gone! No worries there. He just went into that strange in between before coming back. Don't be angry with meeeeee~! Teehee… There may be other reasons for that later on.
BOOdalinski: Three-person-couple! HAHAHA! I wouldn't be surprised if Alex attacked James because she had caught him with John in a very compromising position some chapters ago. No butt whooping, yet, but sooooon!
Guest: Jealous James is so fun to write! I will also love writing James, John, and Madi together. Probably more to come.
anonymouscsifan: I keep changing my mind on how I want to connect everything, especially since I'm thinking of discontinuing "V." Maybe I'll get the inspiration to write that again and really give the background story to everything that is missing to keep this one coherent series.
Thank you as well to everyone who has favourited and followed this story!
Edited: Thank you Brookie Twiling for pointing out where I need to edit some more!