Hello all. Shorter than the usual chapter but this past month has been hectic. A quick thank you to everyone who provided feedback. Enjoy the chapter.
2:40 PM
He lied.
Thorn heard the lights shatter, yet did nothing to prevent the glass shower from hitting her. And when it did hit her, she hardly felt it.
He lied.
Her face reddened and her breathing hastened. She could barely stand, yet she remained fixated on the foreman's phone.
He lied.
Thorn heard Luna's voice, though what she said was unclear. Moreso on instinct than anything else, Thorn broke her gaze on the phone and turned to her friend. "I should've believed you."
Thorn turned away from Luna, her eyes teary. She barely took a step down the hall when she was overcome by the strongest sense of magic she ever felt. Yet unlike before, she did nothing to stop herself from unleashing her magic.
He lied.
The slam of the security room's door shook the hallway, rattling the other doors and windows of the hall. Another overhead light burst. A stack of two-by-fours shook before launching into the air and impaling themselves into the ceiling. A jackhammer turned on, tearing up the carpet and floor before sparks of electricity buzzed around it. As Thorn passed it, it burst into flames and fell to the ground.
"Thorn!"
Luna called her name, likely an attempt to stop her from doing whatever she was about to do. And in a fleeting moment of clarity, Thorn stopped just before she reached the end of the hallway. Calm down. This isn't the right thing to do. Just….
"Hey! Thorn! Luna! Are you two all right?"
Thorn grimaced, and she clenched her hands upon hearing Brian's voice.
He lied.
She rounded the corner and came upon the two wooden swing doors that separated her from the source of the dangerous concoction of anger, sadness, and disappointment swirling around in her mind. The doors flung open, and she entered the lobby.
The sight of Dusk, Fred, and Brian beneath the now hoisted cage jumping from the sudden bang of the door greeted her.
"YOU FUCKING LIAR!" Thorn shouted, glaring at Brian with teary eyes.
"What?" Brian asked with a confused expression.
"You're a goddamn liar!" Thorn shouted. "The foreman never called you!"
Dusk drew her knife and jumped to Thorn's side. "Fucking cultist," she snarled.
"Huh, what's going on?" Fred innocently asked, scratching his head.
"I have no idea what they're talking about," Brian said, shaking his head and slowly backing away from Thorn.
"Liar!" Thorn shouted. She glanced at the cage dangling above Brian. There was a loud mechanical buzz, and the cage came crashing down in a loud thud, trapping Brian.
"What the hell!" Brian gasped, grabbing the bars of the cage. "Fred, get me out of here!"
"Uh, it's not responding," Fred stuttered as he repeatedly pressed a button on a remote-like device he removed from his pocket. "I don't know what's happening. It's never malfunctioned before!"
Brian grunted and glared at Thorn. "Fred, don't bother trying to free me, she won't let you."
Thorn grimaced as she and Brian locked eyes. His dark blue eyes were difficult to read, and Thorn couldn't determine his motives. Yet there was something hidden just beneath the surface. He knew more than he let on, and Thorn was determined to learn the truth.
"Who are you, Brian, if that's even your real name!" Thorn shouted. "I know you lied about the foreman calling you; Luna and I found his phone!"
Almost on cue, Luna joined them, and she held out the phone for everyone to see. Thorn expected Brian to acknowledge Luna or the phone, but he remained fixated on her and said nothing.
"Who the hell are you, and why are you here!" Thorn shouted between sniffles, hitting the cage. "And you better not fucking lie to me!"
"I can ask you the same questions," Brian replied, calm and collected as usual. "The only difference is that I know those answers, and you don't."
"The fuck kind of response was that?" Dusk yelled, and she pointed her dagger at Brian.
Thorn grunted. "No tricks!"
An overhead light burst and the cage rattled. Luna, Dusk, and Fred raised their arms to shield themselves from the shower of glass. Brian merely looked at Thorn and smiled.
"This isn't a fucking game!" Thorn shouted, a few tears rolling down her face. "Tell me the truth!"
Brian sighed and finally broke eye contact with Thorn by staring at the ground. "Okay," he quietly said, almost whisper-like as he looked back at Thorn. Instead of coldness and mystery, she only saw sadness in his eyes. "You're right, the foreman never called me."
Fred gasped. Dusk raised her knife and cursed at Brian. Luna crossed her arms and said she knew it all along. But Thorn was quiet and at a loss of words, her anger momentarily subdued by a strange mix of pity and sadness.
"The truth is I've been staking out the hotel for several weeks," Brian continued in an almost whisper-like tone. "My friend on the construction crew told me there was a walk-out this morning and that the hotel was empty, so I took the chance to search the place."
"What are you looking for?" Thorn questioned.
"I don't know," Brian sighed. "About a month ago, I found some of my father's notes, and in them, he mentioned a ritual at the Regal Hotel. It was the first real lead I found in years, and I thought maybe I could find something or someone that could tell me what happened to him."
"What happened to your dad?" Fred asked.
"He left him," Thorn answered, recalling what Brian had told her earlier when they went to find the foreman.
Brian gave a slow nod. "When I was seven. It was right after he met with some strange masked people."
"So he's a cultist," Luna accused. "And you must be one, too."
Brian shook his head and scoffed. "He might've been, but I'm not, and I don't exactly think fondly of those people since they ruined my family."
There was a long silence as each of them processed what Brian said, and Thorn felt her magic weaken. Please be telling the truth. His story checked out with what he told her earlier though Thorn noted that he didn't fully accept his dad's disappearance like he said he did. And she understood that. She told herself that she accepted her mother's death and moved, yet she still clung to the ideals her mother instilled in her, never letting them go. Admitting that to a stranger was risky, assuming the person in question consciously knew that issue affected them.
"I don't believe this sob story," Luna said, shaking her head. "He's lied before; nothing is stopping him from lying again."
Thorn winced, and her magic strengthened. Luna had a point; he could be lying or withholding crucial details.
"What's your dad's name?" Luna questioned.
"Andrew Kent," Brian answered.
I've heard that name before. Thorn tried to recall where she heard of Andrew Kent, but the memory escaped her.
"Your dad is Andrew Kent? As in the inventor of the Kent Timed SpringTrap?" Fred exclaimed.
The Hex Girls collectively gasped upon learning that Fred recognized Andrew Kent.
Brian nodded and smiled. "Yes, that's him! I remember getting caught in that trap a couple of years before he disappeared."
"So this Andrew Kent guy is legit?" Dusk asked.
"Yeah," Fred replied with a nod. "He also wrote some interesting books on debunking the paranormal and paranormal investigating. I think Velma owns all of his published works."
Thorn's eyes widened. That's where I heard that name! I read one of his books, Ghosts and Hoaxes: The Fraud-ridden History of the Paranormal, a couple of years ago. I think I let Luna borrow it. I'm surprised she didn't recognize the name.
"Did he actually disappear?" Luna asked Fred, though she glared at Brian.
Fred nodded. "He stopped publishing about twenty years ago and hasn't been heard from since. Nobody knows what happened to him."
Thorn shot a glance at Brian. He smiled, no doubt eager and hopeful to re-earn their trust and escape the cage now that Fred provided evidence to support his story, though Thorn saw a hint of sadness and sorrow in Brian that he couldn't hide. He's telling the truth.
"Did Andrew Kent have a son?" Luna asked, still glaring at Brian.
"I don't know," Fred answered. "He never mentioned his family life."
"My mom always told me he kept his private life separate from his work life," Brian explained. "He barely mentioned my mom and me in his autobiography." Brian sighed and turned to Thorn. "So, can you let me out now?"
Thorn hesitated and ignored the confused look Fred gave her. Even though she believed him, something was still off about Brian, like there was something he wasn't telling them. "Why'd you lie to us?" Thorn finally asked. "If you'd been upfront with us, we could've helped each other and avoided the distrust."
"Cause I didn't know you, and I didn't expect to see anyone else here. Plus given who built this hotel, I thought it'd be safer if I kept my motivations hidden," he replied, sighing as he took a step back. "Though to be honest, I wanted to tell you the truth, and I even told you about my dad to see how you reacted. When you reacted with kindness, I planned to tell you everything." He stopped, and then to Thorn's surprise, he shook his head and laughed. "But then I learned that you've been lying to me since the moment we met."
"What are you talking about?" Thorn gasped, her face reddening. "We never lied to you."
Brian laughed louder. "You just did, again, Thorn. Or should I call you Sally?" He looked at Dusk and Luna. "Jane, Kimberly, any lies you wanna add?"
Thorn winced at the mention of her birth name. She attempted to say something, but all managed to get out was a murmur. She quickly looked to her friends for guidance, but both Dusk and Luna nervously glanced at her.
"Well, complete silence isn't the response I expected from the Hex Girls," Brian chuckled.
"You know?" Thorn stammered.
"Of course I do," Brian replied with a smirk. "You all introduced yourselves by your stage names. Not your brightest moment, huh?"
Thorn momentarily grimaced as she mentally kicked herself for making that mistake and not preparing for that fallout.
"Admittedly, I never heard of your band before now, so you got away with that," Brian conceded. "But while you three were having your little conversation outside the security room after we saw the footage of Mr. Kurtz, I decided to look your names up online. Who knew I was running around a haunted hotel with the Hex Girls." He paused. "There's lots of interesting news about you three; you were kidnapped by vampires and were some of the last people to see the missing author Ben Ravencroft."
"What's your point?" Dusk grunted as she took a step closer to the cage with her knife raised.
Brian rolled his eyes at Dusk, unfazed by her threatening behavior. "Well, I wanna know what else you're hiding from me." He turned to Thorn and sighed. "Why are you here?"
It was Thorn's turn to sigh. "We heard that the hotel was haunted and wanted to check it out privately. No paparazzi or over-excited fans." She felt her magic lesson, and her magic hold on the cage weakened, though she couldn't tell if her magic weakened due to her lie or learning that Brian never trusted them.
Brian nodded. "That's what I initially thought once I learned who you were. I convinced myself that was the reason for your evasive behavior that I kept my thoughts about this to myself; a poor decision on my part." He frowned and pointed at the room behind the receptionist's desk. "But then that happened, and all my suspicions about you three came rushing back." He locked eyes with Thorn and grimaced. "You're lying."
Thorn grunted. She hated what she was doing; it made her feel like Matella or Ben Ravencroft. She wanted to tell him she wasn't lying. "You don't understand," she managed to say.
Brian laughed. "Oh, I understand. Not only did I help you with whatever you're trying to do but I opened up to you, more than I should've, and came clean with you. And in return, all you did was continue to lie to me and trap me in a goddamn cage!"
"That's not what happened," Thorn began. She clenched her fist and shook her head. "I just can't explain…."
Brian rolled his eyes and turned his back to her. "Go fuck yourself, Thorn."
Thorn gritted her teeth and held back the strengthening magic she felt crashing against her, and what probably would've been an explosive magical incident only resulted in the cage shaking. While she hated getting insulted, she sympathized with his rage. She was in his spot less than a week ago at the Fallen's temple. She wanted to kill Matella for the very thing she was doing to Brian, and to a lesser extent, Fred. She couldn't punish him for that.
"Hey, that's a lot of smack coming from a guy trapped in a cage!" Dusk shouted, breaking Thorn from her thoughts.
Brian turned around and faced Dusk. "Oh, you can go fuck yourself, too."
Dusk grunted and charged the cage. She thrust her dagger at Brian, but Brian stepped back and avoided the stab, and the cage prevented Dusk from reaching him.
"Fuck you, you fucking cultist!" Dusk snarled as Luna and Fred pulled her back from the cage, still slashing the air in front of the cage with her dagger.
"Dusk, relax," Thorn ordered, raising her hand.
Dusk grunted but stopped swinging the dagger.
"Oh, it's not time to kill me," Brian said, almost disappointingly. "I suppose you still need stuff for the ritual."
"What do you mean?" Thorn asked, her voice filled with concern.
"Nothing," Brian said as he walked to the other front of the cage. "It's just odd that I'm with the Hex Girls, a very popular band, and Fred Jones of the incredibly famous Mystery Incorporated at a hotel allegedly built by cultists who recruited the famous and influential."
"Are you implying that we're cultists!" Luna grunted.
Brian shrugged as he turned to Fred. "With all your experience and knowledge on monster hoaxes, I'm sure you and the rest of the gang could fabricate your own hoax. Like, say, a fake ghost and a fake cloaked monster. Would work to scare away, or unfortunately in the case of Mr. Kurtz, kill, any threats. I could see why a shady group would recruit you guys."
"What?" Fred gasped. "We'd never do something like that."
"Perhaps not your own accord," Brian said as he made eye contact with Thorn. "But you have wealthy friends who could hire you. Or manipulate you. Or enchant you. Friends you've worked with on cases in Australia, Transylvania, and Massachusetts. Friends who, along with yourself, reported the disappearance of Ben Ravencroft, who had previously met with the occultist Alexander Levre, an admitted cult member. Friends with a witchy gimmick that may be more than just a gimmick."
"Fred and the gang are innocent," Thorn defended. She noticed herself flinching from Brian's last accusation.
"So you're the mastermind behind all this," Brian said. "I should've seen that one coming."
"No, I'm not in charge of anyone," Thorn hastily replied.
"I don't know about that," Brian said. "You have everyone at your beck and call, myself included at one point."
Thorn shook her head. "I didn't make anyone come here or do anything else they didn't want to do."
"Whatever," Brian said with a shrug. "Everything still points to you being behind this, Thorn." He smirked. "I know what you are and about the power you possess."
"Then say it," Thorn dared. "Tell me what I am."
With an unsteady hand, Thorn brushed her bangs aside and fidgeted as Brian stood in silence. Brian pulled his necklace and gripped the silver sigil, and Thorn found herself reaching into her pocket and grabbing the plastic sigil he gave her.
Brian scoffed and then broke eye contact with Thorn when he glanced at Fred. "Fred, what do you know about Thorn?"
"Um, she's the guitarist and lead singer for the Hex Girls," Fred replied, scratching the back of his head.
"What else? I know you and the gang met her several times," Brian goaded.
"Um, she's part Wiccan," Fred answered.
"Closer," Brian said as he looked back at Thorn. "Do you know why your trap malfunctioned and caught me?"
Fred nervously glanced at Thorn. "I, uh, don't know."
Fred was in Oakhaven and saw her seal Sarah and Ben into the book; he knew about Thorn's magic, albeit his knowledge was limited, and was no doubt smart enough to figure out what Brian was implying. Why are you covering for me?
Brian sighed. "I hoped you were the only honest soul here, but I guess only liars visit the Regal Hotel." He paused, closing his eyes for a moment before resuming. "I'll ask again, why did your trap malfunction?"
"I, uh," he stuttered.
"I jammed it," Luna abruptly stated.
Brian glared at her. "Is that so?"
"Yes. My phone emitted a signal that disabled Fred's remote," Luna falsely explained. "I didn't trust you, so I sabotaged the trap to catch and question you." She glanced at Fred. "Fred didn't know about this; he's innocent of any wrongdoings."
"Luna," Thorn muttered, but Luna raised a hand and cut her off.
Brian grimaced and hit the cage with his fist. "Goddamnit!" he shouted. He glared at Thorn. "Just admit to what you are! Admit this all your fault! Stop lying and tell the truth!" He put his head against the bars of the cage, gripping the sigil tightly. "Just admit that your people, your kind, took my dad away!"
He dropped to his knees and sobbed. Thorn sighed and lowered her head. She saw herself in the bathtub tripping on Woodrose, clutching her ruby necklace, crying, and missing her mother. Nobody deserved that pain.
Thorn knelt next to Brian. "I know I haven't been open with you, Brian, but I'll change that." She sighed. "When I was five, someone took my mother away from my dad and me. For a long time, I thought I had moved on, but I didn't. And with what I'm doing, I'm terrified of losing what's left of her." She stopped and sighed again, not sure if she was about to address Brian or herself. "But as much as we want to, we can't keep clinging onto the past. The past is gone; all we can do is learn from it and accept that it's gone, otherwise, we hurt ourselves and those we care about."
Brian wiped his face as he looked up at her. "What of your mother's are you afraid of losing?"
Thorn hesitated for a moment before answering, wiping her own teary eyes. "Her ideals and beliefs. I adopted them long ago to preserve her memory, and they've become a large part of who I am."
Brian nodded. "I see." He sniffled as he wiped his eyes, removing the last traces of tears. "You're afraid of losing yourself."
Thorn was silent. That was it, her entire dilemma. Her fears of becoming a monster and hurting others and of disgracing and abandoning her inherited Wiccan beliefs were all summed up in five words. Even the others seemed to understand this as Thorn noticed Dusk, Luna, and Fred watching her, eagerly awaiting her answer. And like throwing off a heavy weight, she finally answered.
"Yes," she simply said in a whisper-like voice.
Brian nodded and stood up, and Thorn did the same a few moments later.
"You're not a cultist, are you?" Brian said.
Thorn shook her head. "No, we're not."
Brian briefly glanced at each person outside the cage before walking to the back of the cage. "I'm sorry for accusing you all of being cultists."
"It's alright," Fred said. "I understand why you thought that."
Dusk and Luna were silent and looked at Thorn. Thorn sighed. She knew her bandmates weren't as willing to forgive Brian as Fred was. She didn't blame them, after all, Brian did lie to them, even if he was doing it to protect himself from possible danger.
"Why'd you stick around if you thought we were cultists?" Luna asked, perhaps one last try at disproving Brian's story.
"I thought that if I feigned ignorance and helped out, maybe I'd learn something about my father from you three," Brian answered.
Luna crossed her arms but said nothing. Dusk did the same.
"Well?" Luna said to Thorn, gesturing to Brian. "What do we do about him?"
"Do we let him go?" Dusk asked.
"Um," Thorn began. She wanted to free him, but she didn't want to anger Dusk and Luna. But Brian's knowledge of the cult was useful. Plus, Thorn felt guilty about continuing to lie to him.
CRASH!
Everyone looked at the floor. Something large, like a massive stack of boxes or a piece of furniture, fell over in a tumultuous uproar. There were some muffled shouts and then nothing.
"You'll need this cage to trap the ghost or whoever is downstairs," Brian said.
With everything that went down with Brian, Thorn had nearly forgotten about the ghost guarding the treasure and the unknown people in the basement, not to mention the cloaked figure lurking somewhere in the hotel.
"He's right," Fred said with a nod. "We'll need the cage."
Dusk and Luna frowned but said nothing. Thorn glanced at the mechanical device on the roof, and she felt her magic dissipate. The device emitted a loud buzz, and Fred pressed the button on the remote. The device pulled the rope and hoisted the cage into the air, freeing Brian.
"I understand if you don't want to, but will you help us trap these monsters?" Thorn asked Brian before he could potentially leave.
Brian rubbed his chin. "Hmm, I probably shouldn't, but now I wanna know where this all goes and learn what your endgame is. I'll help."
"Then let's catch a ghost," Thorn said, and they regrouped to discuss Fred's original plan.