Here's chapter 4. Hope some of you like it enough to REVIEW!!
The tour came to an end and everyone was back in the lobby. Anya still sat at her desk but was no longer working, only looking over at Xander.
"Well, that's the end of the official Hyperion Hotel tour. If anyone needs any more history, I will be more than happy to assist," Andrew told them.
"What about the ghosts?" Faith asked him. Andrew looked nervous and tried to look like he didn't hear her. "Listen tour guide, you said you'd answer any questions we had and I wanna know about the ghosts."
"There are no ghosts here at the Hyperion," a voice said. Everyone turned to the front doors and saw Lorne Green standing at the top of the steps, a fake grin on his face. Andrew took that opportunity to head over to the front desk and away from Faith and her questions.
"But Mr. Finn said he saw one," Buffy pointed out. Lorne chuckled and waved that thought away with his hand.
"Nonsense. Mr. Finn likes to play jokes on people. But I assure you, Mr. Finn saw no ghost. I don't know who but this silly idea in your heads, but that's exactly what it is. Silly. Now, why don't you all gather your luggage and head up to your rooms. I can get Jonathan to help anyone who needs it," he said. "So what do you think? Is she a beauty or what?"
Wesley, seeming to attack Lorne's comment with some sarcasm of his own said, "Yes, it's a wonderful hotel. Especially since there are no ghosts."
Lorne gazed over at the British man. Wesley picked up his suitcases and walked toward the elevators. Before getting inside one, he turned around. "I'm curious as to why Andrew was so afraid to answer Faith's question? Was it fear from letting something slip?" He walked into the elevator, disappearing from view when it closed. Everyone looked over at Lorne for a response.
Lorne just sighed and shook his head. He walked down the two steps and onto the main floor. The eleven other contestants saw this as a change to just leave Mr. Green be. He obviously wanted to not add to Wesley's comments. Did that mean the story was not true? The only way to know for sure was if they came face to face with the ghosts themselves. Until then, they had every reason to believe the ghosts of the O'Riley teens were just stories.
"I'm going to go unpack now," Fred said aloud, gathering her luggage and trotting up the carpeted stairs. Willow and Tara came up after her, each with their own share of luggage to carry.
"Yeah, the sooner I unpack, the sooner I can get into that pool," Buffy said. Faith nodded.
"Got that right girlfriend," she quipped. Spike gathered his bags and walked up to Buffy.
"Want some help?" he asked her. Buffy smiled softly at the bleached guitarist and nodded.
"Yes, thank you for offering." The two of them went over to the elevators and immediately started talking. Giles, who had remained almost silent and observant, followed the two blondes.
Cordelia looked over at Angel and smirked. She picked up her suitcase and pretended to strain. "Oh man, I think I just pulled a muscle. Hey Angel, can you give me a hand?"
Angel looked over at the tall brunette and nodded. He picked up her suitcase with ease and smiled. "Too heavy for you?" he asked. Cordelia nodded.
"Just a little," she replied.
"Then let me help you with this stuff," he offered. Cordelia nodded and the two of them walked over to the elevator. Gunn and Xander were talking about a recent action movie they had both seen as the followed Cordelia and Angel.
Faith, the only one left standing in the middle of the lobby, looked over at Lorne. He was quietly walking to someone on his cell. Sighing, she picked up her bags and walked to the elevator.
She had felt the same way as Wesley. Something was up, and Mr. Green didn't want them snooping into it. She had a feeling the British bookstore owner would start looking into it as soon as he was unpacked.
And she had the strongest desire to help him.
The second floor was occupied by Faith, Cordelia, and Xander. Angel, Tara, and Willow had the whole third floor. Wesley, Buffy, and Fred had the fourth floor, and the fifth floor was used by Gunn, Giles, and Spike. All the currently working employees filled the sixth and final floor.
Faith took the elevator up to the fourth floor. She rushed while unpacking so she could get here quickly. When she got to room 416, she knocked loudly and waited.
Wesley opened the door and was shocked to find Faith there. "Faith? What are-"
"Can I come in?" she asked. Wesley looked out into the hallway before finally ushering her inside.
The first thing that Faith noticed when she walked in were the books. There was at least a dozen, maybe more, books scattered near or on the desk. Wesley closed the door and cleared his throat.
"Not that I mind, but why are you here?" he asked her. Faith sat at the desk chair and looked over at the books. She was right, he was looking into the ghosts already.
"I think you're right and I wanna help you," she said. Wesley looked at her and sat down on his bed. "What you said down there to Lorne, I agree with it."
"Do you?" he asked. "What makes so sure I'm right? Just because I specialize in this kind of activity, does not mean that the ghosts rumored here are actually here."
"Then why are you so keen on researching this? Only been half and hour since we all came up to our rooms. Seem pretty eager," she replied. Wesley let out a smile.
"I guess it's my turn to ask you what caused you to come up here and tell me all this?"
"The look Andrew gave me when I asked him about it, Riley's sighting, his chick's anger when he told us, Lorne's attitude at your comment. Should I go on?" she told him. Wesley thought about something.
"You don't seem like the type of person who would believe in this type of thing. An owner of a bar you say, but I don't know many colleagues that own bars," he told her. Faith shrugged.
"I believe. I mean, it's not totally odd, ghosts and stuff. But if you told me that a scaly green dragon is going to fly across the sky tonight, I would laugh at you. Monsters are something that I think were invented to scare little kids at bedtime. But I've had my own run in with a ghost as a kid, so I believe in that." Wesley looked interested.
"Really? What happened?" he asked her. Faith traced the design on the chair with her finger.
"I was ten and I remember visiting my dad's house one weekend. Anyway, I was watching TV and it kept on shutting off. On it's own. I even had the remote. Then I go to tell my dad but before I do, I see my glass of coke floating in thin air. About had a heart attack but after that I tried to convince myself it must've been a dream. Though I know it wasn't," Faith told him.
Wesley watched her expression as she spoke. He could tell she still had a small amount of fear from this memory and knew that the only way to erase that fear would be if she came across another ghost. She was in between believing and imagining.
"Ok then. But I don't think now is the right time. As much as I'm determined to solve this, I will not waste my whole week here in my room. We can start tonight," he said. He walked over to his window and looked out it. Most of the others were already outside by the pool.
Faith opened her mouth to say something but her eyes widened instead. "What's wrong?" he asked.
"I think someone else wants us to start now," she said.
Wesley was about to ask her what she meant but Faith pointed behind him. He spun around and saw one of his markers float up slowly. They both watched in stunned silence as the cap fell off and the marker touched the wall. Slowly, it started to write something. The two watched-- Wesley with fascination, Faith with near panic. As soon as it wrote two words, it dropped to the floor.
Faith stared at the words and reached out to touch them, not quite believe they were actually there.
FIND HIM
Fred and Willow were both swimming laps in the pool, racing each other. Gunn, Xander, and Anya, who was on one her breaks, were seated at an umbrella table all talking.
"So, what do you think?" Cordy asked aloud to both Buffy and Tara, who were sitting on the pool chairs with her.
"About what?" Tara asked. She was sitting on one of the chairs with a book in her hands. Buffy, like Cordelia, was busy between getting a tan and checking out some eye candy. In this case, hers happened to be Spike.
"Duh, hello! Angel. Who did you think?" Cordy shot back at the shy woman. Buffy lowered her sunglasses to look over at Cordelia.
"Take a chill, she didn't know who you were talking about. Not everyone thinks Angel is a godly figure," she told her. Cordelia sighed.
"I mean look at him," she said. "With those killer abs, broad shoulders, tight muscles...."
"Down girl. I guess he's alright. But if you don't mind, I'm going to enjoy my stay here and not have to deal with a guy. Gets too complicated," Buffy said. Cordelia gave her a knowing glance.
"Of course. That's why you were just looking at Spike like you were imagining him without any clothes on?" she said. Buffy's eyes widened and she shushed the brunette.
"Shhhh! He'll hear you!" she whispered. "And I was not looking at him like that," she said. Cordelia remained silent but kept that glint in her eye. Buffy scoffed and put her towel over her head in an attempt to hide.
"It's ok Buffy. No shame in looking right?" Tara told her. Buffy took the towel off of her head and smiled.
"Yeah, you're right Tara. Hey, you must think someone here is drool-worthy right?" she asked the other brown-haired woman. Tara looked over to Willow, who was busy laughing at something Fred had said. Then as soon as she had looked, she turned away.
"No, not really," she said. Cordelia and Buffy looked at each other and rolled their eyes.
"Ok, have fun in Denialville. Feel free to join us here in Heartthrob City anytime," Buffy said. Tara smirked at the comment but secretly didn't think Heartthrob City was a place she'd enter.
"Well, how 'bout you lovely ladies join us in the pool now? Enough tanning and take a dip in the water. Promise we won't splash," Spike said to the three. He was leaning against the side of the pool, water dripping down his face, hair slightly spiked from the water and blue eyes sparkling. The sight had Buffy throwing her towel down and diving into the pool.
"Is it really cold?" Cordelia asked. Spike shook his head.
"Not really. Come on, luv, step on in," he told her. Cordelia was about to shake her head when she saw Angel wave her over. Like lightning, she was in the pool as well. Tara laughed at them.
"Hey, anything happen while I was still in the hotel did it?" Tara looked over to see Faith standing next to her. She didn't have a bathing suit on, which seemed odd to Tara because she remembered Faith enthusiastic about swimming.
"No, n-nothing really. Mostly everyone is out here. I think only Mr. Giles and Mr. Wyndahm-Pryce are still inside," she told the brunette. Faith nodded.
"Anything...weird happen?" she asked Tara. Tara frowned.
"Um...no, not really. The only weird thing is how powerful the spell that Spike and Angel have on Buffy and Cordelia. But maybe that's not so weird," she replied. Faith nodded.
"Yeah," she said, mostly to herself.
"How come you're not going swimming? Thought you wanted to?" Tara asked. Faith looked around at everyone.
"Huh?" she asked her, not paying attention.
"You, not swimming," Tara repeated. Faith shook her head.
"Oh, kinda don't feel much like it now. But hey, let me know if something weird happens alright?"
"O-ok. Sure thing," Tara said. Faith took one last look at everyone before walking up the steps back to the hotel building.
"Hey," Willow said to Tara as she and Fred both sat down on Buffy and Cordelia's chairs. "Where's she going? I thought she wanted to swim."
Tara shrugged. Fred looked over at the others and sighed.
"I don't know about you two but I don't want to spend all my week swimming. What do you all feel like doing tomorrow?" she asked. Willow shrugged.
"I dunno. Hey, maybe we can check out the town?" she suggested.
"Looks small," Tara said. Fred agreed. The three heard someone open the pool gate and saw Sam Finn walk into the pool area, smile on her face.
"Good to see the pool in good use," she told the girls. "Nice huh?"
"Yeah, beautiful. Where's Riley?" Fred asked. Sam sat down on a chair next to them and smiled.
"No clue. That man is always off doing something. Could be shooting a few baskets. He likes basketball," she replied.
"So what's Keyton like? Any fun?" Willow asked her. Sam chuckled.
"Very boring actually. The hotel most interesting thing in this town since the dea-" Sam caught herself and tried to change the subject. "You guys should really head down to the casino. Very exciting."
"Since what?" Fred asked. Willow and Tara looked on eagerly, although Willow knew what she was going to say.
"Nothing. It's not important. But hey, I better be going. Riley wanted me to help him with the new golf equipment. See you all later." The three women watched as the skinny brunette scurried away.
"That was interesting. That's the third time someone has avoided talking about the deaths," Willow said.
"Do you think the story is true then?" Tara asked. Willow shrugged.
"Must be. I mean, Wesley didn't seem to be too convinced of what Lorne said. I mean, isn't he an occult bookstore owner?" Fred said.
"Well if there is a ghost, I think it'll be more interesting staying here. How cool to have two resident ghosts living with us all here?" Willow said.
"But what if they're dangerous? I mean, they did die horrible deaths," Tara asked.
"Then we better figure out how to get them to calm down for a week," Fred said.
Theres that. I plan on getting into other character's personalities soon. Don't worry, every contestant will be explored. And as far as them all getting together and figuring out who the killer is, that's going to be way later. I wanna flesh out the story, possibly into as many as 15 chapters. Anyways, please REVIEW. I haven't had a review for that last two chapters and it's making me feel horribly depressed.