11:15 AM

"This is as far as I can go," the cab driver said as the cab pulled over and came to a halt.

"Thanks," Thorn said as she looked out the window. The street the hotel was on was closed due to the construction, so they had to get dropped off a block away.

"Your total fare is six-thirty," the cab driver said.

Thorn nodded as she paid the driver and then took her receipt. With the payment taken care of, Thorn opened the door and the three girls exited the vehicle.

"I still don't get why you girls would want to go to that creepy place," the driver said as he rolled down the passenger window.

"We're just paranormal enthusiasts," Thorn replied, though calling herself an enthusiast at this point in her life was certainly a stretch.

The cab driver chuckled to himself. "Well, you came to the right place if you want ghosts. Stay safe." He rolled the window up and soon merged back into the busy city streets.

"Hey Thorn, can you tell the Broken to make it stop raining?" Dusk asked as she pulled her jacket's hood over her head and shivered.

"I don't think it works that way," Thorn replied as she buttoned up her own rain jacket.

"Let's keep moving, the hotel isn't far," Luna said.

Thorn and Dusk nodded and the three of them headed down the wet sidewalk. Indeed, it wasn't a long walk at all and after a few minutes, they reached a long fence that was up to prevent people from wandering into the construction site.

"Here it is," Luna said. "So what's the plan?

Nestled between grey skyscrapers was a six-story building covered with scaffolding and surrounded by a couple of cranes. The exterior walls of the top three stories were gone, exposing the bare frames and interior to the elements bar a few areas where plastic tarps were used as makeshift walls. The bottom three stories were in far better condition; the faded red, brick exterior complemented by the white door and window trim stood out grey weather. But the most notable part of the hotel was the large stone crown flanked by two stone eagles above the hotel's front doors, which were wide open.

"Well I guess we'll sneak in," Thorn said, noticing the front door.

"How?" Luna said, raising an eyebrow.

Thorn looked around and sighed as people continuously passed the construction site. Simply climbing over the fence wasn't an option unless they wanted to get caught.

"Um," Thorn muttered while she looked for a break in the fence.

"We're done!"

The sudden shout caught Thorn off guard, and she turned in the direction of the commotion. A dozen construction workers stormed out of the building, most of them grunting and shouting as they hurried down the pavement. They walked around the building where there was a gate leading into an alleyway.

"No you can't quit!" a short, stocky man in business casual holding a clipboard shouted from the steps of the hotel, though Thorn's attention was brought to the man's bandaged hand that was stained red.

"Sorry, I ain't dealing with no ghost," one worker stated.

"There's no way in hell I'm going back in there with that spook around," another shouted.

The disgruntled workers filed out the gate and walked down the alleyway. Most of them headed off upon reaching the sidewalk while the man with the clipboard and injured hand returned inside, shaking his head. But two workers didn't follow the group of workers and waited at the front of the alleyway. The first and younger of the two had short black hair and wore a gray sweatshirt and sweatpants along with an orange vest. The second man had messy gray hair and wore a black sweatshirt and a pair of dirty jeans, while he held his vest. Both men looked around before lighting some cigarettes, paying no attention to the Hex Girls.

"Well, I guess there really is a ghost," Dusk said.

"At least they didn't mention any cultists," Luna added.

Thorn nodded. Not having to confront any cultists was a breath of fresh air. With fewer threats, Thorn wouldn't risk using magic and potentially killing someone. Of course, there was a potential ghost to deal with. Restless spirit who haunts the night, no more shall you cause strife. It's time for you to face the light, for I rid you from the world of life. The spell Matella used to destroy the ghost of the famous occultist Alexander Levre echoed in her mind. If she absolutely needed to, she knew how to deal with any hostile phantoms, though the notion of using magic unnerved her. Despite this anxiety, Thorn had a task to complete, and one way or the other, she needed to find whatever was hidden inside the Regal Hotel.

"We should ask the workers what they know about the ghost," Luna suggested. "So we don't go inside blind like last time."

Luna's words broke Thorn from her thoughts. "Yeah, good idea."

Thorn led Dusk and Luna over to where the two workers were smoking.

"Sorry for intruding, but we overheard you guys mentioning a ghost and we wanted to know if that was true?" Thorn asked.

The two workers glared at her, neither of them very happy about their smoke break being interrupted.

"What's it to you?" the gray-haired worker said before taking a long drag from his cigarette.

"Hotel's closed for repairs," the black-haired worker said, leaning against the wall of another building, blowing out a plume of smoke.

Thorn was taken back by their hostility, grimacing as the smoke drifted past her. She was about to call out their rude behavior when she noticed Dusk storming past her, no doubt about to release a verbal barrage of swears and slurs on the workers.

"We read online that the Regal Hotel was haunted and wanted to check it out while we were visiting the city," Luna said as she blocked Dusk with her arm, preventing her from making their situation even worse. "We're just curious about the building, that's all."

The gray-haired man lowered his cigarette and exhaled a puff of smoke before sighing. "Sorry about that, our nerves are bad from that damned ghost."

"Yeah, working in a haunted hotel is nuts," the black-haired worker sighed. "Crazy shit happens in there and everyone's on edge."

With their behavior explained and the tension eased, Thorn resumed her questioning, though now worried about what the workers might have experienced. "What do you mean by 'crazy shit'?"

The black-haired worker took a short drag of his cigarette before exhaling a small plume of smoke, this time away from the Hex Girls. "Well, from what I've heard things started about a year ago when the top three stories burnt down and the repairs were made. Small things. Unexplained footsteps coming from closed-off areas. Items disappearing and reappearing days later. Doors slamming shut on their own. That kind of stuff."

"That doesn't sound too paranormal; surely there must've been some other explanation," Luna replied.

Thorn shot Luna a confused glance. They both knew ghosts existed and that the Regal Hotel had ties to the Fallen's cult, so the idea that the hotel was genuinely haunted wasn't far-fetched; if anything, it was quite probable that it was haunted. But Luna only acknowledged Thorn's confusion with a brief glance before the black-haired worker spoke.

"We honestly didn't think it was ghosts at first," the gray-haired workers began. "Until a couple of months ago when people started seeing the ghost itself."

"Yeah, scared a few workers away the first time it was seen," the black-haired worker added.

Thorn's eyes widened. People actually saw the ghost! In her mind, there was no doubt about it, the hotel was haunted.

"What did the ghost look like?" Luna asked.

The two workers briefly looked at each other before returning their attention back to the girls.

"Honestly, neither of us actually saw it," the gray-haired worker said. "But from what others have told us, the ghost is completely white, somewhat transparent, and had an almost misty texture to it."

"And the workers who saw couldn't tell if it was a guy or a girl," the black-haired worker said with a slight chuckle.

That's weird Thorn thought. That's not at all what Sarah Ravencroft or Alexander Levre looked like. Sarah and Alexander more or less looked how they were in life but with a more spectral appearance. This thing sounded like a generic found the description of the ghost suspicious, but since she was hearing second-hand accounts, it was hard to determine if what the workers were saying was accurate.

"So, what happened next?" Thorn asked.

"Damn ghost started scaring the shit out of folks, telling them to leave this place," the gray-haired worker said as he took another drag from his cigarette. "And several people did."

"The night guards would also complain about strange noises coming from the basement," the black-haired worker added. "One of our buddies on the night shift went down to investigate. Not long after, the other guard saw him running and screaming out the front doors, never to return. No one went down the basement after that."

"So what, the ghost doesn't want anyone in the basement?" Dusk asked as she crossed her arms, clearly not impressed by the alleged spirit.

Both workers shrugged and they took drags from their cigarettes, the glowing embers standing out in the rainy weather.

"Maybe," the black-haired worker said as he adjusted his orange safety helmet.

I wonder if the ghost is guarding the treasure Thorn thought. "What's in the basement?" she asked.

"Just a bunch of furniture that was salvaged from the top stories and generic hotel supplies," the gray-haired worker answered.

"Do you think the ghost could be connected with the treasure?" Thorn asked.

Thorn frowned as both workers burst into a fit of laughter and one worker nearly dropped his cigarette into a puddle.

"Lady, you really believe in the treasure?" the gray-haired worker laughed. "It's just an urban legend the locals tell themselves."

"Yeah, if there was a treasure, we'd have found it by now," the black-haired worker said, which caused the gray-haired man to cough momentarily and they both started calming down.

Thorn crossed her arms and did her best not to curse off the two workers. The treasure must exist. Why else would the Broken send us here? Thorn took a deep breath and slowly exhaled as she regained her composure.

"Okay," she said. Clearly discussing the treasure was going to go nowhere with the workers, so she needed to change topics. "Did anything else happen with the ghost?"

"Yeah," the gray-haired worker said, his tone becoming rather serious as he took another long drag from what was left of his cigarette. "Earlier today the ghost scared a friend of ours so badly he nearly fell off the scaffolding."

"Oh," Thorn said. She felt bad that she got angry at them, even though their behavior somewhat deserved it. "I'm sorry to hear that. Is he okay?"

"Yeah, he's fine, just understandably shook," the black-haired worker said. "But that was the last straw, all the workers just quit as the foreman and management weren't doing anything about the ghost and our safety."

"Wait," Luna interjected. "The foreman knew that a ghost was scaring you guys and did nothing?"

"Yeah, that asshole knew about it for months and ignored everyone's complaints," the gray-haired worker said, raising his voice. "Honestly, I think he or the contractors are trying to scare us away so they can inflate labor costs by replacing us with undocumented laborers and still claim they're using skilled workers."

There was a rumble of thunder and a gust blew by, causing all of them to shiver. The rain came down stronger and Thorn instinctively covered her head with her hands. Even with rain gear, they'd get soaked if they stood outside for much longer.

The two workers discarded their cigarettes into a growing puddle, much to Thorn's displeasure.

"I'm not sticking around in this shit," the black-haired worker said, pulling up his hood, and the second worker nodded in agreement. "Time to go hit the gym."

"Take care," the gray-haired worker said to the Hex Girls, and a few moments later, they were running down the street to reach their destination before the rain got worse.

"I agree with them," Luna said as she started moving into the alleyway.

"Yeah, let's find a way inside," Thorn added.

She and Dusk caught up with Luna and dipped into the alleyway. They crept along the barricade, and Thorn noted the numerous "No Trespassing" and "Authorized Personnel Only" signs posted along the fence. They reached the gate and sighed as the workers had locked it on their way out.

"Thorn can you just magic the lock away or something, cause I'm freezing," Dusk said through chattering teeth.

Thorn looked at the lock on the gate and sighed. While she didn't know any spells that would unlock the gate, a bit of telekinesis would break the lock with ease. It'd be quick, just a little snap and they'd be nice and dry inside. All she had to do was focus on the lock and it would break.

But Thorn just shook her head and backed away from the gate.

"I can't," she muttered. "I just can't."

"You mean won't," Dusk said as she crossed her arms.

Thorn didn't respond. She simply turned away from her agitated friend. Dusk was right; there wasn't anything preventing her from using her magic. But the idea that she could lose control and hurt either Dusk or Luna was enough to terrify Thorn. She kept her oath she made to herself: no magic.

"For fuck's sake Thorn, just use your magic and break the lock; it'd take you two seconds to do so," Dusk grunted.

"No, I'm not doing it," Thorn said, raising her voice.

"Calm down, we can find another way in," Luna said she stepped between Thorn and Dusk.

Luna's right. We need to stay calm and focused. Thorn nodded to her friends and then looked to Dusk. Dusk groaned and mumbled something, likely a slur, as she passed Thorn. Thorn sighed, doing her best to ignore whatever she said, and watched as Dusk went to the gate and crouched. She reached into her hair and removed what Thorn quickly realized was a bobby pin.

"If it's like the lock on your shed, I can get it open, though it'll take me a few minutes," Dusk said as she straightened out the bobby pin. "Though magic would make this a lot quicker."

"Wait what!?" Thorn gasped at the realization that Dusk had broken into her shed where she practiced her herbal remedies when at home.

Dusk chuckled and she continued to work on the lock. Thorn wasn't sure if she should yell at her friend or roll her eyes, as she couldn't tell if she was being serious or just messing with her for not using magic. Instead, she sighed and let Dusk work uninterrupted, though she made a mental note to question Dusk on the matter at another time.

"Just hurry up," Thorn finally said before turning to Luna. "So, do you think this ghost is real?"

Luna shrugged. "I don't know. We haven't seen the ghost ourselves, so I can't say for sure. But the worker's explanation makes sense. Fraud is a big issue in construction— the office complex my dad works at got defrauded while getting repairs— and criminals dressing up as monsters is apparently a lot more common than you'd think."

Thorn rubbed her chin. "You think the foreman is behind the ghost sightings?"

"I think he's worth checking out," Luna clarified as she glanced at the hotel entrance where the foreman had stood while begging his workers to return.

Thorn nodded. Luna's non-supernatural hypothesis for the ghost sightings was certainly plausible and investigating the foreman was a good course of action to take. Plus, if the ghost was just a crook in a costume trying to scam the hotel's owners, she wouldn't have to use magic as there wouldn't be a serious threat like mages or armed cultists. But even with this rational explanation, Thorn couldn't discredit the possibility that the ghost was genuine. With the hotel's alleged ties to a cult, the hidden treasure, and the fact that the Broken itself told them something was here for her to find, the ghost being real was a possibility.

"What if the ghost is real and it's guarding the treasure?" Thorn stressed. "The workers mentioned that the paranormal activity started not long after the fire. Maybe the fire and the construction put the treasure at risk and the ghost is protecting it by lashing out at people."

"I guess it's possible," Luna conceded. "Especially if the cult is involved." She paused and turned to the gate. "But we won't know until we get inside."

Thorn turned to Dusk. "Any luck?"

"Shhhh!" Dusk hushed at them. She brushed aside a few strands of wet hair from her face as she meticulously rotated the bobby pin. Between the pitter-patter of raindrops hitting the ground, Thorn heard a soft click.

"Ha! I still got it!" Dusk cheered as the lock popped open. She pushed open the gate and returned the bobby pin to her hair.

"Great work," Thorn said with a smile on her face. "Now let's get out of the rain."


Instead of a lobby, the girls found themselves in front of a large make-shift wall made of construction tarps that blocked off the lobby and created a corridor that led to a doorway. Without any other options, they followed the corridor and entered a small hallway. The hallway matched the exterior color scheme—white walls and red carpeting—and was lined with a few doors while a few assorted pieces of construction equipment were haphazardly discarded on the floor or leaning against the walls.

Thorn noticed that one of the doors was ajar and she heard a muffled voice coming from the room. She quietly crept over to the door. Standing adjacent to the door, she waved Dusk and Luna over. She then peeked into the room.

"What do you see?" Luna whispered.

"It's the foreman," Thorn whispered back. "He's talking with someone on the phone."

The three girls remained quiet and they could overhear the foreman.

"Yes, the entire crew just walked out one me," the foreman groaned, rubbing his balding head. "Yes, it's because of the ghost and no I haven't seen it myself." He paused. "What?! How is it my fucking fault!? I've been calling Ray for several days now, but I can't get a hold of him." Another pause. "Look, if he's not going to do his job as head of security, then I'm going to call in some specialists to deal with this ghost. I got their website right here."

The foreman walked over to a desk with a laptop on it. Thorn could only see a few flashes of green and blue on the screen as the computer was too far away and the foreman was partially obscuring her view.

"Yeah, these guys are the best in the business; hundreds of cases solved," the foreman said as he read his computer screen. "No, it won't be expensive." He paused, this time for several seconds before scowling. "We'll go under if we lose this contract! I don't know what else I can do at this point other than calling these guys in and hope that they stop the ghost."

The foreman pulled up a chair and sat down, groaning and rubbing his head. "I'm going to forward you the link to their website so you can read about them. Plus, they mention in their blog that they're in the city, so they can get here ASAP."

The foreman said his farewells to the person on the phone and hung up. He started typing, presumably to email the person on the phone, though Thorn noticed how his injured hand kept wincing when he typed with it.

"This guy isn't the ghost," Luna said, shaking her head.

Thorn nodded. "I think you're right."

The foreman was, in Thorn's mind, another victim of the ghost. Not only did he sound frustrated with what was happening, but he was actively trying to stop the phantom from scaring away his workforce and was willing to call in specialists to properly deal with it. Thorn couldn't think of a motive for faking a ghost.

Despite this new information, it didn't mean there wasn't a ghost. If anything, she was more convinced that the ghost was real and was guarding the cult treasure. Thorn sighed. She wanted to be wrong and not have to use magic, but the more she learned about the ghost the more she worried about her magic. She turned to her friends.

"I think we're dealing with an actual ghost," she said with her head low.

"We still can't say that," Luna said. "We can only conclude that the foreman isn't behind the haunting."

Thorn smiled. "Yeah, you're right. I'm just getting a bit nervous that this could be a real ghost."

"We're walking into a potentially haunted building, I think it's perfectly reasonable to be nervous," Luna replied. "Especially since we both know how dangerous ghosts are."

"Okay, we're all nervous," Dusk interrupted as she stepped forward. "But what do we do now?"

Both Thorn and Luna paused.

"I guess we can search the basement since that's where most of the sightings took place," Thorn answered.

"And if we run into the ghost?" Luna asked.

"Thorn has that spell that can kill ghosts," Dusk chimed in.

Luna raised an eyebrow. "How do you kill a ghost? They're already dead."

"Destroy, annihilate, damn. I don't know. Whatever Matella did at the cemetery. Thorn can do that," Dusk replied.

Thorn's face was reddening, and she felt flustered. "I'm not using magic, so can you stop mentioning it! We'll figure something out if it comes to it!"

"Hey who's there!"

Thorn covered her mouth and all three girls nearly jumped. Shit, shit, shit! Look what you did! Thorn's heart was pounding as she turned and saw the foreman get out of his seat. He grabbed something from his desk and Thorn's eyes widened in fear as she realized it was a hammer.

"I said who's there! You're trespassing!" the foreman said brandishing the hammer, though Thorn noticed that he was shaking. This guy is terrified. Best not to say anything.

Dusk and Luna evidently came to the same conclusion as neither of them spoke and they all scrambled away from the door trying to be as quiet as possible, though they were too focused on the foreman rather than their surroundings.

CRASH!

"Damnit," Dusk muttered. Thorn turned and saw that Dusk had knocked over a stack of two-by-fours that were leaning against the wall.

"Get out of here!" the foreman shouted, his face bright red, as he charged at the door.

"Run!" Dusk shouted.

Dusk ran past the door and farther down the hall. Grunting, Thorn sprinted after her, with Luna close behind. They barely rounded the corner when Thorn heard the door swing open and slam against the wall followed by the heavy steps of the foreman chasing after them.

They ended up in a shorter hallway with a set of red, wooden swing doors at the end. She didn't know what was beyond them, but she didn't care. Dusk crashed through them first and Thorn followed her into the unknown.

She stumbled into a large room, and nearly tripped over herself in her hasty entrance. She barely had time to notice the large counter and assorted furniture to recognize the room as the lobby before Luna emerged from behind her.

"Move! He's right behind us," Luna gasped.

Thorn didn't need to check as she heard the foreman running and shouting down the hall. She and Thorn took off toward Dusk, their wet shoes squeaking on the tiled floor.

Dusk was farther ahead of them and she disappeared as she rounded the counter. Thorn heard a door creak open.

"Where the hell is she going?" Thorn thought aloud.

"We're about to find out," Luna said as they rounded the counter themselves.

There was a metal door that Dusk had cracked open just enough to squeeze through and she was waving for Thorn and Luna to come through. But as Luna reached the door, Thorn found herself falling to the ground. She grunted as she hit the floor hard. Running on a tiled floor with wet shoes and poor treads wasn't a smart idea.

"Fuck," Thorn muttered under her breath as she grabbed her purse and she tried to scramble to her feet. But she heard the wooden doors open and she crawled behind the counter and motioned for her friends to close the door as the foreman entered the lobby.

"Where the hell did you go?" the foreman shouted. "I know you're in here."

Thorn braced herself against the counter and she tried to slow her breathing. Please keep running. Please keep running. The foreman stopped in front of her. Fuck! Thorn pressed herself tighter against the counter. Her heart was racing. The foreman knocked the hammer against the counter. She closed her eyes. The foreman grunted. Just go away already.

She had no idea if he saw her or what he would do if he found her but considering how he chased them with a hammer and how angry and frightened he was, it probably wasn't going to be good.

"What's this?" the foreman said.

She heard him take a few steps forward.

Oh no! Thorn opened her eyes and immediately went through her purse to see if anything was missing. Her eyes widened and her heart nearly skipped a beat as the knife Dusk had given her was gone. I'm screwed. Thorn braced herself against the counter, shaking at the thought of the foreman arming himself with the knife. She clenched her fists, and Thorn felt her magic. Please no. Don't do anything.

"Ah!" the foreman shouted, followed by a loud thud against the wall. "Fuck this!" the foreman gasped, taking several steps backward. "I'm calling the cops and those paranormal investigators."

The foreman turned around and ran back the way he came.

Thorn leaned her head against the counter and let out a long sigh of relief. You barely escaped a guy with a hammer. How the fuck are you supposed to deal with a ghost? From standing in the rain too long, which caused her to slip to shouting when they were eavesdropping, she had made several mistakes and they'd haven't even seen the ghost. You need to get your head in the game. A ghost could show up at any minute. Stay calm and focused.

She heard the door creak open.

"Hey Thorn, the coast's clear," Dusk said, poking her head out the metal door. Dusk's attention was quickly drawn to something else. "Woah, what happened here?

"What?" Thorn asked as she emerged from her hiding spot and looked around the counter. She gasped when she saw the knife impaled into the wall with a small piece of bandage stuck to the blade. Thorn shuddered and looked at her trembling hands. I did that. I did that. She glanced back at the knife, noticing how the knife was at the height of the foreman's head. I could've killed him. She glanced at her hands. They'd been in the Regal Hotel for a few minutes and already she lost control of her magic and almost killed someone. She shivered. I can't do this.

"Hey, are you okay?" Dusk called.

"Um, yeah, I'm good," Thorn lied, shaking her head and pushing away the negative thoughts.

"You need to see what we found in here," Dusk said before disappearing into the room.

Thorn brushed her bangs, sighing as her trembling stopped. She got to her feet, walking over to the knife, and retrieved it, causing the piece of bandage to fall to the floor. She shuddered, returning the knife to a spot in her purse where it wouldn't fall out again, not wanting to look at it. She turned and joined her friends in the other room, hoping that whatever they found would take her mind off what happened with the foreman and make their stay at the Regal Hotel a short one.