12:01

Thorn couldn't help but look back at the hole in the floor. Leaving Dusk alone in the basement with a potentially real and hostile ghost was discomforting and probably the worst mistake she made since arriving at the hotel. I should've gone down there with her. Ignoring the fall, it would've been safer if all three of them were together. Instead of having each other's backs, she lowered her head and followed Luna into the lobby.

"Relax, Dusk can handle herself," Luna said, putting a hand on Thorn's shoulder.

Thorn sighed. "I know, but what if she runs into the ghost?"

"If the ghost is down there, I think it will be more afraid of Dusk than she is of it," Luna said with a chuckle.

Thorn found herself slightly grinning. There was some merit to that statement as an angry Dusk was a force to be reckoned with and anyone in a ghost costume would be wise to avoid her. Yet Thorn's small smile soon faded.

"We shouldn't have left her by herself," Thorn said, looking back at the storage room.

"The sooner we get to the basement, the sooner we can regroup with her," Luna assured her.

"You're right," Thorn said with a nod. There was no point to stand in the lobby and worry about Dusk when they could go find her.

Luna removed her hand from Thorn's shoulder and pulled up the picture of the floor plans for the ground level on her phone.

"Okay, so it looks like the entrance to the basement is on the other side of the hotel," Luna said, raising her phone to Thorn.

Leaning closer, Thorn saw the basement's location. Indeed, the basement entrance was on the backside of the hotel, which required following a hallway along the perimeter of the building. It wouldn't be too hard to get to, just a bit out of the way.

"Sounds like a plan," Thorn said. She looked across the lobby and saw the hallway they needed to take. "I guess we go this way."

"Pretty much," Luna said with a nod. "Now let's go find Dusk."

They had barely left the lobby when Thorn clutched her shoulder and grunted. She stumbled into the wall as a searing pain grew in intensity across her shoulder like someone was pressing a hot iron against her. She shouted as the pain spread down her arm as if boiling water was flowing down it.

"Thorn what's happening!" Luna shouted as she tried to keep Thorn from falling over.

Thorn gritted her teeth, shaking her head in fear and confusion. But just when she thought the pain would worsen, the pain subsided as quickly as it appeared. Taking a few minutes to catch her breath, Thorn regained her composure.

"Ugh, my shoulder was acting up," Thorn said, rubbing her shoulder. "I'm fine now. It must've been a lingering symptom of the Woodrose."

But she didn't feel fine. The pain had emanated from the symbol burnt onto her shoulder, which reminded her of what the Fallen had told her. That one his followers would find her with it. Why the follower was supposed to find her was unknown, and that was worrisome. What if the cultist tried to kill them? What if the cultist found Dusk? What if…

"Are you sure you're alright?" Luna asked, interrupting Thorn from her thoughts.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Thorn said as she resumed walking down the hall, albeit at a quicker pace.

Luna quickly caught up with her. "The pain came from that marking on your shoulder, didn't it?"

Thorn rounded the corner. "We need to get to Dusk."

"Stop being evasive," Luna said, stepping in front of Thorn and blocking her. "If there's something you've neglected to tell me, now's the time to say it."

Thorn groaned and turned away from Luna, but Luna grabbed her arm and pulled her back so they faced each other. Thorn sighed and her face reddened. She didn't want to tell her that a cultist was coming after them as that would no doubt scare her even more. She mentioned it once when she was trying to prove the Fallen had possessed her, but deliberately didn't elaborate on it or bring it up again when she tried to convince Luna to go to the Regal Hotel as she was scared Luna wouldn't come if she knew this. But now Luna needed to know. Partially because the sudden burning sensation from the symbol was alarming, but that wasn't the reason that was bothering her. No. Continuing to be untruthful to her friend made Thorn's stomach turn and sent a wave of pain across her body that made the burning on her shoulder feel like nothing. With a heavy sigh, Thorn answered Luna. "The Fallen put this symbol on me so one of his followers could find me."

Luna rubbed her head and groaned. "What? I thought you did that to yourself? Why the hell didn't you tell us this before we came here?"

She felt a sharp pain like someone had stabbed her with a knife, but she continued. "I mentioned it only in passing and didn't want to elaborate on it so you'd forget about it because I knew you wouldn't come here if you knew someone was looking for us," Thorn said as she lowered her head, slinking away as the shame and guilt chewed her up like a ravenous beast. The Fallen's words echoed in her mind, calling her out for guilt-tripping Dusk and Luna into coming with her to the Fallen's temple. And here she was, bringing them with her to another dangerous location by withholding information. "And all three of us needed to be together to survive whatever's coming." She looked at Luna. I'm a terrible person. You deserve so much better Kim. "I'm so sorry, I should've been upfront with both of you."

Luna mumbled something under her breath, perhaps a swear based on her expression, before sighing. "Do you know anything about this follower?"

Thorn shook her head. Why isn't she calling me out on my shitty behavior? I manipulated her… that though simultaneously sent shivers down her spine and made her blood boil. I can't keep doing this. Not to Luna of all people. "The Fallen didn't mention anything about who his follower is."

"Then there's not much we can do about it now other than find Dusk as quickly as possible before this guy gets here if he hasn't already arrived," Luna said as she briefly glanced at the floor plans on her phone before looking back at Thorn. "The basement's just around the corner at the end of the hall."

Thorn felt uneasy as she watched Luna put her phone away; she seemed distant and for the first time, Thorn couldn't read her bandmate. Did she accept Thorn's apology? Was Luna angry at her? Thorn didn't know and not knowing was unnerving. But if Luna wanted to find Dusk and put this behind them, then Thorn accepted that decision. She only took a few steps before Luna spoke.

"What else aren't you telling me?"

"What?" Thorn mumbled as she stopped in her tracks, caught off guard by Luna's question.

"There's more to what happened last night, isn't there?" Luna asked.

Thorn sighed as she glanced away from her friend. She recalled the details of last night that she omitted in the account she gave her friends' images of her mother and of the Fallen and of herself fading away filled her head. With each memory, the discomfort and pain she experienced from them returned.

"Thorn, I'm more than your friend, I'm your sister; you can tell me anything," Luna said, her voice calm and lacking the anger Thorn expected from her. "You'll feel better if you tell me what happened."

Thorn looked back at Luna. I will not lie, manipulate or withhold stuff from Luna. She deserves the truth. With a painful sigh, Thorn revealed the full truth.

"I told you that the Fallen had all my memories," she began. "But he made me relive some of them, just to show me that he understood me better than I do."

"Like what?" Luna asked.

"The night my mother died," Thorn revealed.

"Oh," Luna gasped, putting her arm around Thorn. "I'm so sorry Thorn. I could only imagine how difficult that was."

"Yeah," Thorn weakly replied. "It was...hard seeing her again, especially watching her leave for the last time." She paused and wiped her eyes. "The Fallen wanted me to try to save her."

"Why would it want you to do that?"

"Part of it was because he wanted to watch me fail and suffer. So he used my memory of her against me." Again, she paused to wipe her eyes as they continued down the hall.

"Did you save her?"

Thorn shook her head. "I didn't try to. She's been gone for most of my life and I've accepted that." She looked down the hall, reminiscing of the little time she spent with her mother. "I didn't want him to ruin my memory of her with whatever schemes it had."

Luna was quiet for a moment, clearly in thought over what Thorn said. Then to Thorn's surprise, Luna smiled.

"So you beat him," she said.

"I dunno about that," Thorn said as they passed a flight of stairs. "I barely stopped myself from chasing after my mom, and even then, the Fallen would've killed me if the Broken didn't intervene."

"But you still beat him," Luna said. "You resisted him long enough to ruin his plans. And think about it, his plan would've never worked because he couldn't perfectly impersonate you."

Thorn stopped walking. "What do you mean? He knew everything about me."

"But he didn't have your willpower," Luna said. "You stopped yourself from falling for the Fallen's tricks. He would've known that if he could perfectly impersonate you, and therefore plan for that."

Could that be true? This perspective was one Thorn certainly never considered. And why would she? She had focused on all the negativity and that was what broke her. But, as Luna pointed out, there was a positive outlook to what happened. She couldn't be perfectly imitated. And Luna had noticed this; she would've learned of the Fallen's deception.

Thorn smiled. "Thanks," she said to her friend. "I needed that."

Luna smiled back and the two continued down the hall.


"Jeeze, is this supposed to be a basement or a bunker?" Thorn said as she and Luna stood before the large, metal door with a faded "Hotel Staff Only" painted on it that, according to the blueprints, led to the basement.

"Yeah this is the right place," Luna said after checking her phone.

Without hesitation, Thorn turned the handle and pulled. The door screeched as it opened a bit and Thorn grunted as she continued to the pull, but the door was far heavier than she imagined.

"A little help here," Thorn said. Luna grabbed the handle and the two pulled. The hinges groaned in resistance as the door opened enough for a person to fit through.

"There's no way the treasure isn't down there," Thorn said, still surprised by how heavy the door was. With the door open, Thorn noticed that the basement had more than a passing resemblance to a vault.

"Well," Luna began as she went to enter the basement, though she turned to address Thorn. "Let's go find D-Ahhh!"

Thud!

Luna was on the ground with Dusk sprawled on top of her.

"I saw the ghost! I saw the ghost! I saw the ghost!" Dusk shouted in a panic, her face paler than usual.

Thorn's eyes widened in both fear and excitement. "You did?"

"Yeah, you didn't hear me screaming up the steps! It tried attacking me and I tried to fight it but I couldn't hit it and then it chased me and it's right behind me and now you gotta go kick its ass with magic!" Dusk replied with haste.

Thorn shook her head in bewilderment, still processing what Dusk told her. She glanced behind the door, expecting to see the ghost, but saw nothing.

"How about you get off of me first," Luna grumbled from beneath Dusk.

"Hehe, sorry," Dusk giggled as she climbed off Luna and then helped her up.

After giving Dusk a minute or so to recover and making sure she was unhurt, Thorn addressed her. "Can you explain what happened but a bit slower this time?"

"Okay," Dusk began. "After I fell through the hole, I found some tire tracks and started following them."

"Tire tracks?" Luna interrupted with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, tire tracks. You know the tracks left behind by tires," Dusk said with a smirk, which elicited an eye-roll from Luna and a quiet giggle from Thorn. "Anyway, I followed them and found a bunch of 'X's' painted on the ground and walls."

"Like an 'X marks the spot' kinda deal?" Thorn suggested, thinking about the possibility of these 'X's being related to the treasure.

Dusk shrugged. "I dunno. Could be construction related."

True, Thorn thought. Can't jump to conclusions.

"So about this ghost," Luna said.

"Right," Dusk said. "So after I found this one 'X', the ghost appeared and demanded I leave. I tried fighting it, but that obviously didn't work, so I got the fuck out of there."

"Why did you think fighting a ghost would be a good idea?" Luna asked, shaking her head.

"I thought it was a guy in a mask," Dusk said, defending herself. "But my knife just went through the ghost like it wasn't there."

"That's odd," Thorn said, crossing her arms. "The two ghosts we've encountered were both tangible."

"Alexander was able to become intangible, and how do you know other ghosts aren't that way," Dusk countered, still tense from the encounter.

Dusk raised a fair point. The ghost of Alexander Levre was able to become intangible at will and given they only encountered two ghosts, it was impossible to say if Alexander and Sarah were the default for ghosts. But still, it was an interesting detail and seemed to confirm that it wasn't a man in a mask.

"Were you at least able to get a good look at it?" Thorn asked.

"Yeah," Dusk said. She nervously glanced at the basement before providing the details. "It looked like a corpse wearing a hooded robe and it had these horrible glowing, green eyes."

Another odd detail. Both Sarah and Alexander looked like, for the most part, how they did during life. But again, Thorn couldn't be sure all ghosts looked the same, so she kept her thoughts to herself.

"You said it was wearing robes, " Luna said. "Did they look like the ones the cultists were wearing?"

"I guess, they were just white robes," Dusk answered with a shrug.

"Hmm, so this could be a ghost cultist," Luna said. She shot a glance at Thorn. "I wonder if this cultist was sent here."

Thorn flinched as she detected the subtle frustration in Luna's tone. Evidently, she was still upset about Thorn not telling them about the cultist that was supposed to find them.

"Uh, what?" Dusk asked.

Thorn sighed. I gotta tell her. She turned to Dusk. "This morning after I sobered up, I wasn't entirely honest with you two." She paused as Dusk rightfully grimaced. "The marking the Fallen burnt onto my shoulder was so one of its followers could find me."

"Oh shit," Dusk gasped as she took a step toward Thorn. "Are you telling me that ghost was sent by the Fallen! Why the fuck didn't you tell us the Fallen was sending shit after us!"

"I did, but it was in a way that you two wouldn't notice it cause I was scared you two wouldn't come here with me," Thorn confessed. She took a deep breath and slowly exhaled, stopping herself from getting angry with Dusk as Dusk wasn't the one lying. "Look I'm sorry I didn't tell you the whole truth and I'll be entirely honest with you two going forward, but it's too late to bicker about what I did; we're here and we need to find that treasure."

Dusk rolled her eyes and groaned. "Are you at least going to use magic to protect us from the ghost?"

Thorn winced at the mention of magic. What if she tried to protect them with magic but hurt them instead? She almost hurt the foreman when she lost control of her magic for a few seconds and the possibility of that happening again and causing harm to her bandmates was there. She was silent for too long as she thought about how to answer the question. "We don't know for certain that this is a real ghost, but…" she removed the knife from her purse. "I'll do what I can to keep us safe."

"Yeah, cause stabbing a ghost worked really well for me," Dusk mumbled as she turned her back on Thorn.

Thorn lowered her head."Wait, Dusk, that wasn't what I meant!"

Dusk grunted as she leaned against the wall checking her phone, ignoring Thorn.

"Dusk, I swear I'll keep us safe," Thorn said as she approached Dusk.

"You won't use magic," Dusk said without looking up from her phone. "You're gonna get us killed."

"I won't let that happen Dusk," Thorn affirmed.

Dusk snickered. "Yeah right."

Thorn looked her in the eye. "I won't. I promise."

"Okay that's enough," Luna said, trying to alleviate the tension. "Let's just find this stupid treasure and get out."

Dusk groaned as she put her phone away. "Fine. What's the plan then?"

"I hate to say it, but we need to go check out those 'X's you found as those are our only leads," Luna said as she looked down the stairs.

"Of course we do," Dusk groaned.

"Then that's what we'll do," Thorn said as she moved to the top of the basement steps. She gazed into the darkness, knowing full well that there was a dangerous ghost lurking there. She hesitated, and briefly looked back at her friends. Luna turned her phone's light on and was prepared to follow Thorn down, though Thorn noticed that she was slightly shaking. Dusk was different. She still leaned against the wall, seemingly observing Thorn, watching to see if she'd keep her promise.

Let's do this.

Thorn nodded to her friends and turned her attention back to the stairs. She took a single step down the narrow stairwell, keeping the knife raised. She took another step, the light already fading. She continued on with each step she took leading her further into the unknown. She heard Luna following behind, whose phone light helped illuminate the area a bit.

Thorn stopped as she reached about two-thirds the way down. She lowered her head. She could only hear Luna's footsteps behind her. Please don't leave us Dusk. Thorn shook her head. No! Don't think that! Dusk would never leave us. But as the seconds ticked by and Dusk didn't show, the doubt resurfaced. I fucked up.

But the sudden sound of a footstep jerked Thorn from her thoughts.

"What's the holdup?" Dusk asked from the upper steps.

"Er, nothing…" Thorn replied with a smile.

She continued down with both her friends behind her until she finally reached the bottom. She brushed her hand against the wall in search of a light switch and after a few seconds, she found it. But flipping it did nothing and the only light came from Luna's phone. Sighing, Thorn removed her own phone from her purse and turned its light on. She could see piles of boxes, furniture, and other miscellaneous items on one half of the basement and empty space on the other.

"Okay, where were these Xs?" Thorn asked.

"There was one along the far wall," Dusk answered. "So I guess we just follow the wall until we find the X."

Not exactly the most detailed plan, but it would have to work. The three girls made their way to the far wall. Upon reaching it, Thorn felt...something. A strange feeling, a bit like discomfort, as if something wasn't as it seemed. But at the same time, Thorn felt like something was pulling her farther into the basement. She stopped and shined her light around the area, looking for something out of place but there was nothing. She shook her head, trying to think of some explanation for what was happening.

"Are you alright?" Luna asked.

"I don't know," Thorn said as she looked into the darkness. "There's something down here."

"Yeah the ghost," Dusk said.

Thorn shook her head. "It's something else."

Without thinking, Thorn ran forward, like a magnet being pulled toward an even stronger one. She could hear her friends call for her and run after her, but she kept her pace. She wanted to keep going. No. She needed to. As she continued running, the feeling intensified and she was certain that whatever she was being drawn toward was nearing. Her eyes widened in excitement as a splotch of yellow paint suddenly came into the view. The 'X'! But the excitement waned as she realized whatever she was running toward was past the 'X'.

Clunk!

Thorn froze. A box fell and Thorn could hear what sounded like shuffling coming from the boxes. She was torn between running toward whatever was 'pulling' her and stopping to assess the sudden movement adjacent to her. After a few seconds, the 'pull' was too strong and she began to run.

"What was that run all about?" Luna said from behind, slightly winded from the abrupt sprint.

Thorn stopped. Control yourself. If you keep running, you're going to put Luna and Dusk at risk. She turned around, much to her discomfort as she felt she was near wherever her destination was.

"I heard some shuffling and a box fell," Thorn said as she shone her light in the direction of the noise. Of course, there was nothing out of the ordinary.

"I guess it's nothing," Thorn said with a sigh of relief.

"Geeeettttt ouuutttttt!"

The three girls spun around only to find the ghost behind them, Dusk and Luna frantically running behind Thorn.

"Thorn, do some fucking magic," Dusk pleaded.

Thorn just stared at the ghost as the phantom neared, its arms raised and its green-eyed gaze focused on them. Dusk was correct, this ghost looked nothing like Sarah or Alexander, and Thorn couldn't help comparing it to the various costumed crooks Mystery Inc frequently dealt with. But as instinct kicked in, Thorn could feel her magic consolidating around the knife, signified with an ever-brightening blue glow.

The ghost abruptly stopped and hovered motionlessly several feet from her.

"What?" The disembodied voice was distant and distinct from the ghost. Thorn looked past the ghost for its source, but there was only darkness.

"Kick its ass Thorn!" Dusk shouted from behind, breaking Thorn from her concentration and her focus shifted back to the ghost.

Something was off, but before she could pinpoint it, Thorn noticed her glowing hand and gasped. No magic. No magic. No magic. The light vanished and the ghost, snapping out of its confusion, swung at her.

Thorn shrieked as she was tugged aside, dropping her knife in the process, and the ghost's attack missed her.

"What the fuck, why didn't you attack!" Dusk grunted as she and Luna released Thorn.

Thorn didn't have time to answer as the ghost turned toward them and screeched.

"Run!" Luna shouted.

Thorn turned and ran, her friends slightly ahead of her. The ghost continued to screech at them, and Thorn didn't have to turn around to know that it was chasing them.

"Get out! Get out! Get out!"

Thorn's lungs burnt and her legs ached while everything around her morphed into a dark blur; there was no other goal than to run as fast she could. She followed the screams and footsteps of her bandmates and somehow, managed to reach the stairs and quickly ran up them but the narrow stairwell slowed them. There was a chorus of terrified shouts, grunts, and screams as each girl frantically pushed and shoved their way up the steps; they were practically climbing over each other to reach the light of the hallway. They reached the top and all three girls spilled onto the floor. They scrambled to the opposite wall and laid on the floor, panting from the run.

"So why the hell didn't you attack the ghost?" Dusk asked between quick breaths.

"There was something off about that ghost," Thorn said as she briefly looked back toward the steps and saw that the ghost was gone. "The way it reacted to me was weird. Like it was surprised."

"No offense Thorn, but you were the weird one down there," Luna said, still trying to catch her breath. "Why'd you run off like that? You put us all in danger."

"I don't know," Thorn said as she clutched her head. "I just felt drawn to something farther in the basement."

"It's gotta be some magic of some kind," Dusk said. "Since you're a witch, you're more sensitive to magic."

Thorn stepped back from Dusk. "No...you just made that up."

"Why else would you act like an idiot?" Dusk asked. "Or why you were about to throw a blue fireball at the ghost. Magic. Like if you weren't so afraid of it and actually controlled it, I doubt we'd be in this mess."

Thorn shook her head. "No," she mumbled. No magic. No magic. There needed to be some explanation for it. She turned to Luna, but she just shrugged.

"Um, maybe the ghost did something to me," Thorn said, trying to shift the blame onto something else.

"You said the ghost reacted like it was surprised, so I don't think that's the cause of your behavior," Luna countered. "I know you're not going to like this, but I think Dusk's on to something."

"Yeah, Thorn needs to control her magic,' Dusk added with a grunt. "And maybe we won't die here."

Thorn shuddered. Hardly ten minutes ago, she promised Dusk that she'd keep them safe. But then she did the opposite. She failed her friends. But why? Was she drawn to something magical? She hated to admit it but it was possible. Looking back on the incidents in Shardon and Bolfied, she had 'known' or 'sensed' magic from other mages and objects before encountering them. Perhaps something similar occurred here but on a larger scale. Perhaps that was why she hesitated with the ghost; it wasn't magic.

But admitting to all that meant she needed to use magic. And that posed a risk to everyone around her. What if she threw an orb of energy at the ghost and it turned out to be some kind of costume, like the one her father used in the town's scam to bring in tourists? Or what if Dusk and Luna didn't move behind her fast enough and she hit them with the magic? Yet at the same time, if the ghost was real, her not fighting back put Dusk and Luna in harm's way.

"Damnit!" Thorn shouted.

"What's wrong?" Luna asked.

Thorn needed something to distract her. "Ugh, we need a new plan."

Luna raised an eyebrow. "Um okay, what do you propose?"

"GET OUT!"

All three girls spun around and saw the ghost emerging from the basement. The decrepit phantom, floating in the air, lunged at them. The girls screamed and bolted down the hallway as the ghost pursued them.

"There's a staircase we can take," Thorn shouted as they rounded the corner. Sure enough, the staircase came into the view. Without hesitation, Thorn flung open the door and the Hex Girls ran up the stairs to the upper levels of the hotel.