1:57 PM
Luna sighed as Dusk descended into the basement. She took no pleasure in keeping Dusk in both the literal and figurative dark about her full plan, and if she had her way, she would've already brought up her issues with her friends. But with a probable cultist embedding himself in their group, she had to be careful with how she brought up Thorn being a witch. And avoiding Brian was only the first problem; they needed to deal with Dusk's argumentativeness and Thorn's insecurities as soon as possible if they wanted to survive their visit to the Regal Hotel. Luna hoped Dusk would take some time to cool down, and Luna could talk to Thorn about her magic.
"Let me help you with that," Luna said, reaching for the carpet that Thorn was trying to unfold.
"Thanks," Thorn replied without looking at Luna.
Luna sighed but continued to work. The two of them moved the carpet to the edge of the hole in the floor. They positioned themselves so that they could drop the carpet down the hole with ease. Holding one half of the carpet, they crouched down and waited for the ghost to appear.
"Now we can lure the ghost over here," Luna said.
"Mmm-hmm," Thorn mumbled.
"You alright?" Luna asked though she knew the likely answer.
There was an uneasy silence as Luna awaited Thorn's response. Yet, Thorn remained silent, staring off into the basement, which brought Luna more discomfort.
"Thorn, if you're upset, you can talk to me about it," Luna pleaded.
The silence must've bothered Thorn as much as it did Luna as the former groaned and shook her head. "You sent Dusk downstairs so we wouldn't fight about my magic."
Luna sighed. Even though she planned to get her and Thorn alone so they could discuss her magic, the foresight did little to prepare her for the emotional toll this conversation took. "Yes," she replied.
"Is this whole plan to catch the ghost just a way to get us alone so we could discuss my magic?" Thorn asked, still looking into the basement.
"Partially," Luna answered. "It only occurred to me when we were leaving the security room. I thought if we were away from Dusk and Brian, we could discuss your mag-"
"Do you agree with her?" Thorn asked, cutting Luna off.
"With who?" Luna asked.
"Do you agree with Dusk?" Thorn stated.
"On what?" Luna replied with feigned ignorance.
Thorn sighed. "Please don't play dumb with me, you're too smart for that"
Luna hesitated. Not only was this not how she wanted this conversation to go, but the answer was more complicated than a simple "yes" or "no" as Luna agreed and disagreed with different parts of Dusk's stance on Thorn's magic. She sympathized with Thorn's moral dilemma, but Thorn's magic was something that she couldn't keep ignoring as they needed it to find the treasure. She needed to be careful with how she worded her answer lest she hurt Thorn.
"I think…" Luna sighed and bit her lip as she struggled to articulate her thoughts.
Thorn turned around, making eye contact with Luna. "You can tell me the truth. I can handle it." She looked calm and reassured, confident even. But like a fleeting twinkle in her eyes, Luna glimpsed the sadness, fear, and guilt Thorn hid beneath her façade. It pained Luna to answer, but her friend needed to hear it.
With a heavy sigh, Luna answered. "Yes."
She watched Thorn wince as she closed her eyes. Luna couldn't tell what her friend was about to do, which worried her. But after a few seconds, Thorn opened her eyes, her face slightly reddened.
"I... see," Thorn stammered, doing her best to keep a straight face. Luna noticed Thorn reach into her pocket and grab something, though what it was, Luna could not tell. "I'm... a problem."
"No, that's not what I meant," Luna gasped.
"You called me out for running off in the basement and upstairs," Thorn said with a sniffle. "You thought I was a problem then, and you think I'm a problem now."
"I did call you out for what you upstairs and in the basement," Luna said, taking a step closer to Thorn. "But that doesn't mean I think you're a problem."
Thorn didn't say anything as she turned and lowered her head. Luna sighed and placed a hand on Thorn's shoulder. "I understand why you don't want to use magic." Luna paused as she took a deep breath and slowly exhaled, calming and preparing herself. "But trying to suppress and ignore your magic isn't healthy; you've accidentally used it several times, and I suspect it's going to happen again, whether you like it or not. And I know you know this."
"I'm going to hurt someone if I use magic," Thorn said, her grip on whatever she held tightened as she pulled herself away from Luna. "What if I hurt you or Dusk?"
Luna sighed. "Honestly...you suppressing your magic is more likely to hurt someone than if you willingly used it." Luna recoiled as a tear fell down Thorn's face. She held Thorn's hand and gently pulled herself to Thorn. "And that's why Dusk is frustrated with you: she wants you to use your magic to keep us safe. Like back at the temple when you defended us from Matella and the other cultists, your magic saved me and Dusk." Luna smiled. "I know you still have the confidence and self-control needed to wield your powers safely. You just need to believe in yourself. I do. And so does Dusk, even if she's terrible at saying it."
Thorn gave a light chuckle as she wiped her eyes, a tiny smile forming on her face. But after a moment, her smile faded and she looked away from Luna. Luna lowered her head. I didn't get through to her. She shook her head. Don't give up. She's almost there. She just needs a little boost.
"When this trap works, you won't need to use magic on anyone," Luna added. "Once we trap the ghost, you only need to use your magic to locate the treasure. It'll be a safe way to use your powers without hurting anyone."
"And if the trap doesn't work..." Thorn said.
"It WILL work," Luna stated, not sure if she was saying that more for Thorn or herself. "But, no plan is full proof, and if something does go wrong...we'll need to consider using that ghost-destroying spell if the ghost is real, or other spells if there are cultists downstairs."
Thorn flinched yet said nothing. Luna could only imagine the pressure she put on Thorn. And that didn't take into account the cloaked figure or Brian's possible involvement with the monsters. Luna found herself shivering at that realization. Her only plan to deal with those situations was to rely on Thorn's magic. Of course, that hinged on getting Thorn to accept her magic and use it.
Luna took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. "Either way, you'll be using your magic to keep us safe, and isn't that you want more than anything? To keep us safe and sound? I still believe you can do that Thorn, you just need to believe you can."
Thorn sighed, but this time remained where she stood. Luna could tell her friend was deep in thought, no doubt going over what she told her. If she'd convinced Thorn to consider using her magic, then that was a win, and a small part of her even believed Thorn would willingly use her powers long-term. But whatever Thorn's answer was would have to wait.
"I'm in position, over."
The sudden crack of the radio and Dusk's voice broke Luna from her thoughts. "Looks like it's showtime," she said, adjusting her grip on the rug. Thorn pocketed the item she held and adjusted her grip on the rug.
"I hope this plan works," Thorn said.
"So do I," Luna replied, looking down into the hole.
But as the seconds ticked by, nothing happened. From her position, Luna couldn't see much beyond the immediate area below the hole. It's okay, it took a few minutes for the ghost to appear last time. Another minute passed. And then another. And another.
"The ghost isn't appearing," Dusk said over the radio. "Um, over."
"Keep waiting, over," Luna groaned into the radio.
"Maybe Brian didn't get far enough yet," Thorn suggested.
Luna rolled her eyes. "Maybe he told the ghost our plan."
Thorn sighed. "You still don't trust him?"
"Of course, I don't trust him," Luna said. "Why would I?"
"He's only helped us since we showed him the ghost," Thorn answered. "And besides, if he was a cultist, why hasn't he attacked us?"
"I don't know, maybe he's biding his time. Or maybe when he split Dusk and me up, he had that...thing...try to kill us," Luna grunted, narrowing her eyes.
Thorn frowned as she shook her head. "He reminds me of you."
"That's ridiculous," Luna snickered, almost dropping the carpet. "How could you possibly think he's anything like me? You don't know him."
"You're both so smart and helpful," Thorn said with a grin. "If you two had put your heads together, I think we'd have found the treasure by now." She paused, and her grin widened. "If you believe I have the will to control my magic, then I believe that you can trust him."
What? Luna thought as she stared wide-eyed at her friend. They didn't know Brian. Whatever he said to Thorn could've been a lie. They had every reason to be suspicious of him. Yet somehow, despite all the red flags surrounding him, Thorn saw good in him.
You know, maybe she's on to something. If I could trust her with supernatural magic, then I could trust her judge of character...Luna winced. People have duped us before. Matella. Ben Ravencroft. They duped us. There's no reason why Brian can't dupe us as well. Luna grimaced. But Thorn trusts him, and she wants me to trust him. She lowered her head. Arguing with her on this will only make her feel bad about herself, and I need her to regain her confidence. She sighed. And I don't want to keep hurting her.
Luna raised her head. "If this plan goes off without a hitch, I'll trust him."
Thorn smiled. "Thanks, Luna, I knew you'd unders-" Thorn's smile vanished as she looked around the room. "Do you smell that?"
Luna sniffed the air and shuddered from the familiar sense of dread and disgust that came with the disgusting scent. "Rotten eggs."
The two girls exchanged anxious glances, and Luna felt her body tense up as she slowly turned toward the door.
Luna shouted as the centipede creature hissed from the ceiling, bearing its spider-like fangs at her and Thorn before lunging at them. Luna raised the carpet like a shield and gasped when the creature hit the carpet, its fangs piercing the fabric. The creature quickly withdrew, dropping to the floor, and scurried around her.
"Where'd it go? Aah!"
Luna felt an immense force crash into her legs, no doubt the creature ramming into her, causing her to shout and stumble backward. And in one heart-wrenching moment, Luna felt the floor disappear from beneath her feet, and gravity took over. She screamed, flailing her arms and legs, all while still clutching the carpet as if it would stop her from plummeting into the darkness. She cried, knowing that only the concrete floor awaited her.
Please no! Somebody help me!
"AGH!"
Luna gasped when someone caught her. Or more accurately, cushioned her fall. Luna and her catcher went down, her momentum driving them into a pile of boxes. They both grunted as the carpet landed on them.
"Ugh, I thought you were only going to drop the carpet."
"Brian?" Luna gasped, her heart still racing from the fall. "You...caught me?"
"You're welcome," he said with a painful chuckle. "I didn't expect you to drop by." He grunted. "Get this carpet off us!"
Luna pushed the carpet off them, revealing that she was still in his arms. He saved me. He actually saved me. She staggered to her feet, wincing from some minor pain in her shoulder, but was otherwise okay. The same wasn't true for Brian. He sat up, groaning as he did so.
"Fuck! I think I sprained my arm," Brian groaned, clutching his injured arm.
"Uh, keep your arm elevated," Luna said, trying to recollect some of the first aid knowledge she picked up from Thorn.
Brian lifted his arm and groaned. Luna tried helping him up, but as she did, she heard the menacing shrieks of the ghost. Luna turned and jumped back, narrowly avoiding the ghost's strike.
"GET OUT!" the ghost screamed, swiping at Luna in a sideways motion.
Luna stumbled backward, gasping as she avoided the attack. With Luna out of reach, the ghost turned its attention toward Brian, who had fallen back down during the initial attack. The ghost clasped its skeletal hands together and swung downward. Brian quickly rolled underneath the floating ghost, grunting as he went over his bad arm, and avoided the attack.
"Shit, shit, shit," Luna muttered. Without thinking, she grabbed a nearby box and chucked it at the ghost.
And just as Dusk said, the box went right through the ghost, leaving the specter unharmed.
"Is there any way out?" Brian said as he managed to clamber over to Luna.
Luna scanned the immediate area and came to the horrifying realization that they cornered themselves as furniture and stacks of towering boxes surrounded them. Shaking, she could only watch as the ghost turned to face them.
"I warned you, and you didn't listen," the ghost said, pointing a crooked finger at them. "And now you shall pay!" The ghost let out an angry screech as it raised its claw-like arms into the air and drifted toward them.
Luna's heart raced, and sweat drenched her clothes. She could do nothing but tremble in fear as the ghost closed the short distance between them. A single tear rolled down her face. Her plan failed, not trusting Brian was a mistake, Dusk was missing, and a monster was attacking Thorn. Luna sobbed. She was going to die without the two most important people in her life at her side.
"Hey, asshole! Over here!"
"Dusk!' Luna cheered, wiping her face.
Dusk stood behind the ghost, waving the burning bundle of sage. The ghost turned around and floated toward Dusk. Dusk sidestepped the ghost when it tried swiping at her. She prodded the ghost with the sage, yet it didn't seem to do anything to it.
"Come on, there's an opening," Brian said, grabbing Luna's arm. The two took off, Luna taking the lead. With Dusk distracting the ghost, Luna and Brian passed the phantom and ran toward the table and subsequently their way out. But Luna shouted when two hooded people appeared, blocking their path. Even though she could only see their silhouettes in the dark, she knew who they were.
"Who the hell are these guys?" Brian yelled.
"Cultists," Luna said under her breath, shivering as the words left her lips.
The two figures approached, and Luna and Brian backed up, bumping into Dusk.
"Hey! You two were supposed to get out of here!" Dusk said, still waving the sage at the ghost.
"We have some unwanted company," Luna replied, shooting nervous glances at the ghost and the hooded people.
"Great, the asshole who tried to grab me is back," Dusk groaned.
"Um, there's two of them," Brian added.
"Oh shit," Dusk muttered, turning around to see the hooded people. She turned back to the ghost. "Fuck this." Without warning, Dusk threw the burning sage at the ghost. The sage passed through the ghost without harming it.
"Woah!"
It was distant yet clear as day: someone gasped behind the ghost. She wasn't sure if it was some fear-induced trick of the mind, but Luna was certain that the ghost tilted sideways a bit before returning to normal. But she didn't have time to dwell on the strange observation as Dusk tugged her arm.
"This way!" Dusk shouted. She led Luna and Brian to a large stack of chairs that overlooked them. Dusk hopped onto the chairs and then climbed onto a large dresser. Luna followed, clambering up the chairs with Brian right behind her. Dusk jumped down onto the other side, and Luna did the same. Brian joined them, though he grunted when he landed and clutched his arm. Luna wanted to check on his arm but she heard the hooded people running toward them.
"Where to now?" Luna asked, looking around in the now complete darkness.
"Uh, this way!" Dusk grabbed Luna's hand, pulling her along. Luna barely had enough time to grab Brian by his jacket's collar as the ghost flew overhead and dove at them. The trio ran toward the exit, stumbling over assorted boxes and furniture as they made their way through the darkness. The screams of the ghost echoed throughout the basement as the phantom hovered above all the junk, searching for them.
"How the hell hasn't it seen us?" Brian asked as he inadvertently knocked over a lamp that Luna herself almost knocked over as she ran past it.
"Who cares," Dusk said, stepping on and subsequently crushing a box as she made a quick turn around a corner.
CRASH!
A large piece of furniture fell over in a chaotic landslide of boxes, followed by a male swearing not too far away from them.
"They're following us," Luna gasped. The three of them ran faster, knocking over and tripping over random items in their blind escape. But Luna didn't care about the numerous bruises she undoubtedly received from her many collisions with the stuff around her; she just wanted to escape the basement.
Luna gasped as someone pulled her to the ground. A hand quickly covered her mouth before she could scream and pulled her under a large table. Luna flailed her arms but stopped when she saw that her captor was Dusk.
"Quiet," Dusk whispered, and she then released Luna.
Luna looked around but only saw Dusk and Brian hiding underneath the table with her. She went to ask them what happened but stopped when she heard the ghost's haunting screech. The ghost flew past them, and they remained under the table.
Brian poked his head out from underneath the table. "The ghost is on the other of the basement."
"Did it see us?" Luna asked.
"I don't believe so," Brian replied. "It looks like it's still looking for us."
"And the hooded people?" Luna asked.
Brian remained quiet for a moment. "I don't hear or see them."
They remained silent for another minute or two, and it became clear that the hooded people didn't know where they were. Luna let out a sigh of relief as they left their hiding spot. The ghost stood out in the darkness thanks to its glow, and Luna saw it hovering over boxes on the other side of the room. Better it be over there than near her.
"How do we get out of here?" Dusk asked.
Luna looked around but only saw darkness and boxes. "Um, give me a minute to figure this out."
"Ugh, this is taking too long," Dusk grumbled. She turned and ran shoulder-first into a large pile of boxes. Some of the top boxes fell over and Luna covered her head with her arms in a meager attempt to block the cascade of boxes.
"Why'd you do that?" Luna grunted as several boxes fell and hit her.
Dusk just grunted, and she crawled on top of the now smaller pile.
"I think it's clear on the other side," Brian said as he followed Dusk's example and pulled himself onto the pile of the boxes, grunting from the pain in his arm.
Luna sighed as she pulled herself onto the pile. The boxes sagged under their combined weight, yet Luna continued to crawl over the boxes. She reached the edge, and the final box collapsed underneath her, depositing her onto the floor with a loud thud. She grunted, scrambling to her feet as Dusk and Brian climbed down from the boxes.
"We're almost there," Dusk said, pointing to the other side of the basement.
Luna saw the silhouettes of the support columns from the faint bit of light coming from the small window by the basement steps. Luna grinned. They were a short sprint away. And so they ran. Luna pushed herself to her limits; her legs ached and her lungs burned with each breath, yet she still trailed behind Dusk and Brian.
"Get out! Get out! Get out!"
She didn't need to turn around to know that the ghost was on her heels. She let out an exhausted cry. She was at her physical limit and wanted to collapse. I'm almost there! Keep running! She screamed. She felt as if her legs were going to fall off. She turned, but not quickly enough, and she skidded into the wall. She shouted and rubbed her head. Damnit! But as she ran up the stairs, she caught a glimpse of the enraged phantom in the corner of her eye. She screamed and narrowly avoided the ghost's strike. She cried as she clambered into the light of the upstairs and collapsed onto the floor.
She lay there on her back, panting and staring at the ceiling. She whimpered. If the ghost floated before her and wanted to get her, there was nothing she could've done to stop it. But after a few seconds, she raised her head and let out a loud sigh of relief upon seeing an empty stairwell.
"Is everyone okay?" Brian asked between tired breaths.
"I'm fine," Dusk said, the least winded of the three. "Luna?"
Luna pulled herself to the wall and leaned against it. "I think my lungs are going to explode."
"Sounds like you need to start jogging," Dusk said with a playful smile.
Luna chuckled. "Noted." She turned to Brian. "How's your arm holding up?"
Brian raised his arm, wincing as he did. "It still hurts a bit, but that adrenaline rush dulled most of the pain." He lowered his arm and raised it again. "I think I'll be fine as long as I don't have to catch anymore falling girls."
Luna nodded. "I didn't say it before, but thank you for saving me."
"No problem," he said with a friendly nod. "I'd imagine you'd do the same for me if I was your position.
Luna sighed and feigned a smile. She felt terrible about it, but she doubted she would've done the same. She convinced herself that his involvement with the cult extended beyond a passing interest in the group that built the hotel, and him falling or injuring himself meant one less cultist to deal with. Yet, he saved her, a person he barely knew, and it made little sense for a cultist to save her. Luna felt disgusted with herself for not taking Thorn's word and not trusting Brian.
"So, why were you downstairs?" Dusk asked, bringing Luna out of her thoughts.
"I fell into the hole," Luna answered.
"How?" Brian asked.
"I was talking with Thorn, and then out of nowhere, that centipede thing attacked. It hit my legs, and I fell into the hole," Luna explained.
"What happened to Thorn?" Dusk asked.
Luna shook her head. "I don't know. Presumably, it attacked her as well."
Dusk stomped her foot. "These assholes are going to pay!"
"We need to find Thorn first," Brian stated. "That thing could've hurt her."
Luna nodded as she got back on her feet. "Then we need to get back to the storage room."
"Then what are we waiting here for? Let's find Thorn!" Dusk shouted, and they hurried down the hall. Luna hoped they would make it in time.
