Fighting back a scream of terror, Sabrina turned on her heels to flee in the opposite direction, away from the two male ghosts threatening her. Yet no sooner had she turned around, then stopped.
A third form was coalescing, more quickly than the others. The figure this time was female, older than the other two. Clad in sturdy tweeds, the ghostly woman was not outwardly threatening…save for her expression. She glared at Sabrina through horn-rimmed glasses, her face a mask of what appeared to be annoyance and frustration.
She shook her head. "You've been a bad girl," she drawled slowly. Sabrina, gulping, noticed the large, black, pointy-tipped umbrella that she swung up to tap in her other hand. "A very bad girl." The woman began chuckling low in her throat, rather darkly.
Sabrina could feel a cold sweat breaking out. It felt like something was lapping at the edge of her consciousness, like a cold fire. I have to get out of here…but how?
Trying to keep herself as collected as possible, she edged backward towards the wall, her fingers groping behind her for a door handle, a weapon—anything. Suddenly, her fingers hit upon a button. The elevator! Maybe I can slip in there! Pushing the call button as quickly as she could, the teenage witch stepped backward—
She let out a scream as she nearly stepped off backwards into the empty elevator shaft. Her hands grabbed onto either side of the doorway, attempting to push herself back into the lobby and away from the shaft. Trying to propel herself forward, Sabrina gasped, "I just want to help you!"
The ghostly woman's expression faded from dark amusement to cynicism. "Away with you, girl. Leave us be."
The Spirit Detective gaped as the three figures began slowly dissolving, until she was alone yet again (but had she ever been?) in the lobby. Staring after them, Sabrina suddenly let out a breath she hadn't known she was holding. With a final heave, she pushed herself forward, tripping over her own feet and landing in an ungracious heap.
"What just happened here?" Sabrina mumbled, attempting to untangle her limbs and push bangs out from her face.
"You came to help us?"
Her head jerked upwards, looking for the source of the voice. Crouching next to her with a quizzical expression, was a small pinafore-clad girl who looked much like a slightly older and blonder Shirley Temple. Given the attitudes of the ghosts who had previously appeared, Sabrina would normally have been inclined to propel herself upward and away, but…
She looks so…hopeful. Anxious, forlorn, and hopeful. Why is it she'll accept help, but not the others?
"Yeah," Sabrina found herself saying breathlessly, a hand pressed futilely against her chest to calm her pounding heart.
"Can you fix the elevator?" the little girl asked, curiously.
Sabrina jerked back, almost by reflex, to look at the elevator that she'd almost fallen into. "The elevator?" she frowned. What do they need an elevator for?
As if to answer the teenager's thought, the small girl nodded, replying, "We have to get to the party." She nodded again, beginning to dissolve much as her cohorts had. Her eyes remained locked on Sabrina's until the last, faintly pleading.
Sabrina hauled herself into a sitting position, still struggling to catch her breath. Her hand clutched even more convulsively around the locket.
That was how Shinji found her several minutes later, when he emerged from the basement. He did a double-take when he saw her wide eyes and erratic breathing, and dashed over, nearly stumbling as he dropped to his knees by her side.
"Daijobu ka?" he asked breathlessly. Realizing he'd slipped back into Japanese, he clarified, "Are you okay?" He placed his hand on her shoulder, trying to peer into her face.
His voice snapped her out of whatever fear-induced daze she'd slipped into. Sabrina licked her dry lips, and nodded. "Yeah, I think." She swung her head up to face him. "I-I saw them. The ghosts," she clarified, seeing the puzzled expression on his face.
"You…you saw them?" Shinji gaped for a moment. "What did they look like? Did they say anything? Do anything?"
"They, uh, weren't exactly thrilled with my presence. And they let me know it." Shinji's expression darkened in anger, and the teenage witch hurriedly continued. "They didn't hurt me, just gave me a pretty bad scare. I told them that I was here to help, but they weren't interested. They seemed a bit upset, actually. Except for Sally."
"Wait, wait, one minute," Shinji interrupted softly. "You saw Sally Shine?"
The blonde nodded. "She asked me if I could fix the elevator, then said something about needing to go to a party."
The Japanese warlock chewed his lip for a moment. "The party the night they were killed? Is that what she was talking about?"
"I guess? But the party's been over for sixty years," Sabrina shook her head. "Why worry about it now?"
"It was the last thing that they were planning to do, right?" Shinji reminded her. "Maybe they can't forget it. You hear about ghosts like that all the time; they stay in one area and haunt it because of some connection or bond to that place that they cannot break. Sometimes there's some duty left unfulfilled and they can't rest in peace because of that."
Sabrina scratched her head. "Fixated ghosts…it certainly makes sense. They never made it to an event that they were looking forward to, and even in death, they want to go there so badly, that…"
"That they can't accept that they're dead?" Shinji suggested, switching to a sitting position to give his knees a rest. He placed his flashlight and a book beside him.
"Well, I wouldn't say that entirely. I think it has more to do with obsessing over that party. I wish I knew why it was so important, but the ghosts didn't exactly feel like participating in sharing time." She shuddered.
"It would probably be a good idea, then, to try and explore the room where the party was, right?" Shinji suggested. "If they're so obsessed with it, then it must be important."
"Good idea," Sabrina nodded, "but Sally said something about an elevator—the elevator," she corrected herself.
"The elevator?"
The teenage witch pointed to the empty elevator shaft that she had nearly fallen into. "Sally referred to that one specifically; she implied that the elevator was the only thing preventing them from going to the party."
He frowned. "But there are stairs, right?"
"My point exactly. Why that elevator in particular? Why that room? Again, we're finding more questions than answers."
The two Spirit Detectives sighed, Shinji dejectedly leaning his face on his hand and Sabrina slumping forward. It seemed that for every step they took forward on solving this mystery, they were presented with even more stepping stones to cross. After giving herself a minute, Sabrina heaved a sigh and pushed herself off the ground.
"Ready?" she asked Shinji. "We might as well try and make it to the upper floors and see if there's anything there. He grinned up at her.
"Ready when you are!"
True to what the ghost of Sally Shine had indicated to Sabrina, the main elevator was out of commission. Deciding that they'd rather not risk seeing if any of the secondary elevators worked—Chris hadn't turned the electricity on for a while, they'd been inactive for decades, after all—the two teenagers decided to take the stairs.
Slowly and surely, the two of them began to work their way through the various floors of the building. The hotel's second floor was mainly comprised of three various dining rooms, a ballroom, and an enormous kitchen. Sabrina did not so much as flinch at the few mice they ran across, but nearly lost her head when the duo almost walked into a gigantic spider's web featuring one of the largest (normal) spiders she'd ever seen. She managed to keep from bolting by squeezing Shinji's hand and shutting her eyes; Shinji didn't mind holding her hand, but winced at the welts she'd left behind. Sabrina had a surprisingly strong grip.
The guest rooms began on the third floor, and continued up until the twelfth. The thirteenth floor was exclusively used for the Tip Top Club. Sabrina had been able to scrounge up room keys for all the victims—excepting Claire Poulet and Dewey, of course—and for a few random rooms. She also took Carolyn Crosset's key, just in case.
Going through each floor one by one and seeking out the specific rooms was slow work. The hallways seemed claustrophobic in the dark; choked by dust-ridden carpets and tables and stringy remnants of spider's webs. The only light piercing the choking darkness belonged to their two flashlights. Although the ghosts made no second appearances, and they were untroubled by any sort of interference like Sabrina had found in Gracey Manor, it felt as though the two of them were being watched.
Determined not to look foolish in front of the other, both Spirit Detectives gritted their teeth and tried to pretend that the dark stillness and oppressive atmosphere didn't bother them. Eventually, some of their defenses broke down unconsciously, for by the sixth floor, they had begun holding hands. It was as much for reassurance that the other was still there and safe as for the need to know that there was someone there. And, of course, perhaps as much for the fact that Sabrina liked Shinji's warm smiles and he admired the spark in her gaze.
While slowly trekking through the halls, Sabrina and Shinji filled each other in on their respective discoveries. "…and that's where I found the diary; next to the stack of books and magazines," Shinji concluded his narrative. He paused a second before continuing. "I have heard of Edgar Allen Poe, but I found a lot of books by someone called H.P. Lovecraft…?" he ventured.
"Lovecraft?" Sabrina looked at him sideways, her eyebrows raised. "Ooooh, his stuff's creepy. Good, but creepy. He wrote back in the first couple decades of this century, mostly science fiction and horror. A lot of his stories were not only disturbingly creepy, but pessimistic. Lovecraft wrote a lot about forbidden knowledge, the inability to escape fate, guilt…powerful stuff."
"A little like Poe, wouldn't you agree?"
She paused. "A little. Certainly they wrote about some similar themes; although I'd say Poe was more of a Gothic writer. But what," she switched topics, "was a stack of horror and science fiction works doing in a child's hideaway?"
"They must have belonged to a child with very dark thoughts," Shinji grimly muttered, sweeping his flashlight at the next room number. "I didn't get a good look at the diary I found, but it might give us some clues. I think that someone so interested in that kind of literature—especially someone as young as a child—must have some kind of connection with this mystery. The dark nature of those books seems to connect to the dark…" he struggled for a moment before settling upon the word "atmosphere."
Sabrina nodded, pursing her lips in thought for a moment. "I wonder how many children or teenagers were living at the hotel at the time of the accident. It may be the link we're looking for." She was silent for a moment, and then switched subjects, mentioning the locket she'd found. "But the weirdest thing was that even though it was Claire Poulet's picture, it was someone else's luggage! A-" she racked her brain for a second, "a woman named Carolyn Crosset."
"Her mother, perhaps? Or a daughter?" Shinji suggested.
Sabrina shook her head. "There was no mention of any known relatives." She paused, looking thoughtful. "Come to think of it, there wasn't really much information in the file itself."
Shinji frowned briefly. "Could it be a second identity?"
"What do you mean?" The blonde looked at him curiously. "Like she's a con artist or something?"
"Well, no, I meant more like…like someone who becomes famous and then creates a new image. Or someone running from something, like the yakuza. Organized crime—like the mafia," he explained at her puzzled look.
"Someone…running from something…" she mused slowly. Could it be… "Do you think that maybe it wasn't Sally who was the target—it was Claire?" she asked sharply.
Shinji stopped for a moment, causing Sabrina to stop short. "It's a possibility," he admitted after a moment, "but only if we're assuming that the cause was…uh…what's the phrase? Bad play?"
"Foul play," Sabrina corrected. "And I don't know why, but I have a hunch. I mean, if I had an enemy, and I wanted to get rid of them, I'd use magic. But I'd use it in such a way as to leave no trail."
"And there is no trail," Shinji picked up where she left off. "There's no evidence except for a lot of magical residue concentrated where the elevator was. The result of spellcasting?"
"Maybe, but the caster of the spell would have to have been in the elevator itself. Unless he or she got zapped along with the target?"
"But that's stupid," Shinji pointed out. "Why do something like that since there's the obvious risk of hurting yourself?"
"True," Sabrina admitted. "There was a lot of residue, right?" Seeing his nod, she continued. "In that case, it could have been a long-distance spell. There are tons of those: curses, hexes, time-delayed spells, there could have even been an enchantment placed on the elevator itself. Who knows, maybe someone summoned an elemental." She groaned. "This is looking nastier and nastier."
"But they were all mortals; who among them could have cast a spell?"
"There are lots of witches who live in the Mortal Realm; maybe one of our victims ran afoul of one. The question is, which one of them, and who are we looking for? And how did they do it?"
"We may know the answer to that last question," Shinji said grimly. "You saw the video Drell gave us, right?"
"You don't think…" Sabrina trailed off, looking at him. Her eyes widened. "…The Twilight Zone?"
Shinji bit his lip as he watched her. Her incredulous gaze met his questioning one. The teenage witch's eyes dropped; her face assumed an expression of contemplation. "There is a fifth dimension," she began to slowly recite, "beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man's fears and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area which we call the Twilight Zone."
"I'm impressed—you remembered the entire thing!"
She looked up at him, briefly smirking. "It seems too fantastical to believe," she mused, "that a theoretical magical dimension is to blame for the disappearance of a group of people."
"But that's where the clues have been leading," Shinji interjected eagerly. "Remember, the report said otherworldly. The report would have said i it had been from the Other Realm."
"And we're supposed to just blithely accept that the Twilight Zone is real? No proof?"
Shinji sobered at that. "It's just a high…high-po…how do you say it?"
"Hypothesis."
"Yes, it's just a hypothesis. But it's the answer that fits best."
He may have a point, at that. Salem said that metaphysical science has been hinting at the possible existence of a fifth dimension for some time now. Investigators found otherworldly residue that doesn't match anything found in the Mortal or Other Realms. And we have the complete, utter disappearance of five mortals who had no connections to magic that we know of. We can't tie it to magic that we know of, and they would have been found if they had been transported to either of the realms. It's the best shot we've got.
"So, working on the assumption that the Twilight Zone does exist and is somehow involved," she began, "we still have several unanswered questions."
Shinji nodded. "We don't know how they were sent to the Twilight Zone—or if they were sent there or to another place."
"We also don't know why the Twilight Zone is involved, although the culprit probably has a strong connection to it."
"We don't know who was the target of the accident; if it was one person, two, or all of them. We also don't know what the motive behind the attack was."
"And a whole bunch of other loose ends: why Abigail's memories of the night of the attack are blocked, who Carolyn Crosset is and how she is connected to Claire Poulet, who the owner of that diary is, how do we open the trunk in the basement, what the deal is with Abigail's key, why the elevator is so important and how do we fix it, and…"
"And what?" Shinji asked, hearing her trail off.
"…and where the heck we are, because I think we're lost."
Shinji groaned.
Keep Sabrina's description of Lovecraft's works in mind. They'll be very important in understanding characterization later on…
Yeah, that little speech about the Twilight Zone comes straight from the show.
Next chapter: The secrets behind Sabrina's bizarre fluctuating psychic powers are revealed, as well as a few of the loose ends they've been investigating. And what is Shinji secretly plotting? Stay tuned!