by Hart, Stella
I breathed a quiet sigh of relief. “Great.”
“You know, this might actually be fun. I could do with a break from all of these work headaches,” he said, leaning forward with his hands clasped on the desk. “But what will we tell your mother?”
“If she asks where we’re going, we’ll just tell her we decided to take a trip to check out a rival hotel.”
“All right.” His lips curled up in a faint smile. “I guess I’ll see you tomorrow.”
* * *
By nine o’clock the next morning, we were on the road.
Although I’d originally planned on taking one of the helicopters, my father insisted on driving so that it would be easier for us to explore every part of the Lilith Hall estate. It was hard to argue with that. The property was huge, and Willow could be anywhere on it.
I didn’t talk much on the drive. I was exhausted from the lack of sleep over the last four days, and my head was pounding constantly, making it difficult to keep my eyes open.
“What’s wrong with you?” Dad finally asked, glancing over at me as we pulled onto a winding road somewhere near the Maryland panhandle.
“Nothing.”
He grunted. “You seem like you’re in a foul mood.”
“I’m fine. I just miss Willow.”
“Wait until you’re actually married,” he said with a scoff. “You’ll be begging for time away from her then.”
I suppressed the urge to roll my eyes and gave him a tight smile. “I’m sure we’ll be fine.”
“They all say that at the start,” he muttered. “Oh, shit, I think that was the turnoff.”
The tires squealed as he slammed on the brakes and started reversing. A few seconds later, a sign came into view. Lilith Hall Winery & Resort.
The road down to the resort was lined with fir trees. Beyond those, vineyards stretched for at least a mile in either direction. In the distance, the rolling hills were a patchwork of green and brown with the occasional white dusting of snow.
“Here we are,” Dad said, slowing the car as we pulled into the main part of the estate.
With a name like Lilith Hall, I expected to see a huge gray Victorian manor looming ahead of us. Instead, it was a stout two-story Mediterranean-inspired building with cream-colored stucco walls, small terraces, a dark red tiled roof, and arched windows with wrought iron grilles and decorative keystones.
A huge courtyard stood on one side, and several cobblestone paths led away from that toward a lush garden. Behind that, there were several more sweeping vineyards, and beyond those were miles of dark forest stretching into the distance.
“Hm,” Dad said, peering around. “That arch near the garden would make a decent photo background, wouldn’t it?”
“Yeah, sure,” I said, absentmindedly scratching my jaw. “Let’s go in.”
We stopped in the winery’s main tasting room first. A large Christmas tree with flashing fairy lights stood on one side, and the spicy scent of mulled wine hung in the air. Crowds of tourists hung around the sample tables in the middle of the room, laughing and chattering, and on the far side of the space, several harried-looking staff members served well-heeled patrons at a polished oak bar.
“I’m going to talk to her and see what she can tell me about the history of this place,” I told Dad, motioning to a nearby employee in a crisp white shirt and black pants. “Why don’t you go and check out that arch you were looking at earlier?”
His eyes narrowed slightly. “If you wanted to be left alone to flirt with the waitress, you could’ve just asked,” he grumbled before striding off to the other side of the room.
I headed over to the girl and grabbed a brochure from the table in front of her. “Hello, sir,” she said with a polite smile. “Would you like to try a cup of our mulled wine? It’s made with a traditional Swiss recipe.”
“No thanks,” I said, stashing the brochure in my pocket. “I’m just looking around for now.”
Her eyes widened. “Oh! I just realized who you are. You’re that guy who’s engaged to the president’s daughter, aren’t you?”
“Yup.”
“Wow. Is she here?”
Yeah, probably.
“No, I’m just visiting with my father,” I replied. “We’re thinking of having the wedding here, so we drove up to check it out.”
“How nice! If you don’t mind me asking, what made you consider us?”
“My mother’s family owns the place. The Hales.”
Her eyes widened even further. “Oh, wow. I had no idea you were related to them. I guess I need to be on my best behavior.”
I smiled. “Don’t worry, I’m not judging you at all. Feel free to be brutally honest about everything.”
“Okay,” she said with a little giggle, cheeks flushing. “I’m Gemma, by the way.”
“Good to meet you, Gemma.” I turned and glanced around the busy room before looking back at her. “It’s pretty busy, huh? I assumed you’d be dead in winter.”
She shook her head. “No, we actually do quite well in the colder seasons. There’s not as much outside work to do, obviously, because the grapevines go dormant, but there’s still plenty to do inside. We also host a lot of events during the winter, especially during the festive season. Like our New Year’s Eve bash.”
“I assume there’s an event today, judging by all the people here.”
“No, the days leading up to Christmas are usually quieter than this. Today is actually weirdly busy,” she said, nose wrinkling as she looked around at the throngs of guests. “If you’re planning on staying the night, you better book fast, because I’m pretty sure there’s only one suite left in the resort.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
She lowered her voice and leaned forward. “You won’t believe who my colleague checked in earlier.”
“Who?”
“The Keshari Crown Prince and his entourage. Can you imagine that? A prince, right here at the winery.” She let out a dreamy sigh. “I can’t believe how popular we’ve gotten.”
“Yeah, that’s pretty impressive.”
“There’s some billionaire tech genius staying here too, and a whole bunch of rich Russian guys as well. It’s completely packed,” she went on. “It might just be because of the auction, though.”
“Auction?”
“I heard a couple of the guests whispering about it earlier. Apparently there’s some sort of auction happening somewhere around here soon,” she said, arching one eyebrow. “There’s a few art galleries down the road, so it’s probably one of them auctioning off an old Monet or something.”
“Ah. Right.” I rested one elbow on the table and flashed her another bright smile. “Anyway… would you mind answering a few questions about the estate? I’m pretty clueless about it.”
She beamed back at me. “Of course.”
“Have you ever seen this woman?” I asked, bringing up a photo of my mother on my phone.
She shook her head. “I don’t think so. Why?”
“It’s my mother. I heard she visits a lot, so I was just wondering if you’ve ever spotted her.”
“Oh. No, I don’t think I’ve ever seen her.”
Weird.
“How long have you worked here?” I asked.
“A few years now.”
“So you know a lot about the general layout of the winery and the resort, right?”
She nodded. “Uh-huh. I know everything.”
“Great. How many suites are there in the resort?”
“About a hundred.”
Fuck. A hundred rooms to surreptitiously check out. That would take forever.
I leaned forward. “Are there any basement areas in the main building? Or any of the buildings?”
“There’s the stone wine cellars,” Gemma said, brows puckering. “And there’s also a basement storage area beneath the restaurant kitchen.”
“Right. Say I wanted to hide something big—or someone—around the place. Can you think of any
areas or rooms where I could do that? Would the cellar or storage areas be any good?”
Her smile wavered. “Um…”
“Sorry, let me explain,” I said, realizing how fucking creepy I sounded. “I was thinking about arranging some sort of scavenger hunt for the wedding celebrations. I’m trying to think of good places to hide stuff.”
“Oh! That sounds fun.”
“Yeah. Got any ideas?”
She curled a fist under her chin as she leaned on the table. “Well, let’s see… the wine cellars probably wouldn’t make a good hiding spot. There’s staff going in and out all day. Same with the storage areas under the main kitchen.” She stopped and hesitated, twisting her lips. Then her face brightened. “Ooh, I know! The wine tunnels would be perfect.”
“The wine tunnels?”
“Yes. They’re outside on the left, behind the main cellar.”
“What the hell is a wine tunnel?”
She smiled patiently. “They’re underground aging areas for the wine. They keep the bottles at a consistent cool temperature, even during summer. Like nature’s fridges.”
“Huh. I’ve never heard of that before.”
“It’s cool, right?”
“Yeah. Very unique.”
She shrugged. “Not really. A lot of the Californian wineries have massive wine caves and tunnels too,” she said. “The one here is worth checking out, though. I think it’d be a great place to hide things for your scavenger hunt.”
“That’s a good idea. How many tunnels are there altogether?” I asked, brows furrowing.
“There’s one big main tunnel, about a mile long,” she replied. “Then there’s a couple of smaller ones branching off from it. But we don’t use either of them.”
“Hm. Okay.” I made a mental note to check out the tunnels as soon as possible. “Thanks for the idea.”
“Is there anything else I can help with?”
“What can you tell me about the history of this place? Like the name, for instance,” I said. “I mean…. Lilith Hall is kind of a weird name, right? I’ve been wondering about it for a while now.”
“Yeah, it’s really weird,” Gemma replied. “This is hardly a hall.”
“So where did it come from?”
She leaned forward and lowered her voice again. “We aren’t supposed to talk to guests about this, but your family owns the place, so I can tell you,” she said. “Just don’t tell my manager I brought it up. She’ll totally kill me.”
“I won’t say a word.”
She beckoned me over to a nearby wall and pointed at a collage of framed photos. “See that?”
I squinted at the small picture she was referring to. It was a grainy photo of an old French-style manor with gray walls and pointy turrets. “What is it?”
“That’s the original Lilith Hall. It was built in the early nineteenth century, I think.”
“What?” I said, eyes widening. “We’re not in the real one?”
“Nope. The real one is about a mile from here.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Why aren’t you supposed to tell guests about it?”
“Long story,” she said with a rueful smile. “Basically, the managers don’t want guests hearing about it and getting any ideas about sneaking over there. It’s not safe for people to go in.”
“Why not?”
“There was some sort of fire there, ages ago. The exterior was fine, but the inside was totally gutted. I guess your family didn’t want to fix it up for some reason, so they built a new place here,” she said. “Then they decided to stop anyone from going to the old one. It’s understandable, I guess. Imagine how much trouble they’d get into if a guest wandered over and a ceiling collapsed on their head.”
“Yeah. So where is it, exactly?”
She turned and nodded toward the nearest window. “When you arrived, did you see that forest behind all the vineyards?”
“Yeah.”
“It’s in there, about a mile or so from here. Apparently the building is totally surrounded by the forest in a huge ring, so it’s impossible to see from the outside.”
My heart began to pound. That hidden building had to be where my mother and her minions were keeping Willow.
“How would someone get there if they wanted to check it out?” I asked.
Gemma’s brows furrowed. “The only road there is blocked by security guards, as far as I know, so I guess you’d have to walk through the forest. Unless you wanted to take a shortcut through the tunnels.”
Those fucking tunnels again. They were the key to all of this.
“You can access it through them?”
“Yes. The tunnels were originally built to run all the way down from the original Lilith Hall to here, where most of the vineyards are,” she said. “Remember the smaller tunnels I mentioned earlier? The ones that branch off from the main one?”
“Uh-huh.”
“One of them goes right up to the old Lilith Hall. When the fire happened and they rebuilt everything down here, they sealed it off and stopped using it. We’re all banned from going anywhere near it. Apparently it’s too unsafe.”
“I see.”
Gemma frowned. “If you’re thinking of trying to sneak in… don’t. Trust me. You’ll regret it.”
“Why?”
She let out a short sigh. “You’re gonna judge me so hard when you hear this.”
“I’ll try not to,” I said, giving her an encouraging smile.
Her cheeks flushed. “Okay, well… the older tunnels and the original Lilith Hall are…” She hesitated and averted her eyes. “They’re haunted.”
“Haunted?”
“I know how dumb it sounds,” she said. “I usually don’t even believe in that sort of stuff. But there’s definitely something wrong with that place. I wouldn’t go anywhere near it, even for a million bucks.”
“Why?”
Her lips flattened. “Well, there’s been all sorts of ghost rumors about it for decades, but that’s not why I think there’s something weird about it,” she said. She moved a little closer and lowered her voice again. “I used to work with this girl called Clara. Obviously you wouldn’t know this, because you don’t know her, but she was very outgoing and bold. Pretty reckless, too. One day she decided she wanted to sneak into the old Lilith Hall to see what it was like.”
“What happened?”
“She waited until midnight, when everything was quiet, and then she sneaked into the tunnels.”
“Right.”
“Anyway, she went as deep into the main tunnels as you can go, and about a mile down, she found the old one that branches off toward Lilith Hall. She said it wasn’t really sealed off, like the managers told us. Just covered with a heavy old wooden door. She opened it and went in. That’s when it happened.”
“What?”
“She said she was about halfway down the tunnel when she heard something. Footsteps and voices. Then she saw a flame hovering in the air. Like one of those old-fashioned torches, getting closer and closer. She was really creeped out, so she hid behind some old barrels in an alcove on the tunnel wall. When the footsteps got closer, she peeked out for a few seconds.”
“What did she see?”
“I don’t really know how to describe it properly, because I wasn’t there. But she said it was the creepiest thing she ever saw. Three people dressed head to toe in black. Not regular clothes, either. Like… long flowing robes with pointy hoods. She said they looked like huge dark specters.”
“Weird.”
“Yeah. Their faces were all twisted and gross, too. Like carnival masks.”
“Right.” I nodded slowly. All of this sounded very familiar.
“I know it sounds really dumb, but if you heard Clara tell the story…” She stopped and shuddered. “Imagine being right there at midnight, in a creepy old tunnel filled with spiderwebs, and then that shuffles past you. I’d probably pee my pants.”
“What did she do?”
“She said
she stayed behind the barrels until she finally felt brave enough to run back down to the main tunnel. Then she told us what happened the next day at work. Everyone thought she was just messing with us, but I knew her better than them. She wasn’t a liar, and she definitely wasn’t pretending to be scared. She was honestly petrified.” Gemma leaned forward again, eyes earnestly wide. “Trust me, Clara really saw something that night.”
“Does she still work here?”
“No. The story got around, and she got fired. They’re really strict about people trying to sneak into the old Lilith Hall.”
“I see. So apart from her, no one’s ever tried?”
“Not that I know of. Like I said, I wouldn’t dare.”
“That’s probably smart,” I said, nodding slowly. “Anyway, on another note… do you just do the tastings here in the cellar door, or do you handle bookings too?”
“I can do both.”
I smiled thinly. “Good. Go ahead and book that last suite for me,” I said, pulling out my wallet. “I’m definitely staying the night.”
8
Willow
“One hour to go. Hurry up.”
Liz tapped the doorframe with a fingernail before sweeping away in her black robes. I let out a sigh and looked down, knitting my hands on my lap.
“Don’t worry, Willow,” Eva said, flashing me a bright smile as she held up a makeup brush. “I’ll make you look perfect! You’ll be the prettiest girl ever sold here.”
A great wave of sadness and weariness washed over me. I took Eva’s hand and squeezed it tight. “I know you don’t understand this,” I said softly. “But I hope you do one day. I hope someone saves you and shows you what the world is supposed to look like.”
Her brows pulled together in a quizzical expression. “What are you talking about? I know what it looks like.”
I nodded slowly, too tired to argue. “If by some miracle I actually get out of this, I’ll find you and show you the rest of the world that you haven’t seen. Deal?”
She smiled again. “Deal. Now let me fix that cheek.”
My face had bruised after Jamie slapped me multiple times four days ago. Now it had faded to a dull yellow mark on my left cheek. Easily concealable with a bit of makeup. Part of me hoped it couldn’t be hidden, though. I had a twisted idea that the worse I looked up on that stage tonight, the less interested the buyers would be.