by Lily Webb
I stood stunned, unable to find words, until Jadis jabbed me in the ribs with her elbow. “What are you waiting for? He’s inviting us in,” she hissed, and practically pushed me through the door after Aron, who’d already started waddling away with his hammer thudding against the ground behind him.
Before I could talk myself out of it, I followed the dwarf across the room to an enormous desk, framed on either side by bookcases buckling under the weight of hundreds of scrolls stacked on top of each other. Aron browsed around for a while until he found the one he was looking for, then yanked it out of the pile, careful not to bring the rest tumbling down, and spread it out across the desk. It turned out to be eight pages, one for each floor in the building, including the basement and the attic. He flipped to the page for the sixth floor, tucking the others under it.
“There, have a look for yourself,” he said and smoothed out the curling paper so we could read it. Frustrated that the page continued curling, Aron slammed his hammer down on one end to hold it in place, making Jadis and I jump, but I couldn’t take my eyes off it. I needed to touch it, even for just a second, to see what I could glean from it.
Instead, I leaned over and scanned the page. Hand-sketched pencil drawings showed the exact layout of the sixth floor, and Aron was right. As far as I could tell, there were only rooms 600 through 650. The count stopped there, and there wasn’t anything on the page that could’ve been a secret door or passageway.
“Blueprints don’t lie, lassie,” Aron said with a smile when my eyes met his again. “But now you’ve got me curious. What set you chasing after this nonexistent room? You said something about a vision?”
I hesitated, unsure of how much — if anything — I should reveal to Aron about what I’d seen. Though I now had no reason to doubt he was telling the truth, I still couldn’t shake the feeling that it was a bit too coincidental for Lox and Keez to have found the key and Feal’s broom so close to his room.
Eventually, I found an excuse. “I had one, yeah, but Blair said they can mislead. Besides, I’m new to magic, so she’s probably right. I must’ve seen something incorrectly. If you built the inn and you say there’s no such room, then there’s no such room.”
“That’s all there is to it,” Aron said with a smile. “Anyway, any news about Feal yet?”
My stomach lurched, but I tried not to let it show. “Not yet, no. The imps found her broom, but they didn’t know why she’d left it or where she might’ve gone,” I said, testing the water to see if Aron would reveal anything.
“That’s too bad. I was never fond of the brownie always invading my space — I’m a tad particular about it — but I liked her otherwise. I hope she’s okay.”
“Yeah, so do we.”
Aron turned his back to us while he thought, leaving his hammer unattended and unwatched for the first time. While his thoughts distracted him, I reached behind me and gasped when my fingers grazed against the cold metal head of the hammer. I kept my fingers there, waiting and willing something to happen, but no visions came.
Aron whirled back around, and I tore my hand away from his hammer, but he didn’t seem to have noticed. “Who knows? Maybe Feal just got tied up in some cleaning spree and she’ll turn up again out of the blue when she’s finished. It wouldn’t be the first time.”
“How long has she lived in the inn?”
Aron laughed, deep and hearty. “Since I built the place. Mind you, I never asked for a brownie, but brownies never ask for permission, either. They see a mess and they invite themselves in to clean it. Once they’re in, they’ll never leave because there’s always something else to clean.”
“So, you don’t think Feal could’ve wandered off?”
Aron shot me a befuddled look. “You really must be new to magic. Brownies don’t just leave, lassie. That’s not the way they behave. The only way to scare them off is to offend them by paying them for their work with anything other than milk or honey. They want offerings of gratitude, not payment. Believe me, I’ve tried every other method.”
That was an interesting piece of information, which begged several other questions. “Oh, I see. Well, do you think there’s anyone else in the inn who might’ve wanted to see her go? Someone who might’ve paid her off just to get her to leave?”
Aron twiddled his beard with his free hand and thought for a moment. “I don’t want to say anything bad about the vampire, but now that you mention it, Emile had a nasty dustup with Feal a few nights ago.”
Emile? Really? Of all the patrons and staff in the inn, I wouldn’t have guessed he’d have gotten tied up in this. “About what?”
“I guess I’m not the only one who’s particular about their stuff and their space. Feal has a habit of coming in and rearranging everything where she thinks it should go, even when she’s been told before to leave things alone. I didn’t hear it all, but from what I gathered of Emile screaming at her, it sounded like she’d rearranged all his utensils and pots and pans overnight.”
“When did that happen?”
Aron thought for another few moments. “Thursday night, I think. Yeah, it was the night before Blair left.”
That lined up perfectly with the last time we knew someone had seen Feal in the inn. Could Emile really have done something to Feal? He seemed way too nice and docile for something like that, but then again, he was a vampire — and if Feal’s rearrangement really had set him off so badly, there wasn’t any telling what he could’ve said or done to her. He definitely would’ve been fast enough to snatch her.
“If I were you, I’d ask Emile what happened that night.”
That was exactly what I planned to do.
Chapter Eight
“I kinda like Aron,” Jadis said as we headed for the stairs to the fifth floor.
“What? Really?”
Jadis nodded, smiling. “Yeah. Sure, he’s grumpy and quirky — I mean, everyone here is in their own way, I guess — but it’s only because he likes to keep to himself. He reminds me of you.”
“Gee, thanks.”
Jadis cackled and clapped me on the shoulder. “I didn’t mean it in a bad way. Anyway, I noticed you got your paws on his hammer. Get anything from it?”
Disappointed, I shook my head. “Nope, nothing. It’s so weird. I thought for sure he knew something about Feal’s disappearance he wasn’t telling us.”
“Well, just because his hammer didn’t give you a vision doesn’t mean he isn’t hiding something,” Jadis said with a shrug. “Though, honestly, I don’t think there’s enough of a motive there for him to have wanted to hurt Feal. No one is that particular about where their things go.”
“Except for Emile, apparently,” I said, locking eyes with her.
Jadis paused on the stairs and drummed her fingers against the railing while she thought. Finally, she sighed and shook her head, her lavender curls bouncing around her face. “I dunno, that’s hard to believe. Emile’s always been so nice to us, you know? Like he bends over backwards to be hospitable. Could you really see him having a screaming fit because Feal moved his utensils around? Seems extreme to me.”
“Who knows? We’ve only been here for a day. We don’t really know what any of these people are like. So far, we’ve only seen the faces they want us to see.”
“Ha, good point. Everyone wants to make a good first impression. But I still don’t get it. Why would anyone want to make a harmless housekeeper disappear? It makes no sense.”
“It does if she saw or heard something she shouldn’t have.”
Jadis stared at me and raised a hand to her mouth. “I hadn’t thought about it like that,” she mumbled through her fingers. “Maybe this inn isn’t as charming as I thought it was.”
“Do you want to go home? I won’t stop you.”
She glared at me, indignant. “What? And leave you here alone with this going on? I don’t think so, sis,” she said, making me smile because I knew it’s how she would answer but I still needed to hear it. “Besides, I just learned th
at not only is magic real, apparently you can use it. You think I’m leaving now when I’ve been chasing after the supernatural all these years? Not over my dead body.”
I grimaced. “Phrasing, Jadis!”
“Oof, sorry. Well, you know what I meant. It wasn’t literal.”
I sure hoped not. “Anyway, come on,” I said and continued down the stairs. We’d just reached the fifth-floor landing when Emile blurred into existence in front of us carrying a reflective, domed silver tray.
“Oh, bonjour, girls,” the vampire greeted us. He raised the tray slightly. “Aron ordered room service. The dwarf is fond of my broccoli cheddar soup.”
Jadis and I exchanged looks, reading each other’s minds. It couldn’t have been better timing. “I didn’t know we could do that,” I said, and Emile smiled, the tips of his razor-sharp incisors peeking out from under his upper lip.
“Of course. Use the phone in your room and someone at the front desk will route you to the kitchen. There should be a menu in the drawer of your nightstand,” he said.
“Got it, thanks. But wait, didn’t Aron just have breakfast? He’s hungry again already?”
“Yes, the little dwarf has an obscene appetite. He just doesn’t like anyone else to know about it, so let’s keep this our little secret, oui?”
“Sure thing.” Emile smiled and made to continue on to Aron’s room. “Hey, Emile?”
The vampire paused and turned to face us. “Yes, madame?”
“Do you have a minute to talk when you’re finished with that? It’s about Feal.”
Emile’s smile faltered slightly. After a beat, he answered, “Certainly. Meet me in the kitchen. I’ll be with you right after I drop this off.”
“Great, thanks,” I said, and Jadis and I made our way to the next set of stairs leading down to the fourth floor and beyond.
“I knew I liked Aron,” Jadis said with a smile. “Broccoli cheddar soup? Good taste. But where does he put all that food? Does he have a magically expanding stomach or something?”
“I guess anything is possible,” I laughed. “Something I don’t understand is why Emile took the stairs instead of using the elevator.”
“Maybe he wants the exercise?” Jadis suggested, and we snickered together. “In all seriousness, though, the elevator is probably slower for him. You’ve seen how fast he moves.”
“True,” I said as we arrived on the third-floor landing. I glanced down the hall at the rooms occupied by the two other guests staying in the hotel and jolted when I saw a bandage-wrapped face peeking out at us through the cracked door of room 321. As soon as our eyes met, Tara Dupree slammed her door shut, and I heard the lock click into place. Seconds later, a deep moan carried out from under the door.
“That was weird,” Jadis whispered. “What’s her deal, anyway?”
“No idea. She creeps me out, though, so let’s keep going,” I said, and we hurried down the remaining stairs to the ground floor. Blair stood at the front desk scribbling in a large binder with a deep purple feather quill pen. It swished and flicked through the air with each of her graceful swoops.
“Hey, Aunt Blair,” I called to her as we approached.
“Hello, girls,” she said without looking up. “How did your time with Aron go? I bet I can guess.”
I rested my elbows on the upper marble surface of the desk. “Better than you’d think, actually. He showed us the original blueprint of the inn, and it looks like there really isn’t a room numbered 666 here.”
Blair clapped her pen down against the pad and looked up at me with a smile. “Well, that’s that, isn’t it?” She winked at me. “I hate to say I told you so, love, but I told you so.”
“Yeah, yeah, I guess I should’ve listened. Anyway, what are you up to?”
“Ms. Dupree just called and requested to extend her stay, so I was making a record of it.”
“Are you sure she’s okay?” Jadis asked, and I glared at her.
“Wow, rude much?”
Jadis shrugged. “What? I’m honestly worried. Nobody should wear bandages like that for so long. Did something, I dunno, go wrong with her surgery?”
“That’s none of our business, right, Blair?” I asked, and she opened her mouth to answer, but another voice beat her to the punch.
“I like to call her Moan Rivers.”
I turned and found Delia Rune standing behind us in simple black robes with her thick book tucked under one arm. Her bold red lipstick popped against the contrast of her porcelain skin, and her eyes flashed from behind the pair of glasses perched on the end of her nose. She must’ve been on her way back up to her room.
Delia snorted at the appalled look I knew must’ve spread across my face. “Moan Rivers. Get it? Because she’s always moaning? Ugh, whatever, I think it’s funny,” she said and swatted a hand through the air to dismiss our unstated disapproval. “Haven’t you heard her up there wailing like the drama queen she is?” she asked and rolled her eyes. “Honestly? She’s insufferable. Try living next to her for a while, you’d feel the same way. I swear to Lilith, I can’t concentrate for more than five minutes without her crying. Why do you think I spend so much time in the kitchen?”
I stood speechless, staring at her. Apparently, the two witches staying in the inn weren’t particularly fond of each other. Delia had a point, though; from the few interactions I’d had with Tara, she didn’t strike me as the most well-adjusted person I’d ever met.
“If it’s true that she’s staying longer, then surely you can move her somewhere else, right, Blair? This is killing me,” Delia said. “You’ve got more rooms than you know what to do with, anyway.”
Aunt Blair offered her a weak smile. “Unfortunately, Ms. Dupree is insistent on keeping her room.”
“I don’t mind changing rooms if that’s what it takes to get away from her. Might as well do it now before the other rooms fill up.”
“Okay, then Kiki and I will see what we can do for you, Ms. Rune.”
“Good. Make it quick, please. I’m losing my mind up there,” Delia said and charged toward the elevator. It dinged to announce its arrival, and she slid the grate aside to step in, then pulled the grate closed. She smiled and waved daintily at us as she rose and disappeared.
“She seems nice,” Jadis mumbled, and Aunt Blair bit her lip to keep from laughing.
“Some guests are lower maintenance than others, that’s for sure. Anyway, where are you two off to now?”
“We passed Emile on the way down. He was bringing Aron room service, so we’re meeting him in the kitchen when he’s done. Aron told us Emile and Feal, uh, ‘exchanged words’ after Feal rearranged the kitchen while you were gone.”
Blair sighed. “Yes, Kiki mentioned something about that to me last night. I can’t believe Feal did it again.”
I leaned against the desk and lowered my voice. “Again? Do you think there’s anything to it?”
Blair raised one side of her mouth skeptically. “Though the two of them have butt heads frequently over the years, I would be very surprised. I can’t imagine what must’ve been going through Feal’s head, though. Emile has asked her repeatedly to leave the kitchen alone. Understandably, not knowing where his things are slows him down while cooking, but would that drive him to hurt her? I really don’t think so. Vegetarians aren’t known for being violent, even if they’re of the vampire variety.”
“Well, I guess we’ll find out,” I said and knocked on the marble. “Good luck with Delia.”
Blair chuckled. “Thanks. I’m sure I’ll need it.”
Jadis and I left Blair to her work and made our way to the dining room. Unsurprisingly, given that we’d already run into everyone in the inn in some fashion, no one sat at the table.
“Should we wait for Emile here, or…?”
“I dunno. Seems like he spends more time in the prep room, so why don’t we wait there?”
“Sounds good to me. Maybe I can steal some food while we’re at it,” Jadis said with a devilish smile
. When I shot her a disapproving look, she shrugged. “What? I didn’t get enough for breakfast.”
“Fair enough,” I said and led her through to the prep room which, for the first time, didn’t echo with the sound of Emile furiously chopping or otherwise preparing food. Jadis wandered around the room, taking it all in.
“Where do you think the refrigerator is back here? There has to be one for all the supplies, right?”
“Probably, yeah, and a big one at that.”
“I bet it’s back here,” Jadis said and pointed at another door at the far end of the room. “Let’s go check it out,” she said, and without waiting for me, she disappeared through the door. Annoyed, I hurried after her but froze when I pushed the swinging door open.
“Emile?” I asked, puzzled at the sight of him standing in front of a massive open refrigerator, hunched over one of the shelves. How the heck had he gotten down here without notice? He had the gift of super speed, but even with that, surely one of us in the foyer would’ve seen him blurring down the stairs. Unless he took another route I wasn’t aware of?
The vampire jumped and tensed, then turned with a nervous smile. He cautiously held a large bowl of what looked like milk in his hands, careful not to drop it. “Ah, hello, girls. Is there something I can help you with?”
Jadis and I looked at each other, and the confusion on her face must’ve matched mine. We’d just talked to him a few minutes prior, and he’d agreed to meet us here. Had he forgotten about that already?
“Yeah. You asked us to meet you here, remember?” I asked, and Emile’s expression brightened. He set the bowl of milk on a long, steel table that lined the wall to the right of the refrigerator.
“Ah, yes, of course. Oh, là-là. Forgive me, I’m just so flustered with my kitchen out of order,” he said.
“Yeah, we’ve heard. Feal’s handiwork?” Jadis asked.
A guarded look flashed across Emile’s face. “Yes, yes. She and I, well, we don’t always see eye-to-eye, figuratively and literally.”