Spellbound

Original Edition: Eight

I spent part of the next day skimming the pool of fall leaves. As tempting as it had been to return to the passage in wall and find a way into the dickhead's secret lair, I couldn't get past how Larry told me their privacy was important to Hazel and to go against her wishes would be a dishonor to her memory. So, to keep from looking for the entrance to their room, I busied myself with menial tasks around the hotel and this one topped them all. No one in New England bothered with their pool in late October.

I pushed the net through the water until my arms ached, and I had no choice but to drop the pole on the pool deck and sit down. I watched the water ripple over the tiles in different shades of blue spotted with mustard yellow at the bottom. My mind ran rampant with question after question. If the twins were ghosts, why did they look so real? And who ever heard of an aging ghost? But what troubled me the most was the fact that two men were living in the hotel walls...since the 1800s. Or were they?

Maybe the women in my family were part of some crazy sex cult. They took young men and stored them away until they had a need for them. They tied them up on those cross things and used horse whips on them—the kinky stuff people always deny being curious about.

"For fuck's sake, Gemma. Why not just have a sex cult in the open? The world has seen more insane things than that. Hell, it would look pretty normal about now." I grabbed the pool net, walked to the side of the deck, and placed it along the wall inside the stone gazebo.

As I wandered to the back entrance of the hotel, a chill ran down my spine and I had the overwhelming feeling of being watched. I lifted my gaze to the balcony right below the bell tower, where a figure stood. He gripped the iron railing with both hands and stared down at me. I fought the urge to flip him off but was scared that it might be the wrong brother. So, I gave him a halfhearted wave before stepping onto the porch. I might as well play friendly with my new neighbors—even if they were lingering participants in Hazel's kinky cult—at least, until I figured out who they were and what to do with them.

After a quiet dinner with my brother in the bar and showing him to his room for the duration of his stay, I retreated to Hazel's room. My curiosity was getting the better of me, and I was anxious to calm it in some way. I gathered the plans with the passages and set off to do some exploring. Hazel would be disappointed if I intruded on her beloved twins, but I didn't think she would have any qualms about me searching the rest of the hidden passages.

With the plans and an extra flashlight in a satchel slung over my arm, I opened the first door I came upon, the one in the corner of the front room, and slipped inside. The corridor was pitch black, and I fumbled for the flashlight before I could freak myself out. I clicked it on, shining it down the narrow hallway.

The passage was surreal—the walls and floor made of stone, and the surface was could to the touch. My skin prickled with fear and unease, but I kept walking, determined to satiate at least a little of my curiosity surrounding the hotel layout.

I don't know how long I had been walking, but eventually I heard a noise coming from my left. I leaned closer to the wall and listened.

It was a man and a woman, and they were...moaning? I snorted behind my hand and kept moving. Nothing like a little after dinner treat, I thought, watching my feet as I walked.

I wondered what the purpose of these passages were. It made no sense to have a secondary way into the rooms when the hotel guests were prone to let the cleaning staff inside. Why would someone need to sneak around behind the scenes? My eyes grew wide and I clicked my tongue. This was how the hotel appeared to be haunted. If those guys were wandering these passages, they could be making all kinds of noises. What a clever way to ensure that guests left with a spooky story.