Hotel Ruby

  “Who should we meet first?” she asks. “We haven’t been out here in months, maybe longer. But I bet we can find Aras—he’s an old spirit. Older than the Hotel Ruby, I think.”

  I gulp, uncertain if she’s kidding and then annoyed at myself for falling for this. I roll my eyes and then tug on her arm to stop. “Let’s go back,” I say. “It’s colder out here.”

  “Just wait,” Lourdes murmurs, pulling ahead and ignoring my plea to return. The air has gone quiet, with the exception of Joshua, who I can hear laughing somewhere in the distance. The sound of it is comforting, grounding me in reality.

  “We’re almost there,” Lourdes says, aiming her light at a small, worn path winding through some overgrown bushes. I wrap my arms around myself, the temperature continuing to drop the farther on we walk. It’s only minutes, but then the light slides across an empty space, falling on a large object. I stagger to a stop, unsure of what I’m seeing at first.

  Lourdes bursts ahead, jogging forward just as Joshua and the others come through from another path, their lights trained on the same object.

  It’s a fountain, or at least it used to be. Now it’s just a stone statue, ivy and moss crawling up the sides and filling the basin to distort the figure. Lourdes and the others go over to set their flashlights in the second tier of the stone, illuminating the area before sitting on the surrounding bench. Joshua already has the cooler open, handing out drinks, but I take a second to look around. The Ruby looms large behind us, although none of the light from its windows travels to where we are.

  We may only be just outside the garden area, but it’s a world away. The overgrown brush hides us completely from view, and in this small clearing, nature has created our own little playground.

  “Audrey,” Joshua calls, holding out a drink to me. I smile and meet him at the fountain to take it. The others watch me, and when I take a sip, they seem to relax, saying it’s been too long since they’ve been here.

  “What is this place?” I ask, sitting next to Lourdes. The stone is cold through my jeans, and I shiver at the touch. Tanya moves to sit on Joshua’s lap, her arm draped over his shoulders. Casey and Warren lounge back against the mossy fountain. Warren pulls a small, clear bottle out of his coat pocket and pours it into his glass, then hands the rest of the bottle over to Casey to swig from.

  “The memorial,” Lourdes says. She sets down her drink and then turns and grabs one of the flashlights. She begins to pull back the ivy and brush moss from a section in the middle of the second tier of the fountain. “See?” She steadies the light on a small patina plaque.

  IN HONOR OF THE VICTIMS OF THE 1937 FIRE—MAY YOUR WANDERING SOULS FIND PEACE.

  “What the hell does that mean?” I ask, meeting Lourdes’s eyes. “Did they expect them to haunt the place? That’s a pretty creepy tribute.”

  She laughs and returns the flashlight before snatching up her drink. “They didn’t put this memorial up until five years later, five or ten,” she says, like the difference doesn’t matter. “They’d been getting complaints from guests who had all manner of troubles. Broken glasses, missing objects, cold touches on their skin. People stopped wanting to stay here, so the owners put up this memorial in a place where regular guests wouldn’t find it, but where the ghosts could. They thought maybe they just wanted some recognition.”

  Joshua laughs and takes a long drink. “A dilapidated fountain would certainly make me stop haunting,” he says. “Much more honorable than, say, a funeral.”

  I set my drink aside, the mention of a funeral still too fresh to let it slide over me. Sickness starts to twist inside my gut. “What do you mean?” I ask. “Were there no funerals?”

  “Not for everyone,” Lourdes says. “Some people didn’t have family, no one to notify. Legend says their bodies, or what was left of them, got tossed back here somewhere. They could have built this fountain right over them. Doubt that would offer them much peace.”

  “They need an exorcism,” Tanya says from Joshua’s lap. “If they want to get rid of the ghosts, they need to send them on.”

  The others scoff at her, sounding offended that she even mentioned it.

  “What?” she asks, smiling. “Wouldn’t you rather watch some weak old men in robes toss holy water on the place? I think it’d be hilarious.”

  “I wouldn’t,” Lourdes says, turning back to me. “I like the place just the way it is—ghosts and all.” She grins and then holds out her bottle to toast me. “Besides,” she adds, tossing a look back at Tanya, “we’d be out of a job if they got rid of the ghosts.”

  “It’s true,” Joshua says, shaking his head. I’m starting to suspect they’re all a little drunk, and in that moment I realize I’m a little drunk too. “I’m still waiting for one of those ghosts to happen into my room at night,” Joshua mumbles. “I don’t discriminate between the living and the dead.”

  “You’re disgusting,” Tanya says. She must not mean it, though, because she leans in and kisses him. Next to me, Lourdes sighs and rests her back against the fountain.

  “So who should we call?” she asks, rolling her head to face me. “Last time Eli had us summon a little old lady, but she never showed.”

  “Elias was here?” I ask, surprised. Lourdes bites down on her lip and then gives me a teasing smile. I may have sounded a little overeager at the mention of his name.

  “When Tanya became a staff member, he came out to celebrate with us,” Lourdes says. “Really, I think he was trying to avoid Catherine. She’s a psy—”

  “Psychopath?” I offer.

  “Exactly. Anyway, we came down here and tried to wake the dead. Nothing happened, though, except Tanya ended up falling in the fountain and busting open her lip. That was a fun explanation when we went back inside.”

  I look up to find the Ruby, a few lights on in the upper rooms. I wonder what Elias is doing right now—and if he’s doing it with Catherine. Disappointment (or is it jealousy?) starts to darken my spirits. But then I remember all the times I wished for Ryan to cheat on me, just so I’d have a reason to break up with him. Jealousy is an interesting change.

  “I think we should call on Lennox,” Lourdes says definitively. “He was the desk clerk on the night of the fire. They say he actually tried to open the doors to let people out, but the other guests held him back. He ended up getting trampled.” Her expression sags. “That’s so sad, isn’t it?” She glances at me, the perfect arches of her eyebrows pulled in. “He was trying to help.”

  “It’s disturbing,” I whisper, feeling all at once the mood has shifted. A prickling of cold air, a cold touch, starts to crawl up my arm. I swallow hard.

  Lourdes closes her eyes and tips her head back. “Lennox,” she calls. “Lennox, we’re here to wake you. Come out, come out, wherever you are.”

  I don’t want Lennox to come out. Not at all. I sip nervously from my drink and dart my gaze in every direction, waiting for a white apparition to float in, scaring the shit out of me. The others quiet, but I wish they wouldn’t. I want them to laugh, acknowledge everything is normal and that waking up ghosts isn’t an actual thing. Not even at a memorial. I take another drink, and then my bottle is empty. I set it aside in the grass and look over at the others, startled when I find them watching me.

  “Do you hear him?” Lourdes asks, her eyes glassy and wide. My entire body has started to shiver, my lips have gone numb. I’m about to tell her I want, no, I need to leave, when there’s a rustling in the bushes.

  I snap my head in that direction and jump up from where I was sitting at the fountain. My heart rate explodes, pure panic rushing in. Before I can even scream, a figure appears and I think I might faint. I smother my mouth and fall back a step, the world starting to spin.

  But as the apparition comes into focus, the others start to laugh. The shaved head, the green jacket. It’s Jerome from the roof, holding four bottles in each hand. He looks directly at me, smiling broadly. “Did they get ya?” he asks.

  I can barely catch
my breath, still shaking too hard to talk. I look at Lourdes and she stands, throwing her arm over my shoulders. “I’m sorry, Audrey,” she says through her laughs. “We did the same thing to Tanya when she came here. Scared her senseless.”

  Tanya nods emphatically. “Had nightmares for a week,” she says. “This one”—she nods at Joshua—“decided it’d be even funnier if they all turned off the flashlights first. I fell in the damn fountain.”

  “Blood everywhere,” Joshua says, making wide circles with his arms. He notices Tanya glaring at him. “It was sad,” he adds unconvincingly. Tanya swats his shoulder and stands from his lap, going over to sit with Casey and Warren instead. She’s not mad, though; she’s laughing at herself with the others.

  “Sorry, darlin’,” Jerome says. “Lourdes thought you’d appreciate a little initiation.” He leans in to kiss her cheek, attraction plain on his face. Lourdes winks at him and takes one of the drinks he’s holding. Jerome walks over to talk with the others, and my fear is fading into an adrenaline rush.

  “You’re not mad, are you?” Lourdes asks tentatively. She lowers her arm and stands back a step to look me over. “I didn’t mean to—”

  “I’m not mad,” I say. “Honest.” Now that I know a real ghost isn’t traipsing in to take over my body, I’m having fun again. I grab another drink, and the others burst into laughter every time they look at me, and eventually none of us can keep a straight face.

  “Was there really even a Lennox?” I demand, turning to Lourdes.

  “No,” she says, shaking her head. “I made him up.” She pauses, looking at the Ruby and taking a swig from her drink. “No one tried to help them out of the ballroom that night. They just let them all burn.”

  Chapter 7

  I’m not sure how long we’re outside, but Tanya and Warren have sneaked off into the trees, while Casey and Joshua are laughing and whispering on the other side of the fountain. Although Lourdes hasn’t abandoned me, she and Jerome keep exchanging glances that I’m not part of. She reminds me of Daniel, the way everyone’s drawn to her. Only she handles the attention with humility rather than pride.

  I wonder what time it is. I never know what time it is anymore.

  My drink is empty, and I make the conscious decision not to have any more tonight. As it is, I’m not sure how I’ll feel when Elias is done with his party. An ache starts in my arm, deep in the bone. It’s the same pain I had before bed. I roll my shoulder.

  “You okay?” Lourdes asks, turning to me. From the bushes Tanya and Warren stumble back in, midlaugh.

  “My arm hurts,” I tell Lourdes like it’s no big deal. “I’m fine, though. Probably just pulled a muscle.”

  Lourdes hands Jerome her drink and climbs to her feet. Joshua leans forward, checking to see what’s going on. “Come on,” Lourdes says to me. “It’s getting late.” She turns to look at where Joshua and Casey have gotten close. “And weird.” Joshua chuckles. “If your arm hurts,” Lourdes continues, “I have some muscle relaxers in my room that should do the trick.”

  “That shit doesn’t work,” Tanya says, dropping down next to Jerome. Her face is flush, even in the meager shine of the flashlights.

  “It’ll work for her,” Lourdes responds quietly. “She’s not as desensitized as the rest of us.”

  “Lourdes collects the leftovers,” Joshua explains to me. “Clothes, magazines, pills—she’s her own mini-mart. It’s how we stay current around here.”

  “You’ll always be a cad, Joshua,” Tanya says. “No amount of culture will change that.” She glares at Casey, and the girl shrinks away, obviously intimidated. Warren shoots Tanya a pointed look, and sits next to Casey.

  Joshua puts his hand over his heart. “I’m wounded,” he tells Tanya mockingly. “Kiss it and make it better.” He flashes a devilish grin, but Lourdes takes my arm to help me up before I see if Tanya accepted his offer.

  I don’t really want a muscle relaxer. I’ve tried them, tried everything in the medicine cabinet after my mother died. Muscle relaxers just put me to sleep. And I don’t want to sleep. I want to find Elias, and kiss him. I put my fingers over my lips, holding back the wild laugh that wants to escape. This is so not like me. Or . . . maybe it is. I’ll go with Lourdes to get the medication, but after that I’m going straight to the front desk. And I’m asking for my invitation to the ballroom party.

  The elevator whines as it lowers us deeper into the hotel. Lourdes is standing near the gate, and now that we’re alone, I can finally find out exactly what my brother has gotten himself into with his latest bad decision. “Can I ask you something?”

  Lourdes looks over her shoulder at me, biting down on her lip like she’s trying to hold back a smile. “Of course.”

  “What’s the deal with Catherine?” I try to keep the annoyance out of my voice.

  “I was wondering when you were going to ask about her,” she says, resting her shoulder against the wall. “I noticed you flinched every time her name was mentioned.”

  “I did?” I’m mortified that I’m so easy to read.

  “You don’t have to worry about Eli,” she says simply. “They’ve been over for a long time.” Despite her reassurance, the comment has the opposite effect. I suspected they’d had a relationship, but I kind of liked avoiding thinking about it. My stomach sinks, and I wonder what Lourdes’s idea of “a long time” is.

  “And Joshua?” I ask, worried for Daniel. “Is she dating him now?”

  “Catherine never dates anybody,” Lourdes says. “At least not long-term. Not since Eli.”

  Oh, this keeps getting better and better. Rather than ask Lourdes for the details, I decide to wait to ask Elias himself. No sense dragging Lourdes into this and furthering my humiliation. If I had any sense at all, I’d walk away from this summer-camp romance with Elias. But having any emotion beyond grief is too enticing. I checked my logic at the door of the Ruby. The elevator shudders to a stop.

  “My brother’s been hooking up with Catherine,” I say simply. “I’m guessing he should stop that?”

  “Definitely.” Lourdes pulls the gate to the side with a clang. I don’t ask anything else about Catherine because the fact that my brother is kissing the ex-girlfriend of the guy I’m almost kissing is gross enough for me to tell Daniel to knock it off.

  “Sorry to bring you here again,” Lourdes says. “I’ve recently been relocated to the basement.” Beyond her the hallway is dimly lit, depressing and lonely.

  “Why were you moved? Was it part of your suspension?” I ask. I can’t believe she has to live in the basement. It’s cold and there aren’t even any windows.

  “Pretty much. I suck at following the house rules,” she says with a smile. Lourdes walks out of the elevator, and I have to jog to keep pace. The gray hallway ends, splitting off in two directions. She takes a right, and the tiles are replaced by dark carpet, red walls.

  “So what do you think of the Ruby so far?” Lourdes asks, and stops to motion around us. “It’s beautiful, right?”

  “Sure,” I say. “And your creepy story aside, I think it’s kind of fun. My dad seems better. Dinner ended with me in tears, but that’s not exactly news.” I slow as a sense of guilt wraps around me. Can I really blame my dad for his comment about my reckless behavior? Isn’t it my fault that we’re here in the first place?

  Lourdes turns, her eyebrows pulled together. I wave off her concern. “It’s fine,” I say. “He hasn’t really been himself the last couple of months. I don’t think any of us have.”

  “What happened?” She shifts uncomfortably. “If you don’t mind me asking.”

  “My mother died three months ago.” The words come out automatically and I hate them. I hate how easy they’ve become to say. “My father couldn’t handle the grief—none of us could.” Lourdes makes a sympathetic sound and puts her hand on my arm. Her fingers are cold; the touch reminds me of my mother. Sets me at ease.

  “This hotel is a nice vacation from life,” Lourdes says quietly. “
It can be great—you’ll see.” She starts down the hallway again. “Just keep off Kenneth’s radar,” she adds. “Make sure your brother does too. He likes to keep things in order. And if they’re not . . .” She trails off, and I’m confused how a concierge can have so much power over an entire establishment.

  “You can report him if he’s harassing you,” I say, thinking of stories where employees banded together to sue big corporations. “You can report him to management—”

  “He is the management,” Lourdes says, spinning to face me. “Kenneth is the authority at the Ruby, and he can do as he wishes. I’ve tried everything possible, Audrey. I’m only telling you this now because I like you. And if you stay here, I want you to be prepared.”

  “Prepared?” I ask. My arm continues to hurt, and I rub at it absently, wondering if the concierge means to hurt me. “Wait,” I say. “If I stay? Like . . . beyond my reservation? As a job? I don’t think my father would go for it either way. He has other plans for my summer.” My heart sinks as I think about my grandmother’s attic.

  Lourdes’s shoulders sag, as if she can read my thoughts. “See,” she says, “this is why we never talk about life outside the hotel. Good or bad, it affects us.” She turns to point down the hallway toward a room. “That’s me,” she says. “I’ll grab the bottle and be right out.”

  I nod, rubbing my forearm. Lourdes disappears inside the room, and I lean against the wall, alone. Above me there is a clunk, something heavy hitting the floor, and I look up. In the silence that follows, my thoughts turn to my brother.

  I haven’t seen Daniel in a while. He must be around because Catherine would be at the party. Unless he decided to go with her. Would Daniel go without telling me?

  Lourdes’s door opens and she walks out, a pill bottle in one hand and a glass of water in the other. As she approaches, I shrug apologetically.

  “To be honest,” I say, “I don’t think I need a muscle relaxer.”