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Chapter Forty-one

The massive hotel stretched from city block to city block, surrounded by a low, hts lit the hotel, and the building&039;s sheer coh to nearly overwhel from Spanish Gothic, Mission Revival, Moorish Revival, Renaissance Revival and Mediterranean Revival I know soator, I would have been an architect And the inn was a wonder to behold

I was in a parking lot on Orange Street, along the south east side of the building There was a side opening here that I was familiar with, one that led to a small bar that Danny and I had frequented htly breaded chicken strips and listened to a talented cellist and talked about our days

Those days were long gone

Years ago, before I hable one I was running late toI was in college and working two jobs and I had barely gotten off in ti Running in high heels and clutchingwas about to start Feeling self-conscious, I sat in the back row and looked wildly forsomewhere in the front I felt like shit that I had come so late that I couldn&039;t find hiht? I had never met his cousins, and I didn&039;t know anyone in his fah theand saying prayers with everyone else

After the longish wedding, when everyone poured out into the courtyard, I was caught up by a group of women who forced me up a spiraled staircase for pictures As I continued to scan thecrowd below for rapher We took a God-awful amount of pictures, and when I was finally released, I happened to see another chapel on the far side of the courtyard Another wedding had taken place, and was just now finishing

And there, exiting through the doors, waswedding That&039;scrasher To this day, I&039;irl was in all her photos

Back when I could take photos, of course

Needless to say, that night only went froht I met Danny shortly thereafter and the rest, as they say, is history

Good tiht, as I stepped across the street and headed under the veranda and into the gloo since disappeared Now, no one played, and that was a dah the lobby and front desks, and through what appeared to be yet another lobby lined with presidential portraits I assumed these were all the presidents who had stayed here The hotel felt da spirits Hell, if I was a spirit, I would linger here, too A ghost could do worse than haunt the Mission Inn

Noith the hair onon end, I turned and sahere one spirit was sey fore boy He atchingstaircases that led up to the more expensive suites As I watched him, he took on y briefly replaced by a wispy cloud of ectoplasm Had someone chosen now to take a picture of the staircase, they would have captured an honest-to-God ghost Anyway, his eyes widened with so him in return He came to life, so to speak, and drifted i Was that a wink?

I could be wrong, but I think he was flirting withihts "Your naorously, and now other spirits see around us rapidly, like huh uely hu Some of the men even wore hats

"Now look what you started, Leland," I whispered to the teen boy

He frowned, and then shooed the other spirits away,quickly to each The others departed, so away like blazing coht a very real little girl watching us fro next to her er hooked into herspirits Kids can see far host faded in and out of clarity, so hu man who could have hailed fro out his hand as one would lead a woman to the dance floor, and only then did I notice the a over the hotel&039;s speakers A sort of jazzy/classical rag-tirandmother would listen to Had the classicalhim of his days when he was alive?

I was about to say goodbye and turn ahen I noticed so that looked like blood coating his lower jaw and staining the front of his shirt I next had the strong hit of a single word: tuberculosis

So Leland had died here at the hotel, long ago, and has been hanging around ever since, his chin and shirt forever stained with the ghostly hint of perhaps his last coughing fit

"I have to go," I whispered to him, "but thank you for the offer to dance"

As I turned to leave, I realized I had no clue how to actually get up to the do hts, because he was nodding excitedly andforrather silly, I reached out and took it - or si full well I looked silly as hell to just about everyone else Everyone, that is, but the little girl

He led h the massive hotel

Chapter Forty-two

We went through soh them, I had to open them - and once in the outside courtyard, ant restaurant that I had alanted to try Back in the day, Danny and I were too poor to dine elegantly Drinks and chicken tenders were about all we could afford

Anyway, the teen boy ledthe main artery that led down the center of the hotel, past beautiful planters and water fountains and the pool We plunged under Mediterranean Revival-style archways lit with hanging lanterns, and dashed quickly over Spanish tile that looked both ancient and i contentedly on ornate benches We passedspirits, all of which seeo

Now above us, shining like a ly beautiful north tower dohost teen disappeared through a closed door A closed locked door

A very bloody and sheepish face appeared a moment later in the center of the door Leland smiled and the ancient blood on his lower jaw alh here?" I asked

He nodded vigorously I tried the handle Locked

"I don&039;t suppose you can unlock it froain and disappeared back through the door I next heard so sounds froruesomely handsome face reappeared He shook his head sadly

I looked fro particular attention to us I then took hold of the doorknob and applied a sen of pressure

The lock shattered and the handle broke off in my hand Pieces of metal fell everywhere, inside and outside the door

Lord, I&039; lock would surely have attracted sonored the stares and pushed the door open like I belonged there I kicked the broken knob inside

Leland tookmy hand in a picnic cooler, and led me up a very narrow spiral staircase that was clearly notby how rickety and unstable it was Who used this staircase and why, I didn&039;t know, but it felt unsafe as hell

I heard the sounds of pots and pans banging, the sizzle of so an order in Spanish We were behind the kitchen, perhaps in a forgotten storage roootten staircase I suspected this old hotel, with its otten rooms and staircases

Sometimes our hands broke contact, but the teen boy would always reach back for me Sometimes I could see the concern on his face, but mostly I saw his excite system sounded louder and louder Perhaps the loudest I had ever heard it sound So loud now that even the ghost boy turned and looked at me

Jesus, had he heard my own alarm system?

There was just so much to learn about the spirit world, a world that had unexpectedly opened up to me these past few months

Noere at another door This was unlocked and soon ere standing in a very long and creepy hallway The hallway had been used for storage Now, I suspected, it was long since forgotten Old sinks and clawed bathtubs and disgusting toilets that turned my stomach