Page 37 of The Devil and His Ghost

Kendyll ignored me. “Thank you for having us and for letting us buy out the inn for the week while our team is here. It makes filming much easier.”

“You’re here on your own for the first three days, right?”

“That’s right,” Kendyll answered as she followed the hobbling woman to a closed door with a plaque that read The Violet Room. “We’ve found that having someone here prior to the real filming helps with productivity. We can set up cameras and mics in active areas, as well as see what equipment the ghosts at every location prefer speaking through. It makes it much easier to figure out the best shooting locations as far as paranormal activity goes. I’m in charge of handling all of that so Bethelma can work without issue when she arrives.”

“What a thought-out plan,” the woman gushed.

“Yes. What a thought-out excuse for the fake medium to get the real Ghost Speaker in early to obtain all the goods,” I praised, nudging Kendyll.

Kendyll jostled sideways from the force, and Wendy gaped excitedly upon seeing her off-balance. “Is it already starting? The spirits here really know how to welcome someone! Don’t be alarmed if they touch you. The Gilded Inn’s ghosts are very friendly.”

Kendyll forced an agreeable laugh, but the minute the woman turned away to unlock the door, she glared at me.

“Oops,” I shrugged innocently.

Kendyll faced forward again to follow Wendy into the bedroom. Wendy handed her some papers containing the inn’s history and reported ghost sightings while continuing her expressive fangirling. Eventually, the short and stubby woman left.

With the door closed, I shed the shadows that kept me hidden and sank onto the velvet purple chair in the corner of the room. “How unfortunate. It looks like the only ghosts you’ll be getting for this episode are the made-up ones.”

Kendyll groaned and tossed the binderclipped papers onto the lush bed. She placed her hands on her hips, which were hugged by ripped black jeans. A gray long-sleeve shirt pulled tight over her curvy torso, and those green eyes narrowed on me from behind her glasses. “Why are you here?”

“Because you are,” I answered with a wink.

“I told you we’d contact you when you were wanted.”

I placed a hand over my chest and gasped in mock hurt. “And here I thought my sweet Ghost always wanted me around. Does our bond mean so little to you, Kendyll? I’m wounded.”

She rubbed at her forehead, making me have to fight my laugh. It was true she basically told me not to come for this shoot, but being told not to do something only made me want to do it more. Since I knew she’d be here from our conversation the night prior, I’d popped over to the establishment right as Wendy was checking her in. Kendyll’s wide-eyed stare upon seeing me appear would give me a good laugh for a long time.

“Aren’t you glad I’m here now?” I asked, getting to my feet to help her put her suitcase on the luggage rack. I waved off her efforts to do it, laying out her other bags, too. “I mean, there’s not a goddamn ghost here. You’d be utterly bored in this place for three whole days alone.”

She pursed her lips and flipped through the history papers she’d been given. “Maybe the ghosts are just hiding because they sensed a demon showing up.”

“Or maybe,” I started, snatching the papers from her. She glared at me while I waved them around out of her reach. “This whole place is fake. Fake history, fake ghost stories.”

She tried to take the papers back, but I raised my hand, holding them farther out of reach. She huffed and shook her head before surveying the room. True to its name, everything in it was purple. Deep purple comforter on the canopy bed, violet padded furnishings, lavender curtains, purple carpet, and dark violet lamp shades.

According to the briefing Wendy gave Kendyll that I eavesdropped on, the room belonged to Violet Wisenberg, the original owner of the inn when it was an estate, but I called bullshit. While standing in the main hall, check-in area, and the second floor, I hadn’t caught one glimpse of the alleged spirit who supposedly floated through the inn, greeting people into her home from beyond the grave.

“I haven’t looked around the whole place yet, so there’s still a chance someone’s here,” Kendyll argued like the stubborn woman she was. She gently pushed me aside to grab a camera and spiral bound notebook and pen. “So if you’ll excuse me, I have ghosts to find and talk to.”

She left the bedroom, so I blended back into the shadows and trailed after her. When she noticed me tagging along, she rolled her eyes. “If the spirits are hiding because of you, they aren’t going to come out with you following me.”

“What should we get for lunch?”

She whipped her head around to stare at me. “Are you ignoring me?”

“In the same way you’ll be ignored by the ‘ghosts’ here. Just making sure you get used to it.” I gestured around the dimly lit carpeted hallway connecting the five bedrooms of the second floor. “So what’s our mission as the pre-show ghost hunters?”

She must’ve realized shaking me off was futile because she blew out a weary breath and flipped open her notebook about halfway. Writing in every color littered the pages she passed before she landed on a mostly clean sheet. “The Gilded Inn” was scrawled at the top of this one in purple ink.

“To start, I walk around and find any spirits that are lingering around the location. I talk to them and jot down their stories, which I use to build my information report for Bethelma. I also snap photos and videos of the ones who are okay with being used in the show.”

I snorted. “No wonder Haunted Days and Nightmares is renowned for having the best physical evidence in paranormal history. You know exactly where ghosts are to capture them on film and make little pacts with them, too.”

A proud smile curled the corner of her lip. “They are some pretty cool pictures. I always let the ghosts see the shots and retake them if they think they can gain more energy to do it better. We have fun with our little phantom photo shoots.”

The Scarlet Room was across from The Violet Room, and that was where Kendyll headed first. And wouldn’t you know it? It was red. The creativity of the inn owners astounded me.