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“Good morning! It’s time to rise and shine!”

“There will be no shining. God.” Grant laughed. “What time did you get up?”

“Oh, I’ve been up since seven. Took a little power nap and then boom, headed off to the library. Everybody else is still snoozing, but you’re gonna wanna hear this.”

“What?”

“I know what’s possibly haunting our mysterious deadly staircase of doom.” Aurora fished out an article from a big stack of papers on the desk. “Here.”

“What am I reading?” Grant rubbed his eyes and tried to focus. “What is it?”

“An ancient tree god!”

“Huh?”

“Do you know much about the Aztecs?”

“Uh.” Grant blinked. “Ancient people? Lived in Mexico?”

“Yes!” Aurora replied. “Lots of gods, human sacrifice, very exciting stuff.”

“What does this have to do with the hotel?”

“Hang on. I’ll get there, okay?” Aurora assured him. “Just listen. The Aztecs had a super special relationship with trees. Some of their gods had turned into trees this one time to lift up the sky and save the world from a big flood, so cutting them down was a big deal. Only certain people could do it, there were priests involved, lots of prayers, all this crazy stuff.”

“Okay. With you so far. Trees. Important.” Grant gave a thumbs-up. “Got it.”

“Right. Some historians believe that the Aztecs actually thought some of their gods might be inside the trees, so they had to be careful which ones they chopped down. And then there’s the super fun local legend that claims the Aztecs weretrappinggods in them. Like, using the trees as a prison to hold some of the bad ones. And oh, by the way, may it be known that our good buddy Mr. Charles wanted lots of very special exotic woods for his super fancy hotel.”

“Oh no.”

“Oh yes.” Aurora grinned. “That article is from 1886. It’s about a riot that broke out at the train station when the workers were loading up lumber. It was cut from this thousand-year-old tree the locals claimed was holding a really bad spirit and they were super pissed about it.”

“And that lumber?” Grant already knew.

“An unusually deep red mahogany, the very same used to build the Eastern Stairs.”

“Well, shit.” Grant rubbed his forehead. “So, the lumber came from a tree that might have been a prison for an ancient evil spirit that dates back to the Aztecs?”

“Yup.”

“Great. Wonderful. Anything else?”

“Oh! The Aztecs used mahogany seeds to make makeup.”

“Not helpful.”

“Let’s be real,” Aurora said. “The chances of it being a god are ridiculous. But if inhuman spirits are energy like we believe other ghosts are, it’s totally possible it could have attached itself to that tree and got carried all the way here.”

“Making it at least a thousand years old.” Grant kept rubbing his forehead. “And probably not happy that its tree got cut down?”

“Would explain why it hasn’t left. Or maybe it can’t. Maybe it’s stuck?”

“I don’t know.” Grant frowned. “Most of the spiritual attachments to objects we’ve seen have been residual.”

“Right. But this thing kills.”

“What kills?” Janice demanded as she walked into the office. “Are you guys having a meeting without me? You know any relevant historical findings should be reviewed on camera, and you’re supposed to notify production immediately.”

Source: www.allfreenovel.com
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