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ChapterSix
“You probably know a little about the hotel already, yes?” Dominika asked as the elevator dinged and the doors opened to the lobby.
“A little, yes. I read everything I could, admittedly. I know it’s been in your family for a few generations. And I can certainly understand the resistance to selling.”
She pressed her red lips into a tight smile.
“As you observed, it is a point of contention in our family. My brothers are very staunchly divided on the matter.”
“And what about you?”
Dominika paused and sighed. “I, too, am divided. It’s not an easy decision for any of us. But, I didn’t invite you along to talk business. I’m not trying to make things awkward. I just wanted you to really understand this place.”
“I appreciate that.”
“So, yes, my great-grandfather bought the old building and renovated it into a hotel. The building has royal roots, you know. Or noble ones at least. It was built by Karl Joseph, some Habsburg noble. But of course, after theAustro-Hungarian Empire fell, he was ousted and the building went into disrepair. My great-grandfather had a dream of a more luxurious Prague,” she laughed as she said it. “Of course, that vision was crushed by our dear friends to the east during the soviet years. But somehow, my grandparents and parents kept it alive. And finally, once the wall came down and the curtain lifted, we found our little slice of glamor. For a while, it was really prospering. We were one of the only higher-end hotels in this neighborhood. But eventually, things grew around us. Prague became more popular with tourists. The property got older, and it was harder and harder to maintain it.”
She paused, looking longingly around for a moment before continuing. “The original building has a bit of a morbid past, as all great European structures do.”
“How many people were tortured to death here then?” I asked wryly. She chuckled.
“Probably a few. During World War I it was taken over and used as a makeshift prison for high-ranking officers. I imagine things got a little…messy.” Her red lips spread into a wicked little smile.
I shuddered and laughed.
We continued on and she led me through the less trodden parts of the hotel, her voice a hushed thread weaving through the dimly lit corridor. As we descended a narrow staircase leading to the lower levels, the air grew cooler, and the modern trappings of the hotel above seemed to fade away, leaving behind the bones of a much older structure.
Reaching the bottom, Dominika paused before an unassuming wall, pressing on a section of the wood paneling that gave way with a silent gasp, revealing a hidden door.
"This place also has more secrets than rooms.”
I sucked in a breath.
"During the last renovation, we discovered something unexpected," she said, pushing the door open to reveal a chamber seemingly untouched by time.
The room was a circular space, with walls lined by shelves filled with dust-covered tomes and strange artifacts that looked as though they had been plucked from a sorcerer's personal collection. At the center stood a heavy wooden table, its surface a labyrinthine carving of constellations and astrological symbols, the grooves filled with the dark patina of age.
“What the—” I started, gingerly stepping toward the strange theatrical tableau.
"This was a meeting place for a secret society," Dominika said matter-of-factly.
I flashed her a skeptical look, waiting for the real story.
“No, really! This isn’t one of Berco’s yarns.” Her voice echoed slightly off the stone walls. "They were intellectuals, mystics, some say even alchemists and magicians, who sought the forbidden knowledge of the universe." She ran her fingers over the celestial map, a gesture of respect for the forgotten lore it represented.
I half laughed, then shrugged. Who was I to say?
I peered closer at the chairs that surrounded the table, each one carved with cryptic runes. "What happened to them?"
"No one knows for certain," Dominika replied, the light from her flashlight casting dramatic shadows. "One night, the society gathered here as they always did, but by morning, they had vanished without a trace. No signs of struggle, no farewell letters—nothing. It was as if they had stepped through a portal to another world."
She wiggled her eyebrows.
“The locals whispered about the chambers, some saying that on nights when the moon was a mere sliver in the sky, indistinct murmurs and the clinking of glasses could be heard beneath the hotel. Others claimed to feel an inexplicable pull toward the chamber, as though the knowledge that once lived there was calling out to kindred spirits.”
A little chill snaked through me but I brushed it off with a laugh. “That’s a pretty fun story. Do you tell it to the guests?”
“Not really, no. There are a lot of superstitious people in this part of the world. But,” her gaze swept the room with a mixture of reverence and an unspoken chill. “We decided to preserve this chamber as we found it, a monument to the hotel’s hidden history and the enigmatic souls who once sought the secrets of the cosmos within these walls."
