Plus, part of her hoped Nana Jane’s typewriter would bring her luck, so that maybe she could build something from the snow, instead of just ruining it with her ugly tracks.
She absentmindedly ran her finger across the carved initials in the desk. JA, for Jane Anderson.
Nana always insisted she was quite the rebel when she was younger, and Dru had laughed her head off at that idea, not believing for an instant that her smiling Nana could ever be anything but what she was right then - a silver-haired lady puttering around in the garden, reading a never-ending stream of mystery novels, and burning all her ambitious baking experiments.
But here was plain evidence her grandmother had carved her initials into a desk, like a naughty schoolchild in a movie. And Nana had been twenty when she worked at Hemlock House.
This wasn’t the first time Dru had thought of her grandmother’s initials over the years. They were carved into the locket she wore every day, right next to a small piece of irregularly shaped crystal on a fine silver chain. The whole necklace had belonged to her Nana Jane. She had given it to Dru the year before she passed, when Dru was only ten, and Dru had worn it ever since.
She assumed it held some sentimental value to the older woman, since the hunk of crystal and the silver tag couldn’t have been worth very much. Dru liked to imagine there was some grand, romantic story behind it, but her grandmother had never told her anything about where she got it.
The years had worn the surface of the locket so that the J-A engraving was barely visible, and Dru was guilty of rubbing her thumb over the letters herself whenever she was deep in thought.
She wished for the thousandth time that she could see Nana again. But that twinkly-eyed smile had disappeared from her life over a decade ago, and unless this hotel really was haunted, it wasn’t coming back.
Dru wondered what she would even say to her grandmother’s ghost, if such a thing were possible. She wasn’t a big believer in that kind of stuff, but she had always had a good enough imagination to consider just about any possibility.
I’m walking in your footsteps, Nana.
And if she really wanted to make her grandmother proud, she needed to focus on getting some words on the page.
She cracked her knuckles dramatically, and placed her hands on the well-used keys. But the phone rang before she could type a single letter.
Dru jumped a little, still not used to the jangling of the old-fashioned landline. The double ring told her the call was coming from the front desk.
Hailey.
She grabbed the receiver.
“Dru,” Hailey chirped before Dru could say hello.
“Hey,” Dru replied.
“Listen, a ton of stuff came ahead for the Sapphire Suite,” Hailey said. “Some of it is super heavy…”
“Are you asking for help?” Dru teased.
“Yeah, but I’m also offering soda and chips,” Hailey teased back.
“I’m there,” Dru said, hanging up and gathering herself to head down.
The guy who was supposed to arrive today to take the Sapphire Suite must have big plans for his visit to the Poconos to be carting along so much luggage. Maybe it was photography equipment or something.
It made sense.
Helsing’s Comet was due to be visible on Monday night, for the first time in almost sixty years. Hemlock House was the highest place around, so they were supposed to have a pretty great view, and the forecast was calling for clear skies that night. The hotel was expected to fill up on Sunday, as guests from all over came to see the comet. The guy checking into Sapphire was probably hoping to catch it with a telescope and camera.
Dru ran her thumb over the pendant around her neck, tracing the outline of her grandmother’s initials one more time as she headed down the curved back stairs to help her friend.
2
Dru smiled as she caught sight of her friend.
Hailey stood just past the chestnut doorframe at the end of the first-floor hallway. The chandelier made the auburn highlights in her ebony hair shine. Hailey had a lot going for her - perfect dark hair, perfect dark skin, and a perfect dark, goth aesthetic that she was totally nailing today. But it was her almost impossibly positive outlook that had made them fast friends. Dru loved having someone like Hailey in her life, even if it meant listening to a lot of talk about fashion trends and makeup tips.
It only took one look at Dru to realize that neither of those things were very high up on her list of priorities. But Hailey wasn’t discouraged by that at all. She seemed to view Dru as a challenge, like an old house that could really shine with just a coat of paint and good interior decorator.
And Dru was grateful for her input. After all, without Hailey, Dru might not even know that she was “an Autumn.” Whatever that meant.
“Dru,” Hailey cried, her beaming smile belying her slightly annoyed tone. “I’m really glad you came down. Look at all this.”
Dru had reached the foyer and glanced around. Hailey wasn’t kidding about it being a lot of stuff. Two large chests and an enormous steamer trunk practically covered the faded Oriental rug by the fireplace.
“What do you think is in them?” Dru asked, her voice dropping to nearly a whisper, even though no one else was around to hear them. Somehow, she couldn’t shake the feeling that they weren’t alone.
The luggage looked old, practically antique. And there was something odd about the chests, a feeling she couldn’t quite put her finger on, like they were… dangerous. But that was silly. What could be dangerous about a bunch of old trunks?
She was probably just tired from adjusting to her new schedule.
“No idea,” Hailey replied. “But they kind of fit in around here, don’t they?”
She wasn’t wrong.
“Hey, maybe we can just leave them down here, in that case,” Dru suggested, quirking an eyebrow.
Hailey let out a waterfall of laughter. Everything about Hailey was pretty, from her laugh to her hair, to her glamorous, goth outfits. Tonight she had her hair in two long braids, and she was wearing a black dress with a white collar. She looked like a sexy, Black version of Wednesday Adams.
It was no wonder that every guy, and most of the girls, that checked in on Hailey’s shift couldn’t help but flirt shamelessly with her.
In a way, it made Dru a little jealous, but it mostly just made her relieved. The last thing she wanted was any kind of romantic attention right now. Her last relationship hadn’t ended well, and part of the reason she had come to the old hotel was just to get away from all that nonsense and concentrate on her writing in a place without so many distractions.
And when it came to deflecting unwanted attention, being in a room with Hailey was like wearing some kind of Harry Potter invisibility cloak.
“Come on, let’s get it over with,” Hailey suggested.
They each took one end of one of the smaller trunks.
“Dear God,” Dru said as they heaved in unison.
It felt like trying to lift a trunk of wet cement.
“Man, I wish this place had an elevator,” Hailey sighed.
After a lot of grunting and few close calls, they managed to get the trunk up the big foyer staircase, and down the hall to the Sapphire Suite.
“Here,” Hailey said, in front of the door to the Onyx Room.
“I thought he was in Sapphire,” Dru said.