“Nooo, thou shall not pass by cheating,” the creature repeated, approaching them. The shuffling sound of its feet against the floor made a sickening, squeaky sound.
“Dazzling eyes!” Report Man reacted first, waving his phone’s flashlight directly at the creature’s glowing red orbs. The others followed suit, bathing the figure in harsh white light.
“Please don’t dazzle my eyes! I’m harmless,” the dark figure shunned the spotlight. “I’m just here to prevent cheating. If you cheat, I’ll report you, and it’s game over for your team.”
“Shemsu?” Spion recognized the voice, which belonged to a Salon server.
“Hi, Spion. Don’t cheat,” Shemsu said, stepping closer. They finally saw his full costume: Anubis, the jackal-headed Egyptian god of the dead.
“Fine,” Spion said slouchily.
“What’s the riddle? We don’t have much time,” Lady News urged.
The tablet screen immediately changed to display the riddle, while the Sphinx’s voice echoed:
“You spell ghost, G-H-O-S-T. Can you spell that without using a ‘g’?”
A soft keyboard appeared on the screen, waiting for their answer.
“What kind of a silly question? Ghost without G is Host,” Lady News declared, confidently starting to type.
“Wait!” Report Man tried to stop her, but it was too late. Lady News typed H-O-S-T.
“Wrong,” the Sphinx announced, its mouth snapping shut.
“Can we try again?” Lady News asked, mortified.
“Nope,” Shemsu said, shaking his large, jackal-like head.
“Forget about it. Let’s head to the basement; we already have plenty of candies,” Trevor said, trying to cheer Lady News.
“Oh, I just realized it! The answer is that—S-P-E-L-L T-H-A-T,” Lady News said, slapping her forehead with perfect hindsight.
The elevator lobby was packed with guests waiting for the basement or the second floor, so they took the stairs. They were a chaotic surge of teams rushing up and down, but the stairs were still visibly faster than waiting for the crowded elevators.
On the stairs, they met six green witches—Lady Bella’s team.
“Trevor, perfect timing! Take all these candies; we’re all on a diet,” Bella said, thrusting her bag into Trevor’s hands. “Our drivers arrived. We need to get back to my hotel to clean off this green stuff, and I have a flight tomorrow. Have fun! Bye, Lady News.” She rushed past, leading her team without waiting for Trevor’s answer.
“You are charmed, too,” Spion smiled to Trevor.
“Glad we have two young fellows on our team,” Lady News said, pleased with their sudden windfall.
“We should just let you two turn on the charm; no need for us to run around,” Report Man laughed.
“Who was the girl?” Spion asked Trevor. “Did you get her number?”
“Just my schoolmate,” Trevor said casually.
“Just a schoolmate? Guess I’m still the most charming,” Spion said smugly.
The basement only opened the east side to teams. The corridor lights flickered, and a soft weeping sound came from nowhere. If the area hadn’t been packed with a line of people, the atmosphere might have been scary, but their chatting and laughing totally ruined the tension.
“Good thing we only need to wait in one line, then go along the corridor to enter five rooms: Staff Lounge, Staff Cafeteria, Staff Laundry Room, Meeting Room, and Storage,” Lady News said, looking at the map.
To kill the boring waiting time, Spion whispered to Trevor, “Did you meet any girl particularly interesting while dancing, besides your schoolmate?”
“Yeah, but she left,” Trevor recalled the mystery girl. “She was the most beautiful person at the party, dressed as a fairy or Elf Queen.”
“Wait, do you mean the girl in the purple and blue flake dress?” Lady News cut in, having overheard the conversation.
“Yes! Do you know her?” Trevor asked eagerly.
“No, I’ve never seen her before. I just saw her when dancing and tried to get close to ask her who her designer was.”
“I may probably never see her again. She didn’t even talk to me or say anything,” Trevor confessed, suddenly depressed. He realized how stupid he was—he forgot to take off his mask when the girl looked back at him. He probably took off his mask only when he walked to the bar.
“She didn’t talk to you?” Spion winked. He leaned in, whispering into Trevor’s ear, “Don’t be sad, bro, I can teach you how to appeal to girls.”
“Perhaps you will see her again. She might attend the next party,” Lady News comforted. “Once you’ve attended a party at the Dressrious Salon, no other place compares.”
“Or you may find another girl. That is how men grow up: fall in love, then heartbreak, then fall in love again, and heartbreak again. And maybe finally realize being single is totally fine. Just don’t put pressure on yourself,” Report Man grinned.
Trevor did not find his friends’ words helpful. They dropped the topic. The queue shortened, and it was soon their turn.
The basement challenges were similar to before. They ran to the Staff Cafeteria first because no other team was inside. Quickly, they grabbed all the candies on the tables, then went to the Meeting Room, where they disturbed a vampires and werewolves meeting and robbed them all for candies. “Still missing three. They’re probably hiding in some werewolf’s pants,” Lady News joked when they ran out of time.
Next, they went to the Laundry Room, checking all the machines because the clerk at the door refused to tell them how many candies were inside. “Find as many as possible in three minutes.”
The Staff Lounge was also easy; they just took candies from moving fuzzy spiders. “They are drones, not real things,” Trevor said, gripping one leg and taking the candies from a box tied to its back. They left that room with all fifteen candies.
The final stage was the Storage Room. “I can’t believe they opened this room to guests. I’ve heard rumors that the storage holds a lot of strange stuff,” Spion mumbled.
The Storage Room was dark, filled with the sound of wind and weeping. Only faint light shone on two message boards on either side.
“The message board displays the history of the building, dating back to colonial times, and was originally built by a Coven,” Report Man said, using his phone to light the texts and pictures cut from old magazines and newspapers on the right-side board. “It says witch hunters eventually found them, killing and burning them all in the front yard. They even tried to burn the building down, but the structure remained completely unharmed.”
“I don’t think these messages were here before. They must have just been decorated for Halloween,” Spion speculated, looking at the board on the left side.
Report Man continued looking at his board. Some pictures showed werewolves. “There was a pack that used to live in the forest nearby, moving out during the War of Independence. And the first King Washington spent days here, directing a battle against the dreaded sirens.”
“Stop checking this! Where are the candies?” Lady News cautiously went deeper into the room, sweeping the space with her phone. “My phone’s dying! How big is the storage room? Where are the shelves?” The light from her phone spread endlessly, showing no sign of walls or shelves.
“Maybe they moved all the shelves out; they don’t want us to mess up things,” Trevor said. He looked at the board too. “The notorious Lord Lionberg bought this place in the 19th century. He was charged with serial murders; police found dead bodies in the basement, all bitten and drained of blood. They must be making all this up to add a Halloween vibe.” Trevor lit around with his phone, pointing to the deep distance. “Seriously, how big is this room? The light spreads endlessly, and I don’t see walls or anything in that direction.”
“I don’t know; I’ve never been here before. They keep old stuff from former owners and things left behind—this place has changed hands many times,” Spion said, scanning the room, then returning to the board. “There were two murders in 1962 when this place was a hotel: a body found strangled in the forest, and two days later, a boy was found dead in his room, poisoned by chocolate.” There was a monochrome photo of the boy in a suit, who looked no older than ten.
“Oh, poison again. Yep, they definitely made it all up for Halloween. Forget the boards. Where are the candies?” Lady News kept moving. Weeping sounds came from deeper within.
“I found candies! You need to check the boards carefully. Candies are lying at the bottom of the boards. There must be a trigger,” Report Man realized, groping the bottom of the board for a mechanism. “Ah, got it!” He found a button, pressed it, and candies dropped onto the ground.
Spion quickly found the trigger at the left board, and more candies dropped. They swiftly picked up their haul.
“Great! All levels finished. Let’s head to the party hall,” Lady News waved her hand, leading them out of the room and leaving the weeping sound behind.