Young Writers Society

"I do believe you're correct." His soft voice is quiet, ears pricked as he listens. He can make out their heartbeats, smell the fear in the air. He opens the door for Li He, black eyes scanning the scene.

Watch for the ghosts. Come, but don't let yourself be known. Cover your scent and any sound you may make. Whatever you do, Raven, do not hunt.

There were James the employee, the other nonhuman male from before (whose name she still didn't know), and the screaming girl. And there was another girl, who Li He had a hard time sensing. A ghost?

"Uh, hey everyone!" called Li He. Surveying the ground around the group, her eyebrows drew together. "What happened? Are you guys okay?"

He feels her presence in the shadows around them. Raven's there.

"We heard screaming," Cornyx explains.

"Yep! Just a misunderstanding!" JEANINE says. "My name's JEANINE, by the way."

"Cornyx," he introduces himself. "Cornyx Blackthorne."

James was turned around, poking around the broken generator to see if it showed signs of tampering.

"James." He said without looking up at the newcomers. "The janitor."

"Nice to meet you."

Hades turned his attention away from James, his gaze falling upon the newcomers. Though he had already glimpsed Cornyx's soul, he had yet to do so for his companion or the other person who had just entered the room. He was shocked to discover that neither one of their souls was human. Only James, Jeanine and Sarah seemed to possess the souls that a human would. But they didn't have the souls of a demon or a human - for that was the same - so what exactly were they?

Since he had already said who he was to some of the people there, he decided that it was best to introduce himself with his actual name instead of his current alias. "My name is Hades," he said with a warm smile. "I heard that there was some ghosts haunting this hotel-" Sarah gave them a mischievous grin and a quick wave at this. "-so I thought I would see if I could help them pass on. But it looks like someone who is living is responsible for the lights going out."

He looked back at James. "Do you know where that new employee you mentioned is? I think they're our best lead."

Jeanine laughs. Dont scan my soul, Hades.

"Hades..." the name was familiar...something to do with the dead...

"Hades?" One corner of Li He's mouth tugged down as she carefully considered the name. Then she looked up.

"Oh, where are my manners?" She let out a laugh. "I'm Li He Jin, but Lily works just fine, if you'd prefer to call me that. But why would someone want to sabotage the hotel?"

The god of the dead! That was it! From an ancient civilization that much of this world's culture was based off of. "The god of the dead, yes?"

"Yes, Mister Blackthorne..." he replies. James turned around, facing the strange group that had begun to gather in the power room. Technically - no, in actuality - they weren't allowed to be in here since they were unauthorized, and only guests, not hotel staff. Staff were the only ones with the keys. Though that didn't seem to matter much anyway, since it seemed someone from the inside had sabotaged the hotel's power, even more than the cut power lines from fallen trees.

"But, uh, Lily, was it? Yeah? Well, considering there are ghosts here, among whatever other supernatural oddities that occur without my knowledge, there's probably great potential for someone to want to sabotage the hotel. Countless possibilities and reasons that I don't have the energy to list out, but we'll find out soon enough, hopefully. Though if this was an intentional act I doubt they'll come forward easily. And if there is any malicious intent involved, which, who knows? There may be. Then that will make it all the more difficult. Hopefully though... they'll be reasonable."

James looked at the group, assessing the situation. "I don't think that a group of people approaching Alex will be the best idea though. It'd be best for me to go, since we're on familiar terms. Hades, perhaps, you can come too. Provided you... well, keep looking human. As for the rest of you, well, for one, I'd like to politely ask you to exit the power room, since it's supposed to be employees only. And as for how you can help, well... if any of you are willing, you could go and check... uh..."

James scratched the back of his neck, looking at the ground. "You know, now that I think about it, that's a bad idea. Was gonna suggest maybe checking where the electrical lines got cut. It'd be a long shot to say it wasn't the storm and that someone tampered with them. But I dunno. Ghosts do stranger things sometimes, and so do people. But it's dangerous out there and I wouldn't want to ask anyone to get near severed power lines in the rain. That's just stupid."

"I'll go check," Cornyx volunteers. "Not much is very likely to harm me, or to even try, for that matter."

"Me too. I don't have anyone left."