The little girl walked slowly across the hotel grounds, not in the least bit bothered by the rain pounding our backs and drenching our hair and clothes. Her hair was blonde, appearing far darker in the rain, and it was not until we passed the entrance to the pool that I noticed the extent of her pale features. She was porcelain, deathly pale like an aged doll. Her smile as we entered was stiff as if it would crack at any second. A voice of reason told me she was ecstatic to be reunited with her mother but my gut told me it was something more.

The windows in the pool room were dark, stained with splatters of inky rain from the chaos that grew outside. From the doorway, I could see that it was empty and had been for some time as mould grew on the brick wall opposing the pool.

"She's not here," I said to the girl. "We should go."
"Not yet," she replied.
"No, we're leaving. She's not here. Let's go to the reception and—"

Ice squeezed my hand and the girl had vanished. Breath hitched in my throat as the main lights switched off, surrounding me in blue light from the still water at the other end of the room.

The door banged shut behind me and I darted for the handle. It rattled as I yanked on the metal but refused to budge. I cursed again and again until I heard a splash.

The water was still, calm and unmoving – not a single wave or ripple like a solitary lagoon. Yet, something glittered beneath the water; a forbidden treasure that reeled me in.

Why was I so afraid I tried to leave? There was nothing frightening about the water. It glimmered in turquoise, dancing along the walls, the floor, the ceiling... in my head. I wanted more. To see more colour – more shining light. I could not move back. Only forward. I reached out, towards the shining light; towards the deep end.

I leaned over the edge, narrowing my eyes at the glowing iridescence that drifted across the room in a wave. It stretched the closer I got and morphed into something new, something dark, skeletal, and it – no, she – smiled as she outstretched her hand, stopping before she rose above the water as if she could not break free.

She was calling out to me. Asking me to help her.

I crouched down and reached for the surface, blinking as a cool breeze lifted from the water. I was close to her now, so close...

"ERIKA!"

The doors behind me burst open as Alex called my name, Alfie behind him. I jolted awake the moment my wrist was snatched.

I gasped and pulled away from the vicious and ugly creature. It hissed as I fought. As I freed myself, I backed away to stand but it tugged on my ankle, knocking me back down and dragging me into the water.

I fumbled around for something to grab onto, crying out in panic, but everything was slippery and wet. I was near helpless until I grabbed the pool's edge, legs submerged to slow my kicks against the creature. I could maintain my position there but could not put up a fight.

Alfie dropped to his knees, gripping onto my arms tightly. "Come... on!"

It was no use. The creature showed strength of an angry supernatural, one locked in emotional, frantic desperation.

Alex lashed out at the creature, who screeched on impact. Its grip loosened just enough for Alfie to pull me out of its grasp.

I rolled onto my back and scurried away from the water, eyes glued to the splashing waves.  Struggling for air and soaked from the torso down, I shivered.

Alfie knelt down beside me, panic stricken. "Are you alright? Are you hurt? What happened? Why did you—?"
"I can only answer one question at a time, Alf."
"Right." He nodded quickly. "Sorry, you're right. Alex!"

I pushed onto my elbows. Alex was staring at the water, back straight and a deadly grip on a crowbar – iron; a weapon against ghosts. "Alex!" I cried, still breathless. "Get away from there."

Alex scanned the area of the pool, analysing every wave until they calmed. He sighed in relief. The creature had retreated. At least for a short while. It didn't expect to have to put up a fight.

He rushed to my side. "Are you alright?"
I waved him off. "I'm fine. How'd you know something was wrong?"
"Alfie figured it out," he replied. Alfie blushed. "Something seemed off when reception insisted there wasn't a single child checked into this hotel. By the time I left to find you at the pool, Alfie came rushing downstairs to tell me the place was haunted."
"There were newspapers left in the room showing a string of unexplained deaths, all related to drowning and beginning with a young girl. That, combined with my dad's journal and what Alex said about the girl, I – uh, I worked it out, I guess."
I found a smile on my face. "Well done, Alf."
He awkwardly cleaned the pool water from his glasses. "It was nothing. Anyone else could have."

Alex stood and helped me up. "Now we need to figure out how to fix this mess."

I held a breath. We didn't have the time for an emergency hunt. London was still miles away and none of us knew how much time we had left to find our families – even stopping in that hotel was out of reluctance. If something happened to us while hunting the ghost, our families would suffer. We couldn't afford serious injuries benching us from tracking down the Cult of Chimera.

Alex frowned at my expression. "We are staying to fix this, aren't we?"
I shared a glance with Alfie. He understood. Whether he agreed with me or not, I didn't know. "We can't afford to delay our search any longer. Our families could be dead in a matter of days."
"This place is damaged Erika, we can't just leave it pretending that nothing is wrong."
He wasn't thinking ahead. His mind was stuck in the moment. "Yes we can. This hotel is quiet. How many people will pass through here by the time we're finished with the witches? Ten? Twenty? Alfie, how many people drowned here?"
"Eleven in the past eight years."
"There you go," I said. "Less than two victims every year. What's the likelihood there will be another one in the next week? We can come back when we're finished with the cult and our families aren't depending on us."
"But there's still a chance there could be another victim," Alex argued. "Someone's life could be at stake here, someone else's family."
"It's unlikely."
"But there's still that chance."
"Of one person."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"There's a slim chance that one person could die here as opposed to the certainty there will be a dozen hunters killed in a ritual. Tell me, Alex, what's the most logical option to take?"
He laughed in a bitter way I had not heard from him. "So that's all people are to you? Numbers?"
"Don't paint me as something I'm not." I took a sharp step towards him, jaw clenched and fists balled. Water dripped from my knuckles. I was still soaked.

"If it was another time, I would gladly stay to take care of this job but it's not. We can come back when my father and the other hunters have been saved."
He shook his head. "Being a hunter isn't saving the many over the few. The shield at humanity's back.That's what we're told, isn't it? I've never seen a shield be selective over who it protects."
I almost threw my hands in the air. "Don't you dare quote the code to me! I've lived by it since I was a child."

Alex raised his chin, looking down on me like I was inferior; a heartless hunter willing to let people die to save her own skin. I was no coward but I wasn't a fool, either. Every minute we spent distracted from the witches was a minute the hunters became closer to death. The hotel could wait. My father could not.

I tugged on Alfie's sleeve. "Come on. Let's grab your sister and go."
Alex snorted and looked down at the ground, dark skin highlighted in blue. I scowled. "Do you have a problem with that?"
He bit his lip and looked back up. "My dad told me about you when I was training, you know? He never told me your name but all I ever got was 'Christopher's girl just had her first hunt' and 'Christopher's girl took out a demon all by herself at sixteen.' I thought, damn the Lupine's train their kids well. That it didn't matter what people said. You lot were still the best. But now? Now you're just like everyone else."

The Lupine's were all but gone now. We were washed-up, small in numbers and almost forgotten. I never imagined the name would still be used as something to aspire to by hunters, even more so that I didn't meet those standards. He had no right to say that. I followed the code with every bone in my body – just as dad had done – and knew that what I was doing would be supported by the Order entirely. Alex's decision would be deemed reckless and yet I was ashamed to leave him behind.

I sharpened my glare as I reached for the door handle. "Thank you for all your help, Alex Arwood. Sorry I disappointed you."

His face flinched but no other response came with it. I ushered Alfie out the door and into the rain, following behind without looking back.

We trudged towards the rooms I hadn't even entered yet — a waste of money, apparently— our boots splashing in puddles. Alex would be fine. He was a good hunter, I'd seen that at his apartment, but I could not shake the sickening feeling that he needed us to stay.

"Did I make the right decision?" I asked as we reached the stairs.
Alfie shrugged, expression unreadable in his fogging glasses. "You did what you thought was best."
"No." I stopped him from walking away. "Do you agree with what I chose to do?"
"I... don't have an opinion."
Typical Alfie. He would say any opinion he liked to Florence or Ollie but the second I asked to share any negative view of something I had done, he piped down. "Yes you do. You just don't want to share it with me."
He sighed. "Fine. I see your logic in why you want us to leave and I agree with it. But we could really use Alex on this hunt and if we leave him, we're not getting him back."
"Do you think it's worth leaving or helping him?"
He scratched his chin, genuinely baffled. "I don't know. Honestly, I don't."

Alfie knew the cost of hunting down the cult, but he didn't trust Alex as much as Florence did. Alex was a good hunter. I was sure he would be fine on his own but we needed every bit of help we could get. However, we couldn't risk spending too long at the hotel. Even afterwards, we would need to get back the sleep we had missed already.

We reached the rooms and looked inside, grabbing our bags the twins had taken in during their strops. When there was no sign of Florence, I folded my arms and let out a sigh.
"Where's your sister?"
Alfie scoffed. "No idea. She wandered off with some tall blonde guy she bumped into outside our rooms."
My jaw dropped. "And you let her go with him? And you're just telling me this now?"
"Have you met her? She doesn't exactly ask for anyone's permission."

I groaned and rubbed my temples. "If she has gone missing..."
"You'll throw me in the pool?"
"With an anchor."

The two of us searched the hotel top to bottom for Florence, even knocking on some doors to ask for her whereabouts. I'd called her five times – Alfie called her seven – but neither of us even got a response of any kind. She didn't even open any of my texts threatening to take her home if she didn't show up soon. I wouldn't have, of course, but she didn't know that. We had even re-packed the car, ready to go the second we spotted her.

We stood in the communal area of the motel. Alfie leaned against the faded red leather sofa as I paced back and forth, wet shoes squeaking against the tiles as rain dripped from my hair.

"Go over what he looked like one more time."
Alfie rolled his eyes. "Around six-two. Slim, blonde, tanned with brown eyes. He had dark trousers and a denim jacket lined with fleece. Think of Florence's ideal type."

I reached the opposite end of the room and turned around, walking in the other direction as I pictured him in my mind. Tall. Slim. Blonde. Tan. All I could imagine was every teenage girl's dream man – which he better have been if she was so willing to prance off with a stranger! Anger pricked me in the pit of my stomach and I understood why Diana was so frustrated with that girl all the time. I was shocked the woman hadn't gone grey yet.

"I have it in my right mind to leave her here," I growled.
"You should. But you won't," Alfie said coyly.
I folded my arms. "Won't I?"
"She's an idiot. But you love her, really."
I snorted. "Sometimes I wonder why."

Between Alex and Florence, I was worried. Florence could have been with anyone, even a witch cultist knowing the naivety of that girl, and Alex had no idea how to approach the situation at the hotel. I'd known him less than a day and had no love for him, but I didn't wish to see him harmed.

A glint by the door caught my eye. For a moment, I thought it was the shine of Florence's hair, but it was just a plaque. A golden plaque screwed onto the wall reading in memoriam.

I ran my finger over the names. The third was a young girl's:Carly Winston, Aged 9, Cause of Death: Drowning. That was the first water-related death on the plaque and I figured that was the little girl that led me to the pool. Her death catalysed others, causing four in the first two months. There was a pause after one of the names for over a year until they started again.

My breath caught in my throat. "Rachel Winston."
Alfie looked up. "What?"
I blinked and looked away from the plaque. "Alfie, what was the name of that girl who died?"
"Uh..." He skimmed the newspaper he left on the coffee table. "Carly Winston."
"What about a Rachel Winston?"

Alfie picked up the paper and skipped over columns regarding the drownings. "She was her mum. She returned a few months after her daughter's death and was found dead..." His voice faltered. "...in the pool."

A gasp escaped my lips and I took a step back. "That's it."
"What's it?"

Ghosts were people once. And those that remained on this world after their passing were said to be unable to leave: they were unwilling, or not yet ready. This girl was angry to be taken away so soon and, for being so young, she would have been frightened. She would have called out for help in her struggle. She would have cried for the person that matters most to any child in the whole entire world in her last breath.

"She's looking for her mother."

Bit of a creepy chapter today. If you enjoyed it, remember to give this chapter a vote and I'll see you all again soon!

Thank you for reading,

- Caitlin xx