Entry 6 - My Last Shift of the Week at The Grinning Moon

I have to start this entry a little differently.

I’ve been asked a lot about my condition. The building's owners already know about it, if that wasn’t clear, and in fact both they and Mando seem to know more than I do. But they always go light on the details. What I’m aware of is the following. When I was younger, I touched a relic of some sort that did something to me. And ever since then, I’ve been sick.

Most of the time, this sickness is manageable. Barely noticeable, even. But when I miss doses of my medication or when I’m particularly worried or stressed out, the symptoms can worsen. Not always, but sometimes. And that’s already too much.

To be perfectly honest, I was so young when everything happened that I don’t remember most of it. Children sometimes run into things they shouldn’t in Nultock. It’s unfortunate, but it’s a somewhat cruel reality of a world where the supernatural leaks into our day-to-day lives.

My parents couldn’t handle the symptoms and dumped me on the street. The nightmares, the hallucinations, the coughing, the vomiting. All of it being a nonstop day-to-day was just too much, I guess. I don’t necessarily blame them. But I don’t have any love in my heart for them, either. Family should be there for each other when things get rough. And I was a child. I didn’t understand.

That’s when the Grinning Moon entered my life. I was ten years old, and I was out on the street applying for work. Why? Because that’s what my mother and father told me to do. Leave and find a job.

If it wasn’t obvious, ten years old was way too early for me to be out on my own. The first week I slept under a bridge about halfway from the Grinning Moon to downtown. Eventually, I wandered my way in here. For some reason, Mando and the building owners took an interest in me. They gave me a room and medicine I’d never heard of before. Once I was able to move around and help on my own, they decided to house and employ me if I agreed to some conditions. And who was I to refuse? Their pills worked. My home is nice enough, especially since I don’t have to pay for it. So I accepted. From ten to sixteen years old, I was the apprentice groundskeeper.

Our old Groundskeeper took care of me for the most part. She’s been gone for about a decade now, but for the first six years in the Grinning Moon, she taught me the ropes. An old, bitter woman named Wendy. She had her moments of kindness, of course, but Nyx and Mando both said I got my attitude from her. Sarcasm and straightforwardness even when faced with something that would send most customer service workers scrambling to management. I wasn’t always the most friendly person. Even I knew that. Wendy was the same way. But she was reliable. Not quite a mother figure, not quite a coworker. Perhaps a teacher? An aunt? It was hard to put in words the relationship we had. She cared more than she let on. I knew that much. And I had an almost familial attachment to her that never truly faded no matter how long it had been since we’d last spoken.

And then the accident that gave me my scars happened. The day I almost lost my left eye. Wendy was put in the hospital and couldn’t come back to work. And they told me I couldn’t see her anymore. That made me sad and still makes me sad. I’m not sure why I’m not allowed to see her, but it’s not like I can really argue it. After all, this place gives me my medicine and serves as my home. So while I want to know, I can’t rock the boat too much. Not yet, at least. Maybe one day. I’d like to see Wendy again.

From that day forward, I was officially put on staff here at the Grinning Moon. I was working age by then, and they’d lost one of their most important staff members. Since I’d been training under her, the task naturally would have fallen to me if she’d retired under normal circumstances, anyway. At the time, Nyx helped me adjust to my duties in between her own jobs.

But my symptoms got worse. My newly adopted hemophobia because of my intense injuries and extreme bouts of stress caused hacking, vomiting, dizziness and more. And this, compounded with my shadow sickness, made functioning as a normal person difficult.

So what is shadow sickness? I have no idea. All I loosely know is that extreme stress can trigger more extreme reactions. Sometimes even hallucinations, which was unfortunate considering the place I worked. Kind of sucks when you work a customer service job where a literal werewolf can show up and demand a room, but I make do with what I can. Now at the age of twenty-five, my work continues. I need money. I need my room. I need my medication. So I work at the Grinning Moon.

That being said, when I woke up the next morning, my symptoms were noticeably worse. I felt dizzy. Lethargic. My sleep had been restless, plagued by nightmares and a sense of being slowly boiled alive. I woke in a puddle of my own sweat, hair damp and chest heaving.

Grumbling curses, I got out of bed and took a cold shower, favoring my walk-in for ease of use. Once I’d finished, I changed into my uniform for the day, making sure my black bow tie was set straight in the mirror before running a comb through my hair. The bags under my eyes, however, couldn’t be fixed. I was dead tired and it showed.

“One more day. You have the weekend off before the mists.” I clapped my face with my hands and turned on the faucet. When I did, alongside the water came a feminine, inhuman wail. Leaping back, I cursed, then hurried to turn the water off. Cold water could wait until I was downstairs. This was a more common occurrence than you’d think.

Annoyed by the sudden scare, I grabbed my memoir and exited my room, glancing at Nyx’s door. In case she showed up while I was away from the desk, I walked to it and wrote her a small message on the notepad hanging from the doorknob. “Had a rough night. Miss you. When you get back want to get something to eat?”

I hesitated a moment, then scribbled over the “miss you” at the risk of sounding too clingy. But it was true, I couldn’t wait for her to be back. A cough tore through me, and I hacked violently into my arm. Once it had faded, I cleared my throat and stood up straight, trying to look as professional as I could on the way to the elevator.

When the doors opened, I was once again greeted by that unruly shadow pressed against the corner of the hallway. Was this a symptom of my illness, or was something actually there? I stared up at it before a wave of dizziness overtook me. When my vision cleared, the shadow was gone again.

I hurried down the hall to my boss’s office, stopping at the door. As usual, Moon’s knocker was inactive, so I pulled the silver ring down and knocked on the door twice.

Moon’s eyes opened, a metallic twang ringing in my ears. His eyes adjusted before falling on me. “You’re not looking so hot, Jhin.”

“Trust me, I’m feeling it,” I muttered. “Boss inside?”

“He is.” Moon said, “Bit of a warning: he’s been muttering about some briefcase since he got here. And it’s got him in a sour mood.”

I frowned. “A briefcase?”

“Something we took for room payment from what I understand.” He replied. “Sounds like it might be more trouble than it’s worth.”

With that, the door slid open. Like every time before, I made sure to step over the line of salt before entering my boss’s office, letting the door quietly slide shut behind me. As usual, the space was dimly lit. An ashtray filled to the brim sat on the desk today, and three packs of various cigarettes and bundles of smoking herbs were already empty beside it. Smoke hung thick in the room, and my attention was pulled to the large aquarium on the left. My boss was currently standing there, facing away from me with a rolled joint smoking between his lips. His head only barely cleared the fish tank’s stand, and he looked up at the creatures swimming within while he smoked.

“Here for your meds?” He asked.

I nodded.

“Well, the good news is I have them. My boss finally sent them in.” He turned toward his desk and searched one of the drawers, picking up a capped bottle of pills and tossing it my way. “Got at least a couple weeks' worth in there.”

A relieved sigh escaped my lips when I caught the bottle, checking it over – not that I’d be able to tell if they were the wrong pills, regardless. Every time they arrived, they were the same. In a clear, unmarked tube with a white cap at the end. Sitting in the center of the white cap was a gold trophy symbol. Once I was sure things looked the same as always, I glanced back at Mando.

“Saw you started potting some of those magic roots.” My boss pointed to a new pot on his desk; the brilliant purple flower glowed with an ethereal light in the dim room. “Darkbloom. Quite valuable. Good on you for saving as many of the flowers as possible.

“Thank you, sir.” It was then I realized a familiar object was sitting next to the potted flower. The gnome hopped up to slide it toward me before clambering up into his chair.

The briefcase.

My boss waved a hand toward it. “The spirit who gave you this. I need you to return this to him when he stops by the desk for checkout this morning. If he doesn’t stop by the desk, take it up to your room until I get back for our meeting before the mists. Am I understood?”

This perplexed me, but I nodded. While I was curious, I had a feeling Mando wouldn’t give me any more details than necessary.

“Good.” My boss seemed to appreciate the lack of questioning, letting out an exhausted sigh. “That thing is more trouble than it’s worth and it should never have been brought here.”

Of course, this only made me want to know more.

He humored me, tapping the top of the case with one hand–practically climbing on the table to reach it due to his short stature.

“You’re aware the next Day of the Dead celebration is only a few weeks away, yes? It should be a little after the mists fade.”

“It’s at the end of the month, isn’t it?” I recalled.

“Yes, and the festival in the forest starts just after the mists.” He motioned toward the briefcase. “As you know, the Day of the Dead is one of our most difficult nights here at the Grinning Moon. In fact, this weekend before the mists, we’re going to start preparing for the festival. You’ll actually be decorating the lobby today once the rest of those roots are cleared out.”

I nodded.

“Those two magicians who came through, the wizard and the satyr…” My boss tapped a finger on the desk. “We don’t want people like that skulking around here if we can avoid it. The last thing we need is some sort of cult turf war on our doorstep.”

“I’m sorry about the lobby, sir.”

Mando waved a hand dismissively. “What were you supposed to do? You’re only human, and you have no magic in you. You did what you could.”

I frowned. “Do you think they’ll come back?”

“Maybe.” He admitted, “But the thing inside the case can’t be here. Something is afoot, although I can’t put a finger on it. But whoever sent the spirit here has a lot of power or influence, as the contents within would send NPS into a frenzy. I’m surprised law enforcement has not taken the case, honestly.”

“What the hell is in that case, sir?” I finally asked, tired of being in the dark.

Mando gave me a very serious stare. He ran a hand through his short, purple hair, as though he were debating whether or not to tell me. But eventually, his lips closed in a thin line before he spoke. “Curiosity is a dangerous thing, Jhin. And a lot of magicians, cultists, warlocks, and what have you have far, far too much of it for their own good. That case is what happens when a warlock’s curiosity has to be contained.”

It wasn’t a satisfying answer, but it was all he seemed willing to surrender.

He changed the subject a moment later, noticing I was holding my memoir in one hand. “You’re nearing a week of writing, are you not?”

“After this weekend. I believe this is technically day five.” I motioned toward the drawer containing the binder. “I’ve also scanned what pages I viewed as pertinent for the binder, but I haven’t actually had a chance to put them in yet.”

“Whenever you want to fill the binder, you have my permission to enter this office.” My boss gave a small smile. “Just don’t go looking for anything that isn’t yours, you hear? You might not like what you find. I’ll let Moon know to open the door for you from now on.”

I was somewhat cowed by the amount of trust Mando was putting in me. Between the book he’d shown me and told me to generally pretend didn’t exist, the binder, my promotion, and now this suitcase, I felt like he was levying more things he would normally handle on me. Part of me wanted to complain, but the other part knew that it was necessary. Besides, having even partial access to his office was a big deal.

“Thank you, sir,” I said.

“Of course. Now, sonny, you have a lot to do this morning. I’ll leave you to it.”

I picked up the suitcase and turned to exit the room, casting a glance over my shoulder at the gnome. He had already turned back toward the aquarium, lost in thought with his fingers laced together.

When the door shut behind me, Moon’s face spoke. “Well, congrats, Jhin! You’re really getting up there on the totem pole.”

I kept walking toward the desk, shrugging. “That’s my job.”

He snorted, a metallic ring that echoed through the hall behind me. I didn’t like that reaction. It was a mixture of amusement and warning. A “you don’t understand the sort of trouble you’re starting to get in” and a “this is going to be fun to watch.” But when I stopped to question him, the face metal knocker had gone inert.

Moon was usually helpful, but it wasn’t unheard of for him to be obtuse. If you remember my first entry, we go back and forth much like I often have with Billy. But Moon was more... disarming, if that makes sense. There was just something unreadable about him, something that made it hard to take everything he said or did at face value. Sure, when things went bad, he was always there to help. But sometimes I had to wonder if he was more aware that things were about to go bad than he let on.

Of course, that could have also all been in my head. I stopped by the vending machine, grabbing a can of Meat Froth to take my pills with. There was nobody on the desk. I assumed they had already left since I was running a little late due to my conversation with Mando.

I was surprised by how clean the lobby was. Almost all the roots had been cut away, with only small remnants of leaves and purple petals remaining scattered throughout the place. The desk was covered in pots of glowing purple flowers. A small sign listed them as for sale as souvenirs.

Billy was as vocal as ever. “Dude, Jhin! Mivara was looking over my fur. That bastard wizard charred me!”

He craned his neck to show me a black spot on the side of his throat, only barely noticeable against his dark fur.

“What a shame. The poor children.” I chuckled, walking around through the storage room to get behind the desk.

“I’m telling you, Jhin, if those pricks come back …” Billy let out a throaty bellow that reverberated through the whole lobby.

I stamped in for the day, raising a brow. “What are you going to do, exactly? Yell at them?”

“I’m literally a magic artifact,” Billy said.

“Right.” I rolled my eyes, setting the briefcase on the desk before making sure the tiny chest mimic was fed for the day. Once my opening duties were done, I uncapped my pill bottle and opened the can of Meat Froth, taking a long drink before forcing down one of the pills.

From there, I set to my shift’s tasks. Cleaning the lobby. Feeding the mimics. Helping Billy pick up the remote after he dropped it for the tenth time in an hour. All the usual. I was still finding roots in places they shouldn’t be, and there were a few places the wooden floorboards would need to be repaired. But otherwise the lobby looked good as new.

Near midday, my boss left to take care of some personal issues. He didn’t elaborate, and I didn’t ask. I was too busy marking maintenance jobs down that needed to be done in the lobby so that our maintenance team could complete them this weekend before the mists. We’d need to be operating at peak efficiency in case things got busy.

While I was writing down work orders, the elevator doors dinged open. At first I didn’t look up, but the sound of footsteps echoing through the quiet lobby pulled my gaze upward.

The colorless shade that had given us the briefcase. He approached the desk, key in hand. Silent as the grave.

“Checking out?” I asked.

He nodded, setting the key on the desk.

“Well, I hope you enjoyed your stay.” I put a hand on the briefcase.

The shade turned to look at it, glasses glinting.

“We need you to take this back.” I said, “I’m not sure why, but my boss doesn’t want it.”

I felt myself tensing up. There was no telling how the spirit would react to this information. Hopefully, it wouldn’t take offense. The last thing I wanted to deal with was an angry spirit, especially on the last day of my work week.

Thankfully, all he did was nod. He picked up the briefcase before reaching into his long trench coat, setting an unknown crystal on the desk. The jewel was cut in a diamond shape, encapsulated in a golden case carved with ornate runes in a language I didn’t know. I assumed this was meant to be some alternate form of payment for his room. My boss hadn’t told me to take anything to make up for losing the briefcase, but I took it regardless. I figured he would appreciate getting something for the room, at least.

“We appreciate your understanding,” I told him with a smile.

He nodded, looking over the briefcase. It was hard to describe, but the spirit didn’t seem pleased to have it again. Despite that, he didn’t argue or say anything. Instead, he simply started to turn toward the door. For some reason, I felt bad for him. Without thinking, I blurted out, “Sir?”

The shade paused, turning his head to look at me.

“Are you …will you be okay?”

He adjusted his spectacles, adjusting his grip on the case for a moment. The shade reached into his coat and walked back to the desk. Then he set down a brown, cylindrical object wrapped in paper. It was heavier than it looked, clunking loudly against the desk when he set it down.

Without any ceremony, he tipped his hat in my direction, turned back to the door, and exited the lobby. Billy and I both watched him leave, neither of us saying a word until he was halfway across the parking lot.

“What was that about?” Billy asked.

“What?”

“That entire interaction.”

Before I could respond, my ears picked up something I hadn’t noticed before. Billy’s television had been somewhat masking the noise, but now that I’d heard it, I couldn’t focus on anything else.

From the direction of the public restrooms, a woman was singing.

I adjusted my bow tie and sighed. “I’ll tell you later. For now, I need to figure out why there’s more singing from the restrooms.”

“She’s been screeching for the last hour,” Billy complained.

“Why didn’t you say something?” I asked.

“I assumed you could hear it.”

“I’ve been busy, if you haven’t noticed.” I replied, “Besides, you complain about literally everything.”

He grumbled something under his breath before he spoke up, “You think it’s the same fish lady?”

“It sounds like her.” I paused. “I’m surprised you hate her singing so much, though. If she wasn’t trespassing, I wouldn’t mind. It’s pretty.”

“To me, it sounds like metal grating against metal.” The deer said woefully.

“There’s the complaining,” I remarked.

“Eat a dick.”

I walked around the desk. “If anyone comes in…”

“Yeah, I’ll tell them you’ll be back.” He said dismissively, returning his gaze to the television.

Since I recognized the voice, I knew where she would be already. I marched to the women’s restrooms. After last time, I’d learned my lesson. I waited before I grabbed the door handle, instead addressing the etched woman on the door with my arms folded. “Can I come in?”

The etching waited a moment before springing to life; the sound of wood being carved rapidly filled the air. Frame by frame, she moved over to the doorknob, pointing at it with her pitchfork. I watched her shake her head, glaring in my direction.

“Come on, do we have to do this every time?” I grumbled, reaching into my pocket and showing her my master keys.

She made a throat-slitting gesture before folding her arms irritably.

“So am I good?” I asked, “Come on, you literally know me. You see me every day.”

Her head turned away indignantly. I had no idea why being spited by this two-dimensional woman annoyed me so much, but it did. She really was always a stickler for the rules, and I knew for a fact she’d never treat Mando or Dolly like this. I had to wonder what I’d done to piss her off so much.

Whatever the case, I reached for the knob and turned it, hurrying inside with my keys in hand. I hurried to the woman’s bath, calling out that I was coming in before I entered. For the first few seconds I kept my gaze averted downward in case a guest was changing inside. Of course, the singing had stopped after I announced my presence.

It was just like the last time. The tiled, white room was empty. All I could hear was the bubbling water, and the smell of fresh soap hung thick in the air. At first, I couldn’t see anything in the bath.

“Groundskeeper…” A silky smooth voice called, reverberating through the room.

My hair stood on end. The accent, the intonation. It was her.

There was a bright flash of light. I shielded my eyes, squinting to try and dull the painfully vibrant light show. When my vision cleared and I could see, sure enough, there she was.

A silvery figure rose from the bath, coming to rest her head on her arms. She looked up at me with those pools of inky darkness. Her bright scales caught the light, shimmering under the water as her tail twisted behind her like a serpent raising its head. She arched her back, letting it rise above the water with a large, toothy grin, green hair spilling across the tiled floor in front of her.

I didn’t like the way she’d called for me. Something about it activated an instinctual urge to run, like a rabbit facing down a fox. Her gaze was a pair of outstretched talons, searching for purchase.

Unfortunately for her, she didn’t find any. My discomfort swiftly morphed into mild annoyance at seeing her again, as I realized now I would have to get rid of her. I cut her game of cat and mouse short, instead aiming to figure out what she was doing here.

Trying not to show my annoyance, I folded my arms and regarded the woman before me. “Cersie. Didn’t I tell you the bath was only for guests?”

“Yes, but I needed to get to you! And I can’t just walk in the front door.” She tried her best to look innocent, cocking her head to one side. This, of course, only succeeded in making her look more uncanny as her massive eyes drilled into mine.

I sighed, “What do you want?”

She motioned for me to get closer.

I knelt, keeping just out of arm's reach. While I didn’t find her particularly scary, even with two rows of teeth, there was always the chance she’d try something. Better to keep her at a safe distance. Also, I really didn’t want to spend the rest of my shift soaked again.

Once I was at ground level with her, she pulled herself up from the bath. I averted my eyes, remembering she was still naked. She spoke in an almost teasing tone, her voice a slithering worm burrowing into my brain. “I would like a room. I promise, I won’t drown you.”

“Last time you literally told me you’ve eaten humans before,” I muttered. But then I processed her request, staring at her incredulously. “You want a room?”

She nodded, her kelp-green hair flicking water in every direction.

I rubbed my eyes with a gloved hand. This was my job. This was what I had to do.

“Do you have some way of paying?” I finally asked.

“Of course.”

“How many nights do you intend to be here?”

“Until the mists end. So a little over a week, my little morsel.”

My skin crawled at the last word and I grimaced. “Please don’t call me that.”

“But it’s funny.”

“You understand that if you eat or harm me in any way, there will be repercussions?” I warned.

“Of course.” The toothy, shark-like grin she offered in response did little to ease my suspicions.

With a sigh, I motioned toward her. “And how am I supposed to get you upstairs? Load you on a bellhop cart? Can you walk?”

“No.” She shrugged.

“You’ll need to cover yourself.” I noted, “That’s policy in our public spaces.”

She frowned. “As in clothing?”

“Yes.”

“I don’t have any.”

That was a problem. While I wasn’t particularly averse to nudity (you’d be surprised how much of it I’d seen working at the Grinning Moon), we couldn’t exactly march her through the halls without a top on. The last thing I needed was some prudish old windbag losing her mind because she saw a pair of siren tits while she was on her way to her room.

“Alright, I’ll think of something.” I finally said, putting on my best customer service voice. “I’ll have to get you the ledger to sign in and figure out how to get you to your room. Do you have a floor preference?”

She shook her head, those wide eyes of pooling blackness focused on me.

There were a couple of seconds of awkward silence. I cleared my throat and nodded. “Give me a few minutes. I’ll come back with some way of transporting you to whatever room we have available. And I’ll get you something to cover up with.”

The lephashipan’s eyes bored straight into my back. My shoes squeaked against the tile as I hurried out of the restroom, trying to consider my options. I walked into the lobby, stroking my chin thoughtfully. “Hey, Billy?”

He gave me a small “Huh?”

“Let’s say you had to transport a body, right?”

Billy arched a brow. Well, the upper ridge of his eye. Whatever a deer has up there. Regardless, his puzzled expression was clear.

“And that body was about six or seven feet long. And probably heavy.”

“What is this hypothetical, Jhin?”

“I have a guest who needs help getting to her room, but she can’t walk.”

The deer thought for a moment. “There’s a large wheelbarrow in the second storage area, isn’t there? To help with garden work. Mivara was using it this morning to move some of the potted flowers out into our inner courtyard. Actually, now that I mention it, I think she left it out there.”

His idea wasn’t horrible. I nodded, walking past him and to the large double doors that led out into the courtyard. Normally we had the courtyard locked outside of events, but when I tried the door handle, it was already unlocked. I made a note to remind Mivara to lock it in the future.

When the door swung open, the thick aroma of roses and vegetation wafted into the lobby. I took a deep breath, enjoying the fresh air.

Our courtyard was a large open space capable of holding a couple hundred guests at peak capacity. It was square-shaped, set in the very heart of the Grinning Moon. On each side of the open square sat large trees, many of which bore fruit depending on the time of year.

Off to the left was a fountain full of colorful fish and giant lily pads, and surrounding the fountain were four statues of winged women holding goblets up over their heads, held between their outstretched palms. The goblets were turned slightly downward to allow water to fall directly into the fountain. In the center of the altar was an ornate obelisk altar inscribed with hundreds of runes. A large, stone hand with a glowing eye carved in the center of it acted as lighting for that part of the courtyard. Since it was the morning, there was plenty of sunlight to go around, but at night the eye usually glowed an eerie green.

A stone path led to the center of the courtyard where a gazebo stood, made of dark stone and topped by a carving of another winged woman–this one larger than the others. The path from the lobby led to this gazebo before splitting off in a T. One side went over to the fountain and the other led through several wooden arbors covered in various ivies and hanging flowers. It eventually snaked its way to the right wall of the courtyard where the double doors leading to our ballroom sat closed.

Lining the path to the gazebo were dozens of purple flowers. They were all still potted. I decided I’d plant them properly in the courtyard at some point when I had the time, but for now I needed the wheelbarrow. And sure enough, it sat just beside the door.

The interior was lined with dirt, so I took a few minutes to wash it out with a bucket of water from the fountain. When I approached the fountain, the fish hurried to the water’s surface – probably in hopes of being fed. It wasn’t uncommon for hotel guests to toss them leftover food, so they’d grown used to begging for snacks. A particularly large fish nearly threw itself out of the water in the excitement. Unfortunately for them, I wasn’t a guest. And I knew they were on an automatic feeder.

I chuckled, filling the bucket with water from the fountain before rinsing down the wheelbarrow. At this point I was already getting more wet than I’d like, although I figured if I was going to have to move Cersie to the wheelbarrow, I was probably doomed to get soaked no matter what.

Once the wheelbarrow was sufficiently clean, I wheeled it up the two steps leading back to the lobby.

Billy turned. “So who’s this guest?”

“You know the singing?”

He nodded.

“Yeah, her,” I replied, walking around the desk and filling out the ledger with Cersie’s name. Once I’d selected a room and picked out the key, I returned to the wheelbarrow and pushed it toward the restrooms.

“Ask her to stop singing if she’s going to stay here.” The deer called.

I rolled my eyes, stopping in front of the door to the women’s restroom. Again, the etching on the door sprang to life, ready to demand my keys.

“Oh, my god,” I said, exasperated. Both of my hands were on the wheelbarrow, and I shook it emphatically to get her attention. “You literally just saw me walk out.”

She pointed at me with her pitchfork.

“I am going to put you through a wood chipper,” I muttered, setting down the wheelbarrow and fishing for my keys. While I reached for them, I caught the carving of the man on the men’s bathroom door rolling his eyes, motioning toward the etched woman in a sort of “Can you believe her?” motion. The woman, in response, stuck her tongue out at him before demanding my keys again with the swish of her pitchfork.

“Tell me about it,” I told him, flashing my keys before opening the door to shove the wheelbarrow through. I saw the etched woman make a face at me, but I ignored her. I was too focused on the task at hand to argue with a carving.

When I reached the baths, Cersie was in the same spot, arms resting against the side of the public bath as she watched me approach.

I set the wheelbarrow as close to the water as I could, comparing her length to its size. While it would be a tight fit, I was pretty confident I could move her in it.

“Unfortunately, this is the best I could do. I did clean it before I brought it here.” I told her. Then, I realized I’d forgotten to get her something to wear. After debating for a moment, I took off my gray waistcoat and handed it to her, now standing in the white button-up I wore beneath it. “Put this on.”

When I knelt down, one of her hands suddenly grasped over mine. I nearly jumped out of my skin at the sudden contact, feet sliding as I released the waistcoat and slipped backward straight onto my ass with a grunt.

Cersie giggled like a schoolgirl, clearly amused by the exchange. She slipped the waistcoat on, entirely unconcerned about getting it wet.

“Please hold it shut,” I told her after collecting myself.

Somewhat mockingly, she used both hands to clasp the front closed.

Now came the hard part. I would need to lift her into the wheelbarrow, and I knew just from looking at her she would be unreasonably heavy. Not that I’d ever say that aloud, heaven forbid she took offense and decided to take a bite out of my neck. I would have to reach down into the water and pull her up, probably from under her arms.

This was it, I realized. If she was going to drown and eat me, this was her best opportunity. Why couldn’t this have happened on someone else’s shift? I didn’t want to end up a waterlogged corpse in the bathroom.

She reached up toward me, a bemused smirk splitting her face. “Are you going to take me to my room, morsel?”

Her shark-like grin made my skin crawl.

After mentally preparing myself, I took a deep breath and reached down. It was awkward and took a few attempts for me to get a good grip on her. Her skin felt similar enough to a human’s, but she was wet and slippery. Eventually, though, I only barely managed to lift her up and out of the water.

I noticed that as I pulled her, she used her tail to help support her own weight, setting it against the tile like a sort of impromptu brace. If she hadn’t, there was no way I would’ve been able to move her at all. She was so heavy I couldn’t manage a word. Instead, I struggled, taking a shaky step toward the wheelbarrow. Then another.

Once I was close enough, I did my best to gently set Cersie down inside – although I’ll admit I practically dropped her.

She didn’t react, but the wheelbarrow groaned beneath her weight. After twisting around for a moment, Cersie seemed to find a relatively comfortable position. Her back rested against the back of the wheelbarrow, where I’d be holding the handles. She was too big to fully fit inside, so her tail hung limply off the front, dripping water all over the floor.

I wiped the sweat from my brow, taking off my bow tie and undoing the first button of my shirt. Everything felt too hot, and I was already drenched in both water and sweat.

The lephashipan looked over her shoulder at me. “I don’t think I’m that heavy.”

No answer I could give was the right one in that situation. All I could do was take a breath and pick up the wheelbarrow. Thankfully, with its support, I could move Cersie at a slow pace.

Maneuvering out of the bathroom, however, was a challenge in and of itself. My feet kept slipping on the wet floor, and her tail made turning difficult. I’ll give Cersie credit, however. She didn’t complain when I accidentally hit her tail gently against the door on the way out, and admittedly she was extremely patient with our slow progress.

When we exited the women’s bathroom, both carvings looked shocked. They pointed at Cersie before looking at one another, then staring back at me.

“Yeah, trust me.” I told the two etchings with a grunt, “I had the same reaction.”

The wheelbarrow creaked, water spilling over the edges as Cersie adjusted herself within. I pushed us toward the elevator. “I picked a room on the second floor for you. It should be everything you need, but I’ll need you to fill out the ledger at some point. One of the other employees or I will be up with it for you to sign later.”

My foot slipped as we made our way down the hall and I nearly fell directly into the wheelbarrow with her. Thankfully, I caught myself with a quiet curse.

Cersie chuckled, “Careful, groundskeeper.”

“Trust me, I don’t want to drop you. Thanks for not drowning me, by the way.”

She flicked her tail, sending water splattering in every direction. “I did tell you I’ve only ever eaten human one time, and that was enough.”

“Yeah, well, I’ve had things try to take bites out of me before, and I’d like to avoid that happening again.” I tried not to get annoyed by the mess she was making. We were getting close to the elevators now.

“Is that how you got those scars on your face?”

“That’s …” I hesitated. “Let’s just go with sure.”

As we entered the intersection where the elevators could be viewed from the lobby, I froze.

Mivara was staring at me from the Grinning Moon’s entrance.

“Just stamp in.” I told her, “After this, my shift is over. I’ll fill you in.”

She just nodded slowly, obviously befuddled by the sight before her. I couldn’t blame her. If my coworker was walking down the hallway with a freaky mermaid in a wheelbarrow, I’d probably have the same reaction.

Cersie gave her a wave, grinning.

“Is she wearing your uniform?” Mivara finally asked.

“That’s what you’re worried about?” I complained.

She shrugged. “I figured it’s a fair question, eh?”

“Again, I’ll explain later. Just give me a few minutes.”

I pressed the up arrow on the elevator, and the doors slid open. Once we were inside, I hit the button for the second floor, keeping my back to the doors so I could just back out with the wheelbarrow.

It was a short trip to the second floor. Cersie seemed excited, humming to herself as the elevator rose. The doors dinged.

And then I was thrown backward.

No, not thrown. Pulled. A screech of surprise ripped from my lips as I was pulled down the hallway at a breakneck pace. Cold, hard hands wrapped around my wrists, pulling me by the arms violently down the hall.

“Groundskeeper!?” Cersie asked, turning to look at what was happening.

I didn’t have a chance to reply as I was pulled around the corner, legs flailing. When I craned my neck to look at whatever was grabbing me, nothing was there. My arms were pulled over my head by an invisible force, but I swore I could feel individual digits clenched tight around each of my wrists.

My head collided with another corner and I groaned, seeing stars. As soon as I hit my head, the grip released me. I fell back on the carpeted floor, grimacing and rubbing the back of my head. My head ached, and my hair was a frizzy mess.

A low, male chuckle reverberated through the hall in the distance. I heard the sound of quiet footsteps pattering on the carpet away from me.

“Thank god I’m off tomorrow,” I muttered, getting to my feet and dusting myself off. It wasn’t the first time one of the spirits of the Grinning Moon decided to get handsy with me, but every time it was a frustrating experience. There were ways to stop it, but I didn’t have my salt on me because I’d been dealing with Cersie all morning. I made a mental note to make sure to keep it on me in the future.

I stumbled back toward the elevator, trying to smooth my hair. My entire body tingled with static electricity from being dragged across the floor so fast, and a jolt shot through my finger when I touched the wall. When I got back to the elevator, the doors were closed, I assume due to being left inert for so long. After a moment, they slowly slid open with a ding.

Cersie was still sitting in the wheelbarrow, but she’d turned to lie on her stomach to watch my approach. She gave a small wave with the fingers of one hand.

“What was that?” She asked, cocking her head to one side.

“One of our local poltergeists.” I muttered, “Normally they don’t have enough strength to grab someone like that, but sometimes they store up the energy for a little prank like that.”

I brushed myself off and grabbed the wheelbarrow, backing it out of the elevator.

“You get spirits underwater?” I asked.

“Of course. Things die everywhere.” Cersie replied matter-of-factly.

I shrugged. “We have a lot of them here. Pretty normal, for better and worse.”

Cersie was still lying on her stomach. She didn’t look at me, but she somewhat absent-mindedly mused, “Most people would run screaming after something like that happened.”

“Lady, I’ve been working here for almost all my life. I know what’s actually dangerous and what isn’t in these halls. Sure, I might yelp or scream when I get randomly grabbed, or a wizard nearly electrocutes me. But at the end of the day I know what wants to hurt me here and what doesn’t, for the most part.” I glanced down at the lephashipan. “To be honest, variables outside the hotel worry me more than things inside it. That’s part of the reason I’ve been fairly careful around you.”

“You still let me get a room, though.” She sounded amused.

“That’s the job.”

We finally reached the door to her room. It was made of stone with large stone pillars sitting on either side of the doorframe. I used the key to open it, struggling a moment to push it open.

I nearly tumbled inside as I tried to plant my foot on empty air.

“Whoa!” My arms flailed, wheeling to keep my balance as I teetered on the edge of a small stairway.

The interior was completely flooded. There were still what looked to be normal kitchen appliances and furniture visible from the entryway, although everything was pretty much waterlogged. A rock covered in a bed of kelp sat opposite the doorway with a window on one side of it – the rays of sunlight casting eerie shadows across the dim room.

“Here you are, miss,” I told her, handing her the key. “Don’t lose this. Please.”

Cersie slid from the wheelbarrow and into the water with a splash. She turned to face me, tail flipping up behind her. “This is wonderful!”

“The Grinning Moon always provides.” I replied, “There is a phone in the room. Normally I won’t answer the phone, but since you can’t exactly walk downstairs if you need something, please call the desk, and so long as our landline is working, I’ll answer.”

She turned to swim further into the room, pausing at one countertop for a moment. Her gaze flicked back over to me, eying me from over her shoulder with those glossy pools of dark ink.

And then Cersie said something that surprised me. “You know, I’m starting to see why that dead girl likes you so much, morsel.”

I froze in place, staring at her for a few moments.

“You know Nyx?”

“A lot of people know Nyx,” Cersie remarked with a shark-like smile. “And a lot of people know you, Jhin. More than you think.”

With that, she darted beneath the water. I wanted to ask exactly what she meant by that, but she didn’t resurface for several minutes. Once I realized she wasn’t going to come back, I sighed and shut the door. That was a question to pose to Nyx when I saw her next.

Finally, I made my way back downstairs and explained everything to Mivara. I told her about the singing, about Cersie’s room. I told her she’d need to take the ledger upstairs and have her sign it at some point, but to give the lephashipan some time to rest and get situated first.

“Why can’t you do it?” Mivara complained, “What if she decides to drown me?”

“I don’t think she will.” I said, “She had plenty of chances to when I pulled her out of the bath.”

“You left water all over the hallway! First the roots and now you soak half the first floor.” She chided. “And you let her keep your waistcoat?”

“I have like twenty waistcoats.” I replied, “They get so dirty all the time, and I work here the most, so Mando gave me a whole wardrobe of uniforms. Besides…” I pointed at the time. My shift was over.

She grumbled, “Aren’t you the senior groundskeeper? I’m just a front desk worker; cleaning up all that stuff should be your job. Stay over and fix your shit, eh?”

“Yes, well, like any superb manager, I’m passing my responsibilities on to you.” I stamped out of my shift with a playful wink.

“See, this is why you don’t give people power.” Billy said from the lobby, “When they get power, they become assholes!”

I rolled my eyes, turning my attention back to Mivara. “I’ll make it up to you while you’re on shift tomorrow. I’m going out. Want something from downtown?”

Mivara hesitated for a moment. Then, she nodded.

“Good, we’ll call it even, then. I’ll stop by on the way out. For now–I’m getting out of this damn uniform.”

I stamped out for the day, wishing Mivara and Billy farewell before heading up to my room. My mind worked quickly as I thought about what I’d do this weekend. I had all of today off as well as the weekend. It was practically a three-day vacation. There was so much I could do. Go into town. Do some spirit photography and get some fresh air.

While I could never truly separate myself from this place since I lived here, at least for the weekend I was free of my responsibilities at the Grinning Moon.

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