Orpheus - Haunting the Dead.pdf - Dice

HAUNTING THE DEAD
RICK CHILLOT
“I know, sweetie. I think I may have made a mistake
in telling him so much so quickly.”
“Then what are we going to do? Because so many
smilers are around, I’m afraid they’re going to find this
room soon too. There won’t be many other places to
hide. I don’t want to end up on the fifth floor.”
“Neither do I, Tina.”
“But what are we doing to do? Can’t you go after him
and talk him into helping us?”
“You know I don’t leave my rooms, Tina.”
“But if you don’t, the smilers are going to do something
very very bad!” She’s shouting now. “And I think
everyone will die!”
Blue Palace Hotel, Lobby
September 20, 3:35 p.m.
Ed is on his feet. His head is woozy, but some of the
fatigue has left him. He steadies himself. He turns to
face whoever it is that picked him up off the floor.
“Are you all right?”
Ed can’t place the voice at first, familiar though it is.
“I think so,” he says, then rubs his eyes, then his
temples, feeling the fog lift from his thoughts. “I just
wore myself out for a moment. But…” He realizes that
he’s talking to the woman in the elegant gown, the one
he’d met in the hallway… how long ago had that been?
“It’s you again.” He stares, realizing the implications of
being able to communicate with her.
She frowns. “My name is Victoria Blake. There’s no
need to stare so rudely. Yes, as you’ve probably figured
out by now, I am dead. Just like you, young man.”
Not like me, Ed thinks, as he nods slowly. “Young
man?” he says. “You don’t look much older than me, if
you don’t mind me saying.”
She frowns. “You are new around here, aren’t you?
I may have died as a wizened old crone, but that doesn’t
mean I have to look like one for all eternity.”
Ed realizes that he doesn’t want to understand what
she’s trying to tell him. “Well, Victoria, thanks for
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