“Walt spoke to me a few days ago. It’s not going to take him long to realize Vivienne is gone. I’m willing to do whatever I can to help him, but time is running out.” Ten felt ice cold just thinking about the angry spirit who’d come to visit him the other day, claiming that the women in this hotel werehisto hurt or kill. He was going to find out soon enough that his favorite punching bag was gone.
Before they left, Ten would reach out to Walt and try to help him. He didn’t like the idea of the spirit being able to influence the behavior of men to hurt their wives or girlfriends.
All Ten could do in the meantime was prepare for the coming storm; the hurricane and the unadulterated rage the spirit would bring with him.
13
Ronan
The rest of the day had, thankfully, gone smoothly. The kids had a great afternoon at the beach. Ronan, Jude, and Fitz sat in the sun and read their book. Ten napped, while Cope and Jace played with the kids. For dinner, they’d made reservations for the main dining room. The meal was incredible. They’d all gotten steak, with the exception of Aurora, who wanted shrimp scampi. They’d skipped dessert, which none of the kids were happy about, as they made their way to the second floor and into Ten and Ronan’s suite.
The unhappy kids piled on to the sofa and shot mutinous looks at Ronan.
“Okay, guys, let’s settle down,” Ronan said, holding his hands up for silence, like the principal did at Salem Elementary. “There’s some stuff we need to talk to you about. You’re going to be upset by what we’re saying, but it’s important you listen. Fitz?”
“Hurricane Sophie is going to hit New England. We don’t know where or at what strength yet. You all saw the pictures on the television of the damage the storm did, right?”
“Right,” Everly, Wolf, and Aurora muttered.
“Our job is to keep all of you safe. Weather reports are saying they think the storm will hit on Sunday,” Jude said, picking up from Fitzgibbon. “What we’ve all decided is that we’re going to leave for home Saturday morning.”
The kids groaned in perfect harmony.
“We know it’s disappointing,” Ronan said. “We’re worried about there being a lot of traffic trying to get back to the highway and there’s a lot of work we need to do back home.”
“Stupid police work,” Aurora said, crossing her arms.
“No, honey, not police work,” Fitz said. “We all need to hit the grocery store and get food that won’t spoil, like bread, peanut butter and crackers, just in case the power goes out and we can’t cook. We also need to stock up on batteries for flashlights.”
“On the way back to the hotel, I found lanterns and radios that are powered by crank handles. Not only will we have light that way, but we can also charge our phones. I ordered two of them for each family. They’ll be delivered to Carson’s house tomorrow,” Jude said.
“Depending on how bad the storm will be, we might need to get wood to board up our windows to protect them.” Fitz’s eyes were on Aurora. “If the storm is going to be super bad, we might have to evacuate to a hotel and ride out the storm that way.”
“What we need from you all is your cooperation. We’re going to start packing tonight. Dirty clothes and things we won’t need again,” Ronan said. “It’s our plan to spend tomorrow enjoying one last day at the hotel. We’ll go to the beach and have lots of fun. We’ll go to the Lobster Shack near the harbor for dinner.”
Aurora perked up when Ronan mentioned lobster. “What can I do to help?”
“That’s the spirit!” Fitz gave Aurora a high-five. “We need all three of you to pack your suitcases and carry on bags for Saturday. Make sure all of your stuffies are packed, we don’t want any unicorn left behind. Same with you, Wolf, make sure all your new toys and LEGOs are packed. We’ll have breakfast at the hotel Saturday morning and then we’re going home.”
“One last thing,” Jude said. “I’m going to be keeping my eye on the weather forecasts. If the storm starts to move faster, then we might have to leave tomorrow instead.”
Ronan looked around the room at all the sad faces. “I’m sad that we have to leave early too, but we don’t want to put any of you in danger.”
“Who’s in the mood for smores?” Tennyson asked.
“Me!” All the kids’ hands shot into the air.
Ten stuck his hand in the air with the others. “Let’s go grab a fire pit down by the beach. Ronan, bring the supplies. Jude, grab beach blankets. Fitz put juice pouches in the cooler.”
“Yes, sir, General Grimm!” Ronan snapped off a salute. Jude and Fitz followed suit.
Ten gathered the kids, along with Cope and Jace and left the suite.
“That went pretty well,” Jude said. “We’ll meet you back here in a few minutes.”
“Okay.” Ronan walked Fitz and Jude out and grabbed one of Ten’s beach bags. He packed it with marshmallows, chocolate, a new box of graham crackers and sticks to roast marshmallows. When Ronan was a kid, he had to find his own stick in the woods and strip the bark off the tip to roast marshmallows. Now, stores sold entire kits.
When Jude and Fitz returned, they piled into the elevator and rode it to the first floor. “I’m gonna check in on Lainie before we go outside,” Ronan said, pointing to the entrance to the Taproom.
