Page 3 of Bear Necessities
“Maybe bear shifters would scare it away, though,” Beth quips and leaves the room.
I look over at my brother, who is flipping through the boutique hotel file.
“I see nothing here that we missed about the land we built upon,” he says, sliding the file toward me.
“That would be a nightmare.Maybe it’s just a traveling ghost.Or maybe Beth is right and we can bare our fangs, and it’ll skedaddle.”
“I doubt that, but I’ll call Jimmy and see what’s up.”
Giving him a brotherly punch in the arm, I leave for my office.He returns it straight to my side.
“Dang, ow man.”I say with a laugh and twist out of the way from a second hit.
Twenty minutes later, Barrett comes into my office.
“Dude, Jimmy is freaked the hell out.We need to head up there before dark.”
I look at my watch.We have just a few hours left before sunset.
“Your truck or mine?”
* * *
The Dark Wings Manor construction site is about 40 minutes up the Corvid Valley side of Ravenhart Mountain.It’s a gorgeous location for the future boutique hotel and spa, with amazing valley and mountain views.I actually had the idea last week of buying a gift certificate there for B and Abigail as a wedding present.Once they finalize the date, that is.
Granted, if this ghost or spirit or whatever becomes an issue, the hotel may not open on schedule.
We pull up to the site just as our construction team appears to be finishing up for the day.The foreman, Jimmy, walks over to the truck.
“Hey, thanks for coming.My guys are now refusing to enter the building.Something invisible pushed Ian into the wall when he was measuring a window frame.”
“What the hell.Why would a ghost, or whatever, want to hang out in a new-build?”Barrett says as we head to the front door.
“You sure you two want to go in there?”Jimmy asks.
“No, but we’re the bosses, so in we go,” I say.
We walk into the lobby of the hotel and before I close the door, it slams shut behind me.
“Do you feel that?”my brother asks, a tinge of fear in his tone.
“Uh, yeah, and I’m shifting.Fuck this.”
We both shift into our brown bear forms.I still feel the eerie cold that covered me, inside and out, when we stepped through the door, but my bear-strength helps lessen the discomfort.We step further into the lobby, smelling the air and grunting to each other.I notice the chandelier was finally installed right when it starts violently swaying above our heads.Barrett notices as well and slams his body into mine, throwing us out of the way as the chandelier comes crashing down onto the floor.
I shift, yank open the front door, and we bolt outside.
“What the hell was that?”Jimmy asks, with several fearful crew members standing behind him.
“We are down a chandelier,” I say, as my brother shifts back into his human form.
“Whatever the hell that is in there, it’s not friendly or safe.Jimmy, we have to put construction on hold until we find out how to deal with this.”
“You got it, boss.”
* * *
When I drove Barrett back to work yesterday, he asked Beth to find local paranormal investigators for us to review in the morning.As always, she did not disappoint.We walk into the office Wednesday morning to find three different files to peruse.