Magic girls of multivers.., p.3
Magic Girls of Multiverse Inn 4: A Reverse Portal Fantasy, page 3
“Sure, no problem,” Becky replied.
I scrambled dumbly for a second before I remembered where I had put a Sharpie yesterday afternoon. Then I decided to just fucking write on one of the boxes since I couldn’t find anything better.
“Okay, go ahead,” I said.
“So, it’s Becky Richards…” she started and gave me her contact information.
“Uh-huh…” I scribbled her phone number on the top of a box, followed by her work email address.
“Do you need me to repeat any of that?” Becky asked.
“That’s alright, I’ve got it.” I smiled and capped the marker.
“Great!” Becky sounded cheerful. “Take a few days, and I’ll give you another call next week to touch base again if I haven’t heard from you.”
“Uh, sure, that’s fine,” I said.
“Thank you, Mr. Woods. Enjoy your day.” She hung up before I could respond.
My eyebrows rose up in a baffled expression, and I stared at my phone screen. I quickly double-checked the number on the caller ID before I saved it into my contacts.
I smiled to myself at the oddity of the conversion, and I walked back into our bedroom to find all three of my sexy ladies awake and waiting for me.
“Who was that?” Prinna asked.
“Were they threatening you?” Izzie asked like she was ready to charge into battle.
“Um, no,” I said with wide eyes, and then I chuckled. “No, it was a woman named Becky. She’s an assistant to a writer for Observer Monthly.”
I explained the conversation about the magazine’s desire to do an article about us and the inn, and I was fairly surprised at the reactions I received.
“You should do it!” Prinna smiled.
“Definitely!” Kaz agreed. “It would be really good for the inn.”
“You think so?” I asked.
“Oh, yes.” Kaz nodded confidently. “It would spread the word so widely about the inn. It’s a really good business move, I think. Like those big signs we see on that very fast road… what are they called again?”
“Billboards?” I smirked.
“Yes!” Kaz grinned. “It would advertise the inn and be good for business.”
“I agree,” Prinna said. “Especially if people already want to know.”
“Hmm…” I hummed thoughtfully, and I looked at Izzie. “What do you think?”
Izzie shrugged indifferently. “I don’t really understand this magazine thing you talked about.”
I chuckled because that made sense. Izzie was illiterate due to her upbringing on the small island of Ebon, so it was perfectly reasonable to see why she wouldn’t get what a magazine was or what it was for.
“But I trust Kaz and Prinna’s opinion,” Izzie said. “If they think it’s a good idea, then I think you should do it.”
“I’ll think about it,” I said with an affectionate smile. “I’m not sure if we’re ready for that kind of publicity just yet. I think there are things the four of us should decide on before we go announcing to the world about the business.”
“Like what?” Kaz asked.
We climbed out of the bed and started to dress as we continued our conversation.
“Like when we’re going to even be open for business,” I said with humor. “I mean, the renovation work should be done in the next few weeks, but then we still need to furnish everything and decorate. Then it’ll practically be Christmas and New Year’s…”
Kaz, Prinna, and Izzie all looked at me with utter confusion in their eyes, and I realized they had no idea what the winter holidays were. After our conversations about Halloween last night, I could only imagine what they might be expecting.
“I’ll tell you about those holidays later,” I chuckled. “What I mean is, we need to figure out a timeline before we go announcing a grand opening date to the ghost-hunting community.”
“That is a good point,” Prinna said.
“Yes, you definitely don’t want to get ahead of yourself,” Kaz agreed.
“So, what’s stopping us from planning that stuff?” Izzie asked.
“Um… nothing, I guess,” I said with a smirk. “We sort of started the serious planning last night with figuring out what kind of things we want to fill the place with.”
We headed downstairs, and I realized it was much later in the morning than I’d thought. Those blackout curtains really did the trick.
“So, where do we get things to furnish the inn?” Prinna asked.
“We have lots of options for that,” I said. “I think we should get the furniture, like bed frames, dressers, that sort of stuff, from estate sales and maybe even antique or thrift shops.”
We walked into the kitchen and started to prepare food.
“That way all the pieces will be unique,” I said. “I don’t think getting a bunch of mass-produced and identical bedroom sets is the right way to go about it, you know?”
I turned to look at my lovers with a carton of eggs in my hands, and they all stared back at me with expressions that said I should already know they weren’t following me.
“Sorry,” I chuckled and pulled more items from the fridge. “Fancy hotels will have every room look the same, but I don’t think that will go with the aesthetic we’re trying to get here.”
I brought up all the bed and breakfast and vintage styles we’d all agreed on during our YouTube search the night before.
“Getting furniture that’s a bit older and made with higher quality materials will help us reach that goal better than brand-new stuff,” I explained. “Does that make sense?”
“I see,” Kaz said.
“Are things not made with quality now in this realm?” Izzie asked.
“Not like they used to be,” I said.
The statement made me feel a little like my parents’ next door neighbors growing up. They always complained about how things were made to break nowadays.
“A lot of things are made in huge quantities now,” I explained, and I turned the stove on. “It makes things easier to get and cheaper to make and buy, but the quality is what suffers.”
“So each guest room will be different, then?” Kaz asked.
“I think that’s a great idea,” Izzie said.
“I think so, too,” Prinna agreed. “I also think it could encourage people to make return visits. If each room is unique, it will make them want to stay in more than one to experience the differences.”
“Oh, that’s a really good point!” I grinned as I scrambled several eggs in a bowl. “Incentive to come back.”
I chuckled to myself as I thought about how my best friend Kevin would call it replay value. Plus, if every room was different, we could make a whole thing of it. They could have names and themes, and maybe I could even let Izzie go a bit grosser on one. We could make that the R-rated room or something fun, for the guests who wanted a bit more fear in their stay.
“I think it will make it more fun to do all the shopping, too,” I said. “We can hit every thrift shop and antique store in the state if we want, and we could just buy anything that fits the bill.”
“That sounds like a treasure hunt to me.” Izzie gave me her best pirate grin.
“Sort of,” I chuckled. “Is that how we want to go about it, then?”
“I think it’s great,” Kaz said as she pulled some toast from the toaster and popped two more slices of bread into it.
“So do I,” Prinna agreed.
My white-blonde witch was supposed to be shredding some cheese for our omelets, but she was eating about as much as she was shredding.
“Stop that,” I teased.
“Whoops.” Prinna blushed. “Sorry.”
I shook my head lovingly at the tall woman, and I held a hand out for the bowl. She giggled softly as she handed me what was left of the cheese.
“Alright, so I figure we can go in shifts on these shopping trips,” I said as I went back to cooking. “I wish we could all go at the same time, but until we get that door to the fourth floor installed…”
“Mmm.” Kaz nodded in agreement.
“It’s just not safe to leave the crew here unsupervised,” Izzie said.
“Exactly,” I said. “But, I think we’re getting ahead of ourselves here. We’re on vacation this week just like Doug’s crew.”
I scooped the massive omelet off the pan as I grinned at my ladies. We divided up our food onto plates and moved into the partially finished dining room. There was one table with six chairs set up that had been our test run table to see if it was the right choice for the inn’s dining space. After we’d agreed on it, I’d ordered a dozen and a half more in different size combinations. There would be tiny tables for the ghost-loving couple on a romantic getaway as well as a few larger tables like this one for the friend groups or hobbyist paranormal investigators.
“That’s right!” Kaz smiled. “We’re free to leave the realm if we want.”
“We can get back to business when they return to work,” I said.
“Will we be doing anything for Halloween?” Izzie asked.
“Will trick or treaters come to the inn’s door?” Kaz asked with delight in her violet eyes.
“I don’t know,” I said. “They might. I mean, we can definitely put up some decorations if you want. We don’t really have time to go huge with it…”
“Aaaww,” Izzie moaned like a child who’d been told she couldn’t have another cookie for dessert. “Really?”
“We can go to a store today and do some stuff,” I offered with an indulgent smile. “But we have plans for tomorrow, remember?”
“The auto-varrin!” Kaz clapped her hands together.
“Is that tomorrow already?” Prinna asked as she picked every last piece of bacon from the plate, and she licked the bits from her fingertips.
“Yeah,” I said. “We can’t miss the premiere of Astrea’s invention.
“I am curious to finally see Bioniin,” Izzie said in a conceding tone. “But we can still do some Halloween things today before we go?”
“Definitely.” I grinned.
“It’s a beautiful realm,” Kaz said wistfully. “It’s always sunny and pleasantly warm without being too hot.”
“I’m excited to see Astrea again.” Prinna grinned. “And her auto-varrin.”
“It’s like your vehicle, you said?” Izzie glanced at me. “Your… Earth cars?”
“Pretty much,” I said.
We finished the last bits of our breakfast and spent a short time cleaning up. Then my ladies started to go upstairs without discussing what we were doing next, and I knew they were all excited to do some Halloween shopping.
“Maybe we should do a little organizing first,” Kaz suggested. “This mess of boxes makes me uncomfortable.”
“That’s a good idea,” I said.
We started to open the folded cardboard boxes and reorganize items into our dressers. In the middle of that, we picked out clothing for the day, and we set aside things we were going to want for the next week. By the time I looked at the clock, it was close to four in the afternoon, and I brought the time to everyone’s attention.
“If we want to do Halloween stuff, we should get going,” I said. “We can do more of this later.”
“Oh! Yay!” Prinna jumped up and down, and the little tassels on her infinity scarf bounced over the front of her maroon sweater dress.
“Where do we go for this kind of thing?” Kaz asked as she threw on a cropped, black denim jacket over her lavender blouse and straight leg jeans.
“Will we need our weapons?” Izzie asked.
My pirate lover raked her fingers through the lower half of her brown hair. She continued to keep the top half twisted up in a series of small braids, but she’d slowly begun to let her hair fall more freely since coming home to Earth with us.
“Um, no,” I deadpanned playfully before I grinned at her. “We’re going to a store.”
I grabbed my wallet and keys from their temporary spot, and I waggled my eyebrows playfully as I walked out of the bedroom. The sound of my ladies’ laughter and their feet on the floor told me they were following me with excitement.
“Which one?” Kaz asked.
“A special one.” I smirked. “It’s called Spirit Halloween, actually.”
“Can you buy a spirit?” Prinna asked with interest.
“Noooo,” I laughed. “It’s a specialty store. They pop up randomly in August every year, and they have all the best Halloween stuff. You guys are gonna love it.”
Kaz, Prinna, and Izzie bombarded me with questions about the store and what we would find there, but I didn’t give them any more details as we left the inn. I chuckled at their desperation to know more as I drove down the cul-de-sac.
“You’ll see soon enough,” I assured them.
It took me a second to remember where I’d seen the pop-up Halloween shop. The route took us through the middle of town, down Main Street, and it looked like a Disney Channel Original Movie had thrown up all over the place.
There was an enormous display of the biggest pumpkins I’d ever seen on the huge lawn out front of the church across from town hall, and every house was covered in more decorations. People strolled down the sidewalks wearing clothing in every shade of red, yellow, orange, and brown. They wore comfy flannel, wool coats, and nearly everyone had a scarf around their neck.
The recreation park across from the high school was a construction site of epic proportions. I spotted several of Quality Construction LLC’s company trucks parked in the parking lot. All I could see was a huge temporary wall of plywood and two-by-fours, and I could hear the sound of table saws and power drills even with the windows rolled up.
“That must be where the Fright Night is happening,” I said idly.
“It doesn’t look like much,” Kaz said, and I could hear the heavy skepticism in her tone.
“Well, neither did the inn renovations when they started,” Prinna pointed out.
“Hmm,” Kaz hummed.
“I bet it’ll be awesome when it’s done,” I said. “They might also have all that plywood up to keep the whole thing a secret until opening night. I get the feeling this whole town makes every major holiday into a huge production.”
“You mentioned other holidays earlier,” Prinna said, and I could hear the curiosity in her voice.
“I did.” I grinned and caught her hazel eyes in the rearview mirror. “Christmas and New Year’s.”
I gave a brief description of the two holidays and promised the three of them we would go into more depth about traditions and decorations for the winter season at a later time. For now, I wanted to focus on everything spooky and creepy.
“We’re here,” I said as I pulled into the parking lot.
A life-size motion-activated skeleton in a shredded black cloak greeted us with a horrible witch’s cackle as we walked through the sliding doors of the former K-Mart. I could still make out the outline of where the giant K had once hung on the wall to our left, and I smirked at it as I grabbed a shopping cart.
“Where do we start?” Kaz asked.
Before any of us could answer, Izzie hurried toward a display of creepy candy bowls that had ugly green hands in the middle of them.
“Are those hexed hands?” Izzie asked in a hushed voice, and she started to reach toward one. “They look quite diseased.”
“They’re–” I started to explain, but the motion sensor went off first.
“Aaahhheeehee!” the bowl shouted from its hidden speaker as the green hand folded toward Izzie.
“Aahhh!” Kaz screeched and leaped backward so hard, she almost knocked over a cardboard cutout of Michael Myers, which only made her scream again. “Aaah!”
Izzie laughed maniacally at the display, and she waved her hand at the bowl to move the hand again.
Prinna grimaced at the bowl and curled her hands into tight fists in front of her chest like she couldn’t stand the thought of touching the plastic appendage.
“Gross,” Prinna muttered.
“It’s all fake,” I assured the three of them. “Nothing here is magic, or hexed, or bewitched. None of the body parts are real. They’re all plastic or rubber… or whatever, okay?”
“Ugh.” Kaz shuddered and brushed herself off as she glared at Michael Myers’ creepy mask. “What is this thing?”
“It’s from a famous horror movie,” I said.
“Movies are those magic viewing box things that are longer, right?” Izzie asked. “I suppose horror ones are intended to be scary?”
“Yeah.” I nodded. “How about we browse through some of the aisles?”
“Okay!” Izzie said instantly.
Prinna giggled at the brunette’s enthusiasm, and Kaz gave Michael one more glare. I let Izzie lead the way because the store seemed pretty self-explanatory to me. We’d had more than a few shopping trips through grocery stores and clothing shops at this point, and I was confident she could find her way around this place, too.
The first aisle was mostly costume pieces, and Prinna found a witch’s hat she liked enough to pick up. She started to put it back on the shelf when I caught her gaze.
“Do you want it?” I asked.
“It’s fun.” Prinna shrugged. “But I don’t need it.”
“Uh-huh.” I put the hat in the cart.
“Sam.” Prinna shook her head adoringly at me.
I grinned, and we continued down the aisle.
Kaz found a pair of butterfly wings that caught her fancy, and Izzie frowned at all the plastic swords, axes, and scythes.
“You can’t do any damage with any of these,” Izzie scoffed. “What good are they?”
“They’re just for fun,” I said. “A lot of kids wear them with their costumes because they’re not allowed to carry real weapons.”
“Hmm.” Izzie continued to frown. “That’s a good way to not learn anything important…”
The next aisle was fairly uninteresting to us as it was mostly party goods like plates, cups, napkins, and balloons. There was an assortment of cheap party favors at the end like those crappy vampire fangs and weird glasses with bloodshot eyeballs inserted into the frames. We didn’t pick any of that stuff, but the next aisle proved to have what we came here for.
“Ah, hell yes,” I said with a grin.
