Chapter 21

Pumpkins flickered on every table, and black and orange streamers hung from every bookshelf, nook, and cranny. Tank circulated around the ballroom – wearing her special Halloween-edition Paranormal Properties T-shirt; this one had oozing neon orange letters instead of green, in honor of their inaugural show on the Scream Channel – and passed out iced pumpkin cookies to the guests.

The giant movie screen the network had set up in the back of the ballroom was playing the Halloween episode on repeat all night long. Jake and his family had already watched it three times, but folks kept wandering in, filling the rows of seats lined up before the screen, to watch it for the first time.

Now that the Balthazar Hotel was no longer “haunted,” the bigwigs at the Scream Channel had decided on a unique promotional opportunity for the first Paranormal Properties episode on their channel: they would offer treats for the kids, elaborate candy handed out by false ghosts in the front lobby, and invite their parents to stick around and watch the show in the famed ballroom.

It was an offer most folks couldn’t resist, and now, as the show began again on its endless loop, the ballroom was packed to the rafters with kids and adults in costume for Halloween night.

Jake, Tank, and Frank watched from back behind the audience as Jake’s mom introduced the segment onscreen:

“The hotel may be quiet now, but this was the scene several days ago when our expert team of paranormal investigators incited the ire of the ghosts who used to live here…”

The scene cut from Mrs. Weir’s narration in the hotel lobby to herself, her husband, and Tank trapped in that very ballroom, banging on the doors as flames flickered beneath the wood. Chairs and tables flipped over behind them, and a screeching sound rose up in the air that was far more ghastly than the hissing of flames, as the ghosts relived that fateful day in 1921 when Atticus Granger ended their lives.

The crowd gasped, and Jake had to admit the footage was pretty great. No one could see any of the ghosts, but they could sense that the toppling furniture and breaking glass and frenzied activity was far from staged.

In fact, according to the Scream Channel executives who had been stopping by all evening, this special was the highest rated episode on the network to date!

Jake’s parents stood to one side of the screen, watching their work proudly. He was proud of them. They had worked hard for this. Heck, his dad had spent weeks in the hospital, and then rehab, for this, and he would now walk with a slight, possibly permanent, limp thanks to the Balthazar Hotel. They had endured years of endless travel and living off every paycheck for this moment, and Jake was perfectly content to stand in the back of the room, quiet and anonymous, as the lively crowd cheered their onscreen antics.

Mr. and Mrs. Weir held hands throughout the entire episode, and they immediately grew flushed and humbled as the credits rolled and the crowd surrounded them, desperate for an autograph or some ghostly behind-the-scenes gossip, both of which they were more than happy to dispense.

“Look at those two hams,” Tank chuckled as she nibbled on her sixth cookie of the night. At her feet, Marley whimpered, and she knelt to pat his head with one hand while letting him scarf down the rest of the cookie with the other. “They love this stuff.”

“You should be up there too, Tank,” Jake said. “Take your bow.”

“Heck no,” she said, already blushing at the thought. “I’m like you. I prefer staying out of the spotlight.”

“Yeah, well, you worked a lot harder than I did on this one,” Jake said, sending a fond look up to his much taller friend. “I feel bad about that.”

“Maybe I worked harder on the show,” she said. “But you and Frank were the ones who saved all those ghosts. You should be up there taking a bow.”

Jake watched out of the corner of his eye as Frank drifted gently away, out through the open ballroom doors and into the quiet lobby. Marley, forgoing his last bite of pumpkin cookie, trotted after him. Ever since Clara had left, Frank and Marley had both been moping around too much for Jake’s liking.

“Next time,” he promised Tank as he started inching toward the door, “you and I are going to work closer together on the show. I won’t let you down again.”

Tank snorted as she wiped the orange frosting on her fingers onto her new black jeans. “You’re gonna get your chance this week.”

He paused. “How’s that?”

“Your dad just told me,” she explained proudly. “The folks from the Scream Channel found this haunted hospital down in some little Podunk town in Tennessee. It’s our next assignment!”

A slow, irrepressible smile stretched across Jake’s face. This was good. It would be good for them to get out of the city, away from the Balthazar and all its ugly memories.

“Good,” he said.

Tank must have noticed him trying to make a getaway; her expression softened. “It’s Frank, huh?” she asked knowingly.

He gave a halfhearted shrug. “This was a rough one for him, you know?”

Tank frowned. “I have a feeling they’re all gonna be rough ones for Frank. I mean, if we keep finding real ghosts.”

Jake didn’t say anything in return; he was anxious to leave before the next rerun of the episode started. “Go,” she added, as if reading his mind. “I’ve got cookies to pass out and you’ve got a ghost to cheer up.”

Jake rolled his eyes good-naturedly and gave her a wave as he exited the ballroom. He wove his way through the crowded lobby, where folks were already lining up for the next showing of Paranormal Properties: The Halloween Episode.

Out on the street in front of the dilapidated hotel, kids in costumes and fussy parents milled about, either talking about what they’d just seen or anxious to get in and see it for themselves.

“Marley!” he called, knowing he couldn’t very well call out the name of a gangster ghost in front of the assembled crowd. “Here boy!”

He heard a distant bark and followed it to the small park up the street. Frank’s wispy glow filled the small gazebo that sat within a tight grove of trees; Marley was nestled at his feet.

“You okay?” Jake asked as he stepped up into the gazebo.

“Hey, Jake,” Frank said, trying – and failing – to seem lighthearted. “Happy Halloween.”

Jake sniffed. “You don’t seem very happy.”

“Nah, I’ll be fine, kiddo.” Frank brushed Jake’s shoulder with a pale hand. “Just a little blue this week, that’s all.”

Jake shifted. “Clara?”

“Clara, Atticus, all those lost souls.”

“But you freed them,” Jake said, looking up into Frank’s cold, sad eyes. “If it wasn’t for you, they’d still be in there.”

Frank sighed and looked over Jake’s head, back to the hotel. Jake followed his line of vision and gasped at what he saw: It was the Balthazar in its heyday, ornate and opulent, lit from within with glowing candlelight as fancy cars lined the street outside its doors. It was as it must have been in its prime, the best of the best, classiest of the classy. He could hear music wafting out from the ballroom and into the night, the laughter of a woman in a fine fur coat as she paused on the front steps, the honk of a car in the long line behind her.

It was a momentary glimpse into the past, one of his visions of what must have been, powered by Frank’s strong emotions for Clara and all of the other victims once trapped inside. The moment Jake blinked, the lights, the sounds, the glory of the past were all gone. All that remained was the shabby hotel, dusty and crumbling before their very eyes, and Jake was left frozen there, his heart pounding with the thrill of it all.

Eventually, his eyes drifted back to Frank, and he said, “You could have gone with her, you know.”

Franks huffed and fell back against the gazebo railing, little Marley watching his every move. “I made a promise to you, Jakey.” He ruffled the boy’s hair. “Frank Barrone doesn’t go back on his promises.”

“But I’m okay now,” Jake promised. “We’re okay. You deserve a…an afterlife too.”

“And I want one, but Clara won’t be the only ghost in need. You’ve helped me find my purpose in whatever sort of afterlife this is, and I can’t just go running away from that the minute I see a pretty face.”

“She was pretty,” Jake agreed.

“She sure was,” Frank blurted, before scowling down at Jake playfully. “Hey now, you’re not hitting on my girl, are you?”
Jake laughed and knelt down to pet Marley. The pup perked up immediately, happy for the attention. “I’m not really into ghost girls, Frank.”

“Keep it that way.” Frank crouched down to join the two of them. “Girls, ghosts, they’re nothing but trouble!”

Jake sprawled out on the gazebo floor as Halloween shambled on around them with the sounds of trick-or-treaters and crackling candy wrappers and shuffling feet.

Soon his family would be packing up once more, heading to Tennessee, from the looks of it. Another town, another slew of ghosts, another adventure for Jake and Frank, and now little Marley too.

It was an oddball family, Jake’s was, and never before had the nickname “the Weirds” been more appropriate. Once, it had offended him when kids had called him “Jake Weird,” but looking around, seeing what they had accomplished with Paranormal Properties, Jake couldn’t care less. He had never been prouder.