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It had been three weeks since we started disposing the Other Side of their unmentionables. The fights went through the magic faster than expected, so we had to up our quotas, but the Other Side's finest were quite grateful to have us join their efforts in enforcing the rule of law. There would be a time when word would get out that the No Spell was not the friendly haven for Other Side miscreants advertised in our targeted "sweepstakes" messaging, but for now, everything was working out well. We had a little extra income from the bounties, I had enough magic to keep things from falling into complete disrepair, and Ajax was thrilled whenever it was his turn to take down some baddies.
Precious was here every afternoon. I believe she told her parents that she was working on vocational training. She even convincingly pretended to enjoy Ajax's cooking, which was saying something. No breakthroughs on getting our memories back, however. And William MacKay swung by a couple of times to see if he could make some headway with breaking through the pocket dimension, but no luck there, either.
I was using my glasses to try to communicate with the glass girls when I heard the front door open. I walked out of the ballroom to see if it was an early guest.
My ankle buckled as I stepped into the lobby. Not surprising with all the creatures I had been wrestling with lately, but I was starting to get resentful.
There was a man standing there. A tall man with a chiseled face and haunting green eyes. He had long silver and black hair that swept his shoulders. I was glad he hadn't seemed to have witnessed my stumble.
"I'm sorry, may I help you?" I asked, the ache in my ankle firing up even more.
"I need to check in," he stated, bored as he examined his fingernails. "Hand me your black quill."
"Let me just find you..." I replied, walking behind the counter and trying to plaster on a friendly face and ignore the increasing pain. I opened the registration book. "Do you have a reservation?"
"No."
I smiled apologetically. "Well, I'm afraid we don't have any rooms available."
"Then cancel one of your other guests," he stated harshly.
I started to laugh. "Are you kidding me?" I said. "Cancel one of my other guests because you come waltzing in here needing a room? We try our best to accommodate people, but my dear sir..."
He reacted like I had smacked him. He glared at me and stated again, this time with even more force. "I need you to cancel one of your other guests."
"And I need you to make a reservation and come back at another time, dear. We don't have any rooms available."
He began to back up.
There was something about the way he moved... something familiar... something that sent up all sorts of red flags.
"I'm sorry. Do I know you?" I asked, squinting at him and trying to dislodge the memory stuck in the back of my mind.
"Cancel one of your rooms!" he screamed at me.
That was it. You do not yell at me. Not in my hotel. I had put up with far too many monsters in the past three weeks to get pushed around by some madman.
"Get out of my hotel!" I shouted back, picking one of Ajax's axes off the wall and coming around the counter. "Don't make me get ugly!"
He stumbled out of the door. It slammed after him with a bang.
"What was that about?" Precious asked, rushing out of the kitchen with a rolling pin. Ajax raced after her carrying a mixing bowl.
"Couldn't have gone for any of the kitchen knives?" I asked.
"It was the first things we could grab."
Ajax scanned the foyer frantically. "Where is he? Who was he?"
I lowered the axe. "Oh, just someone who wanted a room and wouldn't take no for an answer. He's gone now."
"Thank goonness," Precious said.
Ajax ran over to the front window and pushed back the ivory lace curtains. "The guy with the black hair?"
"That's the one."
"Wait... isn't that—"
But Precious interrupted Ajax as she elbowed him out of the way. "He's hard to focus on," she commented and then turned back to me. "Is that why you put your glasses on?"
"What?" I asked, suddenly realizing that I had my ghost seeing glasses still on my nose.
The pieces suddenly started to fall into place.
"What? You look like you saw a ghost," she remarked. She then waggled her fingers at my glasses. "Like... saw a ghost without those on."
"That was John Doe," I stammered.
"What? HIM?" Ajax pressed his face back up against the window and then ran out the front door.
"You're sure that was him?" Precious confirmed.
"It was him." I beheld my spectacles in wonder. "They filtered the magic. They allowed me to see him."
"I'm already starting to forget him," Precious commented, putting the heel of her hand to her forehead.
I grabbed her elbow and steered her over to one of the benches. "The fact you were able to remember him at all must be because you're only half witch," I said. I wiggled my fingers and a pitcher behind the counter poured her a glass of water and then floated it over. "Lucky girl."
She took the cup, but clutched it rather than drank it as the panic rose in her throat. "How will I remember? How will I know if he is here?"
And suddenly, because I actually remembered what happened this time, I pointed at my foot. "My ankle!" I exclaimed. "That goblin bite! It was a gift! All this time, I thought it was a curse!"
"What?" asked Precious, not knowing about that wound.
More and more excited, I pointed at my foot again. "I was bitten by a goblin. It never healed. But it fired up as soon as he came in. I thought all this time it had to do with the weather or pressure changes or something. I have a built-in evil magic alarm!"
"You can sense him?"
"Yes. Yes, I think I can," I said proudly. I put the glasses on my nose like donning a uniform. "And from this point forward, these are never coming off."
Ajax dragged himself back in. "He disappeared." He shook his fist at the door. "I would liked to have socked him in the stomach. Or maybe a little lower."
"At least I could remember this time," I said, collapsing with relief. "If I see him again, I'll know."
Ajax hooked his thumb in the direction that John Doe went. "Oh, and now I know. That was the man who tried to come and buy the No Spell!"
"WHAT?" Precious and I said in unison.
"Yeah! That jerk who took you for a turn around the garden. I knew there was something I didn't like about that guy. What was his name?"
I searched my mind. "I can't remember!" I confessed. "I remember that someone wanted to buy the No Spell, but it's a blank."
"Do you have the paperwork he left with you?"
I shook my head. "No, I threw it out when I turned him down."
Suddenly, the front door opened and a sweet young lady walked into the foyer. She had long, flat hair of black and wore a halter-top and bell-bottoms. She was trembling. "Excuse me? I'm... I'm supposed to say my name is Jane Doe and I'm supposed to be checking into room 3D. Can you help me?"