Fortunately it seemed that the sprites knew not just how to clean up after the guests, but themselves too. Only a few marks lingered around the place even after a day of heavy use, and after cleaning them up I summoned Gabe to the pool.

  He rocked up a little after 7am, and together we got to work clearing the extra fruit that had grown to near-bursting point in the miniature orchard.

  I had hoped the place would lift Gabe’s spirits a little after the exhausting day prior, but I accidentally ended up depressing him instead. I knew something was up because he wasn’t his usual spry, hilarious self.

  I didn’t pry for a half-hour, but eventually the awkward silence was too much for me to bear.

  ‘Okay, man, come on, you’re going to need to tell me what I did.’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘You’ve been giving me canned one-word responses for the past half-hour. If you’re pissed about me dragging you into this, please just tell me. We’re best friends. There’s no hard feelings.’

  ‘What? No, no, it’s nothing like that. I’m having a great time working here, we’re rolling in cash and the days aren’t exactly boring. You haven’t done anything, Finn.’

  ‘So what is it?’

  ‘It’s just…’ Gabe sighed and nodded down at his crate of fruit. ‘Kiara used to love strawberries like this.’

  Kiara was Gabe’s ex. They had been together since before I even met him almost a year ago. I didn’t like her from the start because of how self-obsessed she was, and when she broke up with him six months into our friendship, it crushed him for a long, long time.

  Only in the past couple months had he really started to come back around, but occasional things still reminded him of her.

  ‘Strawberries like these?’ I frowned, picking one up. ‘You mean… Strawberries the size of baseballs? Where did you find those back when you knew her?’

  ‘You know what I mean.’

  ‘So you’re saying none of the ladies around here interest you? Bro, some of the most beautiful monster women in San Andrica, no, the whole of Thylvaria are right here in the Bay.’

  ‘It’s not about how hot they are for me, man.’

  ‘I’m not saying that – the ladies here are awesome. They’re witty, sassy, smart, hilarious – name it. But none of them have taken your fancy?’

  ‘Maybe one of them would, but I just keep thinking about her. I imagine that it would take a pretty special woman to come along and drag me away from the thought of her.’

  ‘More chance of Harelian Tark coming back from the dead, man… No offence.’

  ‘None taken,’ he chuckled. ‘Wait, who’s Harelian Tark?’

  ‘Just somebody that Vendara told me about. He was the first steward that she had running this place, who she entrusted with this…’ I retrieved the gemstone from my pocket and held it up. ‘But he went missing a long, long time ago.’

  ‘Tough break,’ Gabe nodded. ‘Maybe we’ll run across him somewhere on the property at some point.’

  ‘At least whatever’s left of him,’ I agreed.

  I had fortunately gotten heartbreak out of the way early in my life, but the same didn’t go for Gabe.

  I would have loved to tell him how much of an objectively terrible person Kiara had been to him, but there was no point. He had a fixed image of the woman in his head, and all I could do was wait for it to fade.

  ‘I need to take my mind off it, as always,’ Gabe said. ‘What about you? I’ve seen plenty of the ladies around here with their eyes on you.’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘I mean that you seem very friendly with several of our guests.’

  I tried not to say anything, but Gabe could read me like a freaking book.

  ‘Who?’ He asked suddenly with a smile.

  ‘I’m not saying anything.’

  ‘Come on, who? We’re best buds, man.’

  ‘Nope.’

  ‘What?!’

  ‘No – I mean we are best friends, sure, but I can’t just go telling you that kind of thing.’

  ‘But you just said I was your best friend, therefore I’m not just anybody, therefore your argument possesses about as many legs as table in a woodchipper. Come on, tell me.’

  ‘Fine,’ I conceded. ‘… Veronica.’

  ‘Dude! The wolf-eared chick? Nice.’

  ‘And then there’s Amara, the nymph that we surfed with at the beach the other day. Back when I was fixing up the injury she got from that shark, we had a moment. And then there’s Luria, one of the dryads.’

  ‘Triple threat,’ Gabe smiled. ‘They really like you. It’s the Hylar-thing, man.’

  ‘Bro, that is a complete cliché. Monster women are not attracted to Hylars any more than they’re attracted to any other guy.’

  ‘Finn, of course they are! You’re exotic, you’re new, you’re the kind of thing that doesn’t come around here that often. Plus you’re not that hard to look at. I say that as your friend.’

  ‘I guess I do have that going for me.’

  ‘Yeah, but you don’t get it – you’re managing an exclusive hotel and you’re only in your twenties. Why wouldn’t the guests around here dig that?’

  ‘I guess there are some upsides to ending up under the rule of a pissed-off ancient goddess.’

  ‘How is she, by the way?’ Gabe briefly glanced around and lowered his voice. ‘Vendara.’

  ‘We’re bringing in guests, they’re enjoying the mana, and Vendara can sense it. As long as we keep doing that, everything will keep going smoothly.’

  ‘Fine by me,’ Gabe nodded.

  ‘Anyway, less about me,’ I said. ‘Let’s get back to you. There’s seriously nobody else that you like?’

  ‘They’re just not my type, man.’

  ‘So who is your type?’

  ‘I don’t know. I know it when I see it, you know? That’s who I am, an old-fashioned romantic. I thought it was a phase I could get past, but that’s always who I’m going to be. The right woman is out there for me, I know it. Just gotta find her.’

  ‘Excuse me, is this the, uhh… Huntress Lodge?’

  Gabe and I both spun around at the unfamiliar voice. A tall, slim, pretty fae in her early-twenties stood at the entrance to the pool area, barefoot and wearing a pair of skinny black jeans and a faded band t-shirt. The dyed, blood-red hair tied up in a messy ponytail and the nose ring immediately told me that she was a rocker-chick, but she didn’t come in with that attitude; she was as polite and as courteous as could be.

  She definitely didn’t seem the type to show up here looking for a room.

  ‘Hi,’ I said. ‘You’re in the right place. If you’re looking for a room I can escort you over to the lobby and get you checked in. We’ve got a few Superior and Executive suites available.’

  ‘Actually, I’m here about the job? Somebody called, uhh…’ The fae checked her phone. ‘Casey Everglade asked me to pay a visit.’

  ‘Oh!’ I said. ‘Right – Casey’s our, uhh… Head of Staff, I guess. Let me just give her a call.’

  I fished out my phone and gave Casey a call to come down and see the fae woman. In the meantime I glanced around the pool, finding my gaze dragged in the direction of a stammering sound courtesy of my number two in charge.

  Gabe looked like he had seen a freaking ghost.

  ‘Uhh… Hi… Yeah, hi,’ he stuttered. ‘Gabe… That’s my name, by the way. It’s Gabe.’

  ‘Nice to meet you,’ she smiled. ‘I’m Holly.’

  ‘Holly, a total pleasure to meet you. I’m Gabe.’

  ‘I know, you already said that,’ she smiled warmly, laughing it off.

  ‘Did I?’

  I would need to have been living under a rock on a different planet in a different galaxy to not see just how smitten Gabe was with the fae.

  ‘So, uhh… Who are you guys?’ She asked.

  ‘I’m Finn, the manager,’ I smiled, ‘And this is… Well, I guess you already know his name. He’s the guy who does all the real work around here. I would be totally lost without him.’

  ‘Oh my god, you guys run this place? Sorry… I mean, sorry, sir.’

  ‘Pfft,’ Gabe said, batting a hand casually her way, ‘don’t even worry about the sir stuff. We’re not like that here. You can totally relax.’

  ‘I heard that this was a pretty high-end place,’ she replied, burying her hands in her pockets and smiling between us. ‘I was wondering whether I should show up in a top hat and tails or something.’

  Gabe let out a laugh resting on that perfect precipice between forced and genuine; the laugh of a guy who was purely joyous about how totally freaking enamored he was with the woman in front of him.

  Goodbye Kiara, hello Holly.

  ‘That’s hilarious,’ he chuckled, turning to pat me on the shoulder. ‘Can you believe how funny she is?’

  ‘Real funny,’ I smiled. ‘Anyway, Holly, I’d like to refer you to Casey seeing as Gabe and I are a little busy right now. She’s around here somewhere…’

  Casey arrived from the lobby a moment later, frowning between me and Gabe.

  ‘Finn? Gabe? You better not be putting off any new recruits.’

  ‘We wouldn’t dream of it,’ Gabe said quickly. ‘Not anybody like Holly, anyway. She seems… I mean, she seems great. What position are you interviewing for?’

  ‘Bartender,’ she smiled. ‘I’ve been gin-slinging for years and wanted to step it up to somewhere a little more prestigious.’

  ‘Prestigious is one word for us,’ Casey smiled, shooting me a sly wink. ‘Our head bartender will be here in just a little while. Why don’t I show you around in the meantime? We’ll get started in the lobby.’

  ‘That’d be great,’ Holly smiled, readjusting her bag over her shoulder and walking away from us. ‘It was nice to meet you.’

  ‘Nice to meet you,’ Gabe said, waving with a shaking hand until the pretty fae rocker chick was out of sight.

  Gabe didn’t know what to do with himself. I hoisted up my crate of fruit and smiled at him.

  ‘What?’ He asked defensively.

  ‘Oh, nothing,’ I shrugged. ‘You’re just such a cutie-pie.’

  Before he could come up with a half-decent comeback I took off, leaving him scrambling after me with his crate of fruit as I headed to the kitchen.

  Chapter 15

  Nymph By Nature

  As the end of our first week running Huntress Lodge rolled around, my team and I finally found ourselves with a second to breathe, and while a combination of problems had managed to collectively get in our way the past few days, a combination of good fortune came by that weekend.

  With the help of the sprites, we got the entire place cleaned from top to bottom, ridding it of any sign of the many metaphorical fires that we had managed to put out over the past few days. By Saturday afternoon a lot of our beautiful guests took to the beaches and the bars of Knightkeep, allowing us to further check the place over.

  Carak and I got the new ovens installed over the hobgoblin hive’s entrance after securing it with heaps of heavy rocks, restoring the kitchen to its former glory without the possibility that any more terrors would come lurking around intent on causing us trouble.

  Gabe was adamant that Steelhoof was behind the hobgoblin infestation, but I wasn’t sure.

  ‘That’s why he came to see me on Monday,’ I opined. ‘He was sizing us up, checking out the competition, you know? He wanted to offer a kind of olive branch to get us to put the hotel under his company umbrella. When it comes to the hobgoblins, I think we just accidentally disturbed a hive of them with all of our renovation work, and with the mana being unleashed.’

  ‘Screw his olive branch,’ Gabe muttered. ‘If that guy thinks he’s getting his hands on this place, then he’s got another thing coming.’

  ‘Exactly,’ I agreed. ‘And while I don’t buy that the hobgoblins were his doing, I do buy the possibility that he’ll take the first chance he can get to cause trouble around here, which is exactly why us and the rest of the staff need to keep our eyes peeled.’

  ‘All I’m concerned about are the secrets that Steelhoof is keeping,’ Gabe muttered, biting his nails as he thought. ‘That scumbag is up to something. I know it… Guys like that, they act all fair game, but they’re full of it. They know exactly what they’re doing.’

  I needed to keep my guard up, and magic was a way of doing that.

  The magic in my possession wasn’t exactly diverse and powerful yet, but if I could get my hands on some more Steward Magic spells, it would definitely help in the fight against Steelhoof.

  And the forest was a decent place to start.

  Back when Luria and I had grown the fruit, she had sensed something out there to the west, and it wasn’t just raw mana.

  All I needed was the help of a monster women to track it down.

  I returned to the pool and found only one guest still on the premises: Amara.

  She was stretched on her sunbed in a flawless white bikini, shades on, nursing a cocktail that Chase had cooked up. She looked almost unreal in the midday sunlight, beads of moisture matting upon her flawless blue body.

  ‘Good morning, Finn,’ she smiled from behind her sunglasses as I arrived. ‘Or is it afternoon now? Never too early to catch up on some sun.’

  ‘I need your help with something,’ I said.

  ‘Oh, yeah?’ She smiled, tilting her glasses down and eyeing me. ‘Tell me.’

  ‘There’s something in the jungle west of here that could greatly benefit the hotel and its occupants. I need some help in getting it.’

  ‘Why me?’

  ‘Because I have a feeling that it’s submerged in water, and as a nymph you’re one of the best swimmers around.’

  ‘I can’t argue with that,’ she smiled smoothly. ‘What is this thing, exactly?’

  ‘Something magic-related that would help me improve Huntress Lodge – at least I think so.’

  ‘How very suspicious,’ Amara spoke, sipping on her drink. ‘Sure, why not?’

  Amara sat up smoothly, swinging her slim blue legs around and jumping to her feet. She stood just an inch shorter than me with a physique so slender and curves so perky that it was no wonder she was a supermodel.

  She stretched her arms over her head, propping her chest out and accentuating her behind as she groaned with effort.

  ‘Sorry about that,’ she laughed as she relaxed. ‘Spending too long lounging around really is a blessing and a curse.’

  Amara and I set off west through the jungle, quickly moving off the beaten track into the wilderness.

  A few years living out here and I knew exactly how wild San Andrica could be, but after a week in the resort I had forgotten just how easy it was to move from civilization to wilderness in a matter of a few footsteps.

  Plenty could be hiding out here. The greatest evidence for that? An actual goddess had called a nearby hill not 200 yards from the Huntress Lodge her home for centuries, and nobody seemed to have a damn clue about it except me and my friends.

  ‘Do you see that?’ Amara asked, holding up and pushing aside some palm leaves.

  I moved to her side and checked out what she was looking towards. In a nearby clearing was a small pool of water set among the overgrown shrubbery, and within its depths the blue glow of mana emanated.

  ‘Yeah,’ I nodded. ‘Same glow as the mana back there.’

  ‘That’s not just coming from the water. There’s something down there.’

  We emerged into the clearing and approached the pool. The distinct glow of mana definitely emanated from inside.

  ‘I’m guessing that I’m going inside there?’ Amara asked, raising an eyebrow at me.

  ‘I know that it’s not the kind of thing I should be asking a guest, but…’

  ‘I don’t mind,’ she shrugged.

  ‘Listen,’ I said, ‘Whatever you find down there, I need you to keep it a secret between you and me.’

  ‘How come?’

  ‘First off, because it’s magical in nature, and that means it’s pretty powerful. Secondly, because I don’t want any of the neighboring hotels to get their hands on it.’

  ‘Are you receiving grief from the neighbors?’ Amara frowned curiously. ‘What are they doing?’

  ‘Nymphs really do want to know everything, don’t they?’ I smiled.

  ‘Yeah,’ she shrugged unashamedly. ‘Come on, tell me.’

  ‘Let’s just say that it seems like there’s a proprietor in a neighboring hotel who isn’t happy with the edge that the Huntress Lodge has. The mana springs seem to have made the hotel pretty popular, and they might be wary about losing out on business.’

  ‘Interesting… Well, we can’t let that fiend from next door get away with this. This place is sacred, Finn. I mean, mana springs? It’s a wonder this place isn’t fully-booked yet. Believe me, when it gets real traction, you’re never going to have an empty room again in your life.’

  A man couldn’t buy this kind of loyalty. I was so happy she had said it.

  ‘That’s exactly the reason that I need your help retrieving what’s down there,’ I said.

  ‘Then we’re going to retrieve it,’ Amara smiled.

  ‘We? There’s no way that I can breathe down there for any longer than a minute. We don’t know how far the tunnel goes.’

  ‘Oh, you’re coming too. There is a way.’

  ‘How’s that?’

  ‘I can pass a little blessing to you, if you want?’ Amara smiled. ‘It’ll let you breathe underwater for a few minutes.’

  ‘That’s great,’ I remarked. ‘Let’s do it.’

  ‘There’s just one thing we have to do first – you have to kiss me.’

  ‘What?’

  Why the hell did I ask why? Of course I wanted to kiss her.

  ‘You’re a Hylar, right?’ She said. ‘Well, that means you can take advantage of a few magical perks, like temporary transferal of the effects of some basic spells, including passive abilities. Nymphs can breathe underwater, and seeing as you’re a Hylar, that means I can pass it along to you and let you take advantage of it for a couple of minutes.’

 

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