As I entered the dining room, my gaze landed on Sunny, who was sitting sulking with a cup of coffee in front of him. Wow. The change in him since he’d got here was amazing. Sunny was channelling his inner Scrooge for all he was worth.
Well, fuck him.
I smiled at everyone and ignored him and headed for the buffet breakfast that Fiona and Simon had set up. They were at the main table talking to the team as everyone ate. I filled my plate and then, blatantly ignoring Sunny, went and sat with the team. I felt Sunny’s eyes on me, but refused to look in his direction. Leaving me to wake up alone was unacceptable, and I knew he meant it as a punishment for grounding him the day before. Well, his attempt would backfire.
Cherry sent me a concerned look, and I offered her a bright smile. Years ago, I’d learned never to show emotion, and I wouldn’t now. Put on a front and pretend everything was okay. That was what I’d been taught, and it was an old practice I fell back into far too easily. Sunny sent me several looks, which I caught out of the corner of my eye but studiously ignored.
He doesn’t get to leave me in bed and walk out because he doesn’t like what I did. I refuse to let his negativity drag me down, and if Sunny wanted to fight about it, bring it on.
There was a lot of talk about the ice hockey-playing penguins, which was seriously cute and funny.
“I can’t believe I missed that,” I complained.
“Hey, you had sexy Santas,” Liv teased, and I laughed.
“I wonder what else the ghosts have in store for us,” I drawled.
“Do you think that they’ve been doing stuff like this the whole time?” Simon asked as he laid an arm around Fiona’s shoulders.
“Yeah, and because you’ve not got many guests around, it’s not been noticed. The one thing we all seem to have found is that there are many child spirits here. The adults are determined to protect them. It’s early days yet, but I don’t believe you’ve got anything malicious haunting here,” I said.
“I did discover that over four hundred children lost their lives in the TB outbreak here. It took over ninety per cent of them,” Harry said, and I turned to him appalled.
“How many?” I gasped.
“Yeah. It’s grim. The deaths killed the village, which had been stable despite the mine closures. They’d begun logging as an alternative to mining,” Harry continued.
“So, they’d been fighting the closure of their town?” Jack asked.
“Yeah. They were resilient. But the TB outbreak killed the town. It became abandoned soon after. I’m not surprised we’re finding a lot of children,” Harry stated.
I stared at Simon and Fiona, something niggling in my mind. “And you created a magical place for children to enjoy Christmas. For decades, they had been watching their home fall into disrepair. Then it became a resort, but it wasn’t centred around being child-friendly. They were probably lost in the wave of adults, and anything they did was explained away. Some might even have been scared of the intruders as they would have been seen.” I broke off and chewed my bottom lip.
“Then the resort closes, and another takes its place. None of them is geared towards children, and they’re forgotten. And when it’s abandoned, it’s even worse. They’ve got their home back to themselves, but nobody cares, and everything falls into disrepair. Finally, you come along and give them something wonderful. The ghost adults saw their joy and have been helping make things perfect for the children.”
“Is that what you think is happening?” Simon asked, his face surprised.
“Yes.” I turned to Connor and Jack.
Connor nodded slowly. “That makes sense. It’s a working theory and one that will need proving, but yeah, I can see that happening.”
“There are a lot of kids here; we heard them last night. They’ve had years of misery and now have been given their idea of heaven. Callie has a good idea,” Jack agreed.
“What do we do? I don’t want to shove them out and make them feel they’re forgotten again! But we want to open this resort. Although it’s opening as a holiday theme park, we are bringing kids here who are terminally ill and won’t make it to Christmas Day. I can’t sacrifice the dead for the living and vice versa,” Fiona said, wringing her hands.
“Let me think on shit, we always manage to find a way,” I said, reaching out and grabbing her hands. Damn, that was unlike me. I squeezed them in reassurance and forced a smile to my lips.
“Thank you, Callie,” Fiona whispered.
“Okay, tonight, we’ll keep the same teams except for two differences. I’ll take Liv, and Jack can have Sunny,” I said.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Sunny stiffen. Outrage crossed his face, and I turned to stare at him. My message was plain on my face, and I knew it. Sunny had fucked me off with his attitude and then his total lack of consideration this morning. If he wanted to sulk and stamp his feet, he could, on his own time. Not mine.
Liv glanced at her dad before nodding at me. “Okay,” she murmured.
“Tonight, I want a team in the church, one investigating the path and portal, and one in Santa’s house. For once, I’m going to let you pick,” I said, looking at Jack and Connor.
“Church,” Jack declared before anyone could draw breath. I laughed at his enthusiasm.
