The Mandrake Hotel

Chapter 1 - The Mandrake Hotel's Newest Employee

Olivier Louviere, the exceptionally well dressed General Manager, in Savile Row no less, of the esteemed Mandrake Hotel on the upper east side of New York expected to begin his Monday morning as he did every other morning.  At 6:05am on his desk, there would be an equally impeccably dressed piece of toasted baguette and artfully brewed espresso with three dollops of velvety foam gently resting on top waiting, steaming and ready for consumption.  Accompanied said delicacies would be his copy of the New York Times, perfectly creased and inserted in a custom canvas bag labelled TMH, or as known all around the Magical world as The Mandrake Hotel - the elite and luxurious hotel chain where the Wealthy, the Connected and the Supremely Magical of them all wined, dined and socialized.  Unbeknownst to Olivier, this simple task had been the sole responsibility of Mr. Maynard Sanswick, whom Olivier accidentally caused to depart his service when his engineering team removed the last remaining relic of the past, a beautifully carved Victorian bookshelf, once created to fill the entire length of the office wall and had happened upon the offensive hole that housed the resident brownie.

At the Mandrake Hotel, the most important rules were simply left unsaid.  The appearance standards were simple, the men for one, would always be tall, dark and handsome.  The women - tall, leggy, blond and readily smiling lest they catch the exceptionally eligible bachelor, Olivier Louviere’s eye during his daily walks through the hotel lobby.  But the last and most important of the unspoken rules was to simply follow the schedule.  In this instance the schedule would be the one Mr. Louviere had set for the last three centuries, and to know Mr. Louviere’s schedule was to understand where one belonged at any given time of day.  Alas, had the engineers realized how much losing the brownie would turn the staff of The Mandrake’s lives upside down, they would have escaped with him.

“Good morning Mr. Louviere, welcome back to the Mandrake Hotel.” As expected, at 6:01am, Olivier Louviere stepped through the open doors of The Mandrake, courtesy of the very well trained door staff, into the modern lobby, and at 6:03am turned left to acknowledge his male front desk agents and turned to the right.. but unexpectedly.. belatedly.. noticed someone headed his way as a tiny redhead decidedly ignoring the unspoken rules, barreled into him, the surprise alone succeeding in knocking him flat on his back.  Before blacking out completely, Olivier could faintly hear the staff yelling “Helena!”.

The highly efficient staff of the Mandrake Hotel quickly sprung into action, and like a well oiled machine did not need prompting to begin delegating the tasks of informing security, picking Ms. Troy off of Mr. Louviere’s slightly crumpled body, and quietly removing her and into an empty suite and held off on moving Olivier’s prone body until the professionals arrived.  As with all incidents in the Mandrake’s lobby, one person and one person alone was consulted when all things were said and done; Alice Lytel, the Hotel Resident Manager.

Alice was as beautiful as she was little, with blond hair as as shiny and golden as a warm sunny day.  Alice stood out in a sea of leggy blondes and not because she was decidedly shorter than any other staff member at the Mandrake but because she wore shockingly high heels that kept her a head above the others, though she usually did not stand more than 5 feet tall.  Alice’s heels, though not the justification given when she was assigned to The Mandrake, did assist in giving Mr. Louviere a more positive feeling about the whole sordid affair when his previous Resident Manager, Costache Vasilescu simply disintegrated when he couldn’t help but assist with keeping the lobby doors from slamming into Mrs. Jerkins’ new nose on a bright, and sunny day.  And thus, Alice Lytel came to The Mandrake Hotel New York from the corporate offices in the Republic of Santelio. It was believed corporate had in mind to break Mr. Louviere out of his set ways by introducing new blood, or in this case a new species. As Mr. Louviere’s assistants ferreted out almost immediately after the assignment was posted, Alice Lytel was royalty and her heels did not simply give her height but also served as pedestal to offset her delightfully delicate and gloriously elfin features - all the better in getting her way.  No one said no to Princess Alice Genevra Lytel.