Just Add Magic: Hotel Of Secrets

Chapter 3 - Just Add Hotels

Kelly, Hannah and Darbie we're celebrating Halloween with the decorations they had put around Kelly's house. They were dancing to music and cooking things to eat, that were unfortunately not magical. They had been getting used to the fact that they weren't the protectors anymore. It had been 4 months since the book moved to Bay City.
"Hey, do you think they found Leo?" Hannah asked.
"We should probably call and ask them." Kelly suggested.
"Right now? But we still haven't had cake or done karaoke!" Darbie said.
"I know, but we have a whole day, this is only going to take 4 minutes or so. It's up to us to make sure our friends are safe." Kelly said.
"Um, Kel, not to be that person but we shouldn't treat them like little kids, I'm sure they can handle whatever comes their way. Besides, we shouldn't poke our noses into their mysteries. We aren't the protectors anymore. Already, Darbie was disappointed that the magic wasn't shared." Hannah explained.
"Hey! I'm fine as long as we have our memories and we're still friends!" Darbie said.
"Okay, you're right guys. We will just call them, not involve ourselves, okay? Kelly agreed. Hannah and Darbie nodded.
Kelly dialed Zoe's number, but after a few minutes of ringing, the call got cut. Zoe didn't pick up.
"Maybe her phone is dead, try Ish." Hannah suggested and Kelly nodded.
Kelly then dialed Ish's number, and fortunately, she picked up.
"Hey guys! Happy Halloween!" Darbie said.
"Hi. Happy Halloween!" Ish said, sounding not as excited.
"What's the matter?" Hannah asked.
"Nothing. We just haven't had a chance to come there to get the root yet, we're still cooking the tamales." Zoe said.
"Alright, just remember that if there's no garden around, the cookbook will lead you with a few numbers in the margin." Kelly said.
"Will do, thanks guys." Ish said and cut the call.
The girls started cooking the tamales. They got out all the ingredients and
Another few minutes is all it took for the tamales to be ready.
"Looks like these are done." Zoe said.
"Come on, on three we bite." Ish said.
"Take us to the spice garden in Saffron Falls. 1, 2, 3!" Zoe said as the girls bit the tamales and swallowed.
A second later they found themselves in a spice garden with all kinds of spices everywhere.
"We did it!" Zoe exclaimed.
There was a man standing at the counter of the garden. It was more of a closed garden than an open one. They frowned.
"The girls didn't tell us anything about a man." Ish said.
Zoe nodded, and then walked up to the man.
"Excuse me," she started off.
"Yes?" Said a deep voice from behind the counter. Zoe couldn't see his face because he was standing turning his back to her.
Zoe decided to ask the man for a magical spice, just to confirm that they were in the right place.
"Uh, you don't happen to have any Cedronian Salt, do you?" She asked.
"Cedro-what salt? I'm sorry young one, but there's no such thing as- whatever you just said." The man stated as he turned around to face her.
Zoe frowned and walked back to Ish.
"That man doesn't know anything about the spices. Now what?" Zoe said.
"I think we're in the wrong place. The girls said that there is a margin in the book with numbers on it." Ish said, opening the book and searching for the margin.
The book shuffled and landed on 'Care-soup What You Wish For.'
"'Care-soup What You Wish For'? What's that? Shouldn't the book show us numbers?" Ish questioned.
"We can't cook right now!" Zoe said.
"I don't think that's what it means, i think the book is trying to tell us that we should be careful what we wish for. We said 'spice garden in Saffron Falls, not 'magical spice garden'." Ish said.
"Great, so we're in a spice garden, just not our spice garden, just great!" Zoe said.
"Hey it's your fault! You were the one who said where to go." Ish said.
"Fine, whatever, we still have the tamales, we can go to OUR garden." Zoe said, admitting her mistake.
The girls bit into the tamales for the second time, and found themselves fading into another spice garden, and this time, they were sure that it was not any other spice garden but their spice garden.
"I think this is it," Ish said. "the girls said that the magical spices have special markings on them so that you can differentiate between regular spices and magical spices and I clearly see the markings." She finished.
"Then let's find the Grunde Finger Root." Zoe said with a smile.
The girls started looking for the plant. They came across all sorts of plants, seeds and spices, even the ones they hadn't seen before. Spice families they never heard of, plants and spices that were in weird shapes and sizes and other kinds. But one plant stood out to Ish. She opened the cookbook again to see if she was right, and she was. It was the Grunde Finger Root. She turned around and shouted "I've got it!" to Zoe.
"Yes!" Zoe said in return.
"Come on, let's get home." Ish said, feeling confident about it.
The two girls bit into the tamales again.
"Take us back to Zoe's house." Ish said.
They felt themselves disappearing from the garden and into Zoe's house.
They arrived in the kitchen, where they found some spices and left over ingredients from the tamales on the counter.
"I better clean up this mess before mom finds out." Zoe said.
"I'll help you." Ish said, smiling.
"Thanks Ish. You're a good friend." Zoe said and Ish smiled back.
The two started cleaning up the kitchen. Ish got out a wet cloth to clean the flour and Zoe threw the rest of the waste tamale ingredients into the bin.
Multiplying hands helped them finish faster and they were done within minutes.
"Let's start cooking." Ish said.
"Yeah." Zoe said in agreement.
The girls got the ingredients out but needed some Night Blooming Chives, which they kept at the top in Ish's rooftop garden.
The recipe called for the Grunde Finger Root and Night Blooming Chives, who's seeds Ish had planted in her garden.
"We need to go up to your garden and get Night Blooming Chives." Zoe said.
"Okay, Let's go." Ish responded.
The girls walked up the stairs to reach Ish's rooftop garden.
When they reached, Ish grabbed her pliers and said, "How many do we need?"
"Six, and they should be about seven centimeters long." Zoe said.
Ish followed her instructions and cut the chives with the pliers.
"Got it." Ish said holding up the chives in her hand.
"Good. Let's go." Zoe said, without pausing.
The two rushed downstairs and into Zoe's kitchen.
They got the ingredients out and started cooking.
Ish chopped the Tofu and Zoe cut the chives.
The soup was ready in about 5 minutes.
"Well that looks fresh." Zoe said.
"Yes. But we can't have it until we find Leo." Ish said.
"Okay, soup. Show us where Leo is." Zoe spoke.
The soup started mixing itself, causing the broth to go blurry and bubbly.
After a few seconds, the soup showed something. It wasn't a place, it was a word, written in blue and it was blurred.
The only thing that the girls could make out was that the first letter was 'H' and the one in the middle was 'T'.
The girls both passed frowned faces to each other.
"I can't really see what's written here. But I know it's not a place." Ish said, hesitating.
"I... I think it says 'HOTEL'." Zoe said.
"I need an eye check up." Ish said, putting on a worried and disgusted face.
Zoe gave her the look while smiling.
She paused for a minute before saying,
"I remember something, it had to do with some hotel. I think it was a clue but I can't put my finger on it." Zoe said.
"Maybe we need to go to a hotel to find our next clue." Ish thought and said to Zoe.
"Maybe. Well, since you have been living here all your life, do you know how many hotels do you know of in Bay City?" Zoe asked Ish.
"Let me think, I know Lê Grande Hotel, Wonder Street Hotel, hm, there was one more but I can't remember. It was fancy with gold and red but I forgot it's name." Ish said.
Two seconds after Ish finished, Zoe widened her eyes.
"Was it Bay City Esplà Hotel?!" Zoe said, digging into her pocket.
Zoe found a piece of paper in her pocket. It was the same one that landed on her face when she was walking through her windy hallway.
She opened the folded note and showed it to Ish.
"I found this on the way to your house yesterday. I think it's my dad's handwriting."
"This must be it! And besides, you did say that your father's ghost came to visit you to tell you to protect Leo." Ish said.
"But I didn't listen! I was so happy seeing him again that I..I..." Zoe said, hesitating.
"You what? Zoe? Zoe!" Ish said as she noticed tears streaming down her face.
"I forgot that I should've checked in on Leo that night." Zoe said, sobbing.
"Zoe it's okay, he's still sending you clues. You'll definitely see him again." Ish said.
"That's not what I'm crying for Ish! Leo is lost and it's all my fault! We can't keep living with a fake clone and if he's not found then we-" Zoe yelled a little. Ish noticed that she had been containing that inside for a long time and cut her off.
"It's okay, it's okay. We'll find him okay? We're working together, right? You're not alone." Ish said, pulling her in for a hug.
"I don't know what to do anymore, Ish!" Zoe said, muffled into Ish's shoulder.
"Here. Take this. And first things first. Today is Halloween, you're not supposed to cry." Ish said, handing Zoe a tissue.
"Thanks Ish. I really needed that." Zoe said.
"Come on. Let's go and get dressed. We have to go Trick or Treating!" Ish said, patting her on the back to cheer her up.
"Mm hm, of course." Zoe said, sniffing.
"Let's go to my house. Bring your costume along. We'll leave from there." Ish said.
"Okay. I'll go and get it." Zoe said, turning around to get her costume from her room. She turns around to find her mom standing there.
"You kids haven't gone trick or treating yet?" Erin asked.
"No, we were just about to leave. We're waiting for Leo." Zoe said.
"Zoe, have you been crying? Your face looks red." Erin suspected.
"Uh, um, well yeah, because... I... fell down and... hurt my leg and it burns!" Zoe said.
"You sure you can still go trick or treating? I can bandage it up for you."
"Of course! It's not bleeding. Maybe walking will help me feel better."
"Come on, Leo!" Ish said.
"We're waiting!" Zoe said, without pausing after Ish's sentence.
Erin smiled and left the kids by themselves. CIone Leo was wearing a skeleton costume.
"Have you found him yet? I mean found me? I mean-" Clone Leo said.
"I get what you mean, and the answer is 'no'." Zoe said.
"Yeah, if we had found him by now, you wouldn't be here." Ish said.
"True, II guess. So, you ladies wanna go trick or treating now and, well, find me?" He said holding up his Halloween bag. Zoe and Ish smiled and nodded.

——————

"How far is Bay City Esplà Hotel?! We've been walking for hours now!" Clone Leo said.
"It's been ten minutes." Ish said.
"How are you guys not tired?" Clone Leo said.
"We eat healthy." Zoe said.
"Hey! That's not fair! I still haven't forgotten the time I had to get through those horrible Beans & Salmon! That was healthy!" Clone Leo said.
"Those were better than that terrible Fettuccine Alfredo! Ugh, don't remind me. I'm in a good mood!" Zoe said, making a disgusted face while saying "ugh".
"Both of you! Stop arguing about food. We have more important things to worry about." Ish said.
"She's right. Le- I mean, Clone Leo, are you sure you have no idea where you could be right now?" Zoe asked.
"Trust me, if I did, I would have told you." Clone Leo said.
"Do you think he's at the hotel?" Zoe asked.
"Maybe." Ish said.
"Okay. But we better hur-" Zoe said, but she paused because she saw a woman in front of her. She was old, with silver hair and was sitting on a bench near Bay City National Fountain.
Zoe had recognised her from Saffron Falls. She used to come to Springtown every now and then and she would often talk to her and Jake. Zoe and the lady were on good terms, although she had no idea that the lady was an ex protector.
"It can't be! What is she doing here?" Zoe said, going from a shocked face to a happy face.
"Who is that?" Ish asked.
"Miss Silvers. She was a pianist in Saffron Falls but she left for New York to pursue her career." Zoe answered.
"What is doing in Bay City?" Clone Leo asked.
"Let's go and ask!" Zoe said, happily walking up to her as Ish and Clone Leo followed behind.
It took a while for Miss Silvers to recognise Zoe. They hadn't seen each other for months.
"Hello Miss Silvers! Enjoy your Halloween?" She started.
"Zoe? I didn't expect to see you here! How are you?" She said, standing up from the bench.
"I'm good. You here on vacation?"
"Yes, actually. And who are these kids?"
"This is my friend Ish and my step brother Leo."
"Nice to meet you Miss." Ish said.
"So where are you staying?" Clone Leo asked.
"Bay City Esplà Hotel, down the block." The three widened their eyes.
"Yes, we need to go there, uh, with you!" Ish said.
"Why would you-"
"We are looking for someone." Zoe said.
Miss Silvers nodded. She noticed that Zoe had something in her bag, something she had seen before. It was the cookbook.
"What do you have- is that, could it be? Zoe?" She hesitated.
"Um, yes?" Zoe said, terrified that Miss Silvers might have found out.
"I have something to tell you kids. Come with me." She said, signaling the kids to come with her as they walked to the hotel with her.

———————

"Woah! Let me get this straight, you were a protector? With Mama P? And Kelly's grandma?" Ish said with a shock and/or happy face.
"Yes. Oh, the good old days. I can't believe you three are the protectors now." She said.
The three looked at each other in disappointment.
"What's wrong?" Miss Silvers asked.
"Actually, that's the problem. I'm not the real Leo, I'm a clone." Clone Leo said, taking a lot of pauses in the middle of the sentence.
"Let me guess, Clone Cloves?" Miss Silvers asked.
"How did you know?" Zoe asked.
"I used it once, back in 1968, I think. I cloned myself to be in two places at once." She said.
"Anyways, why has he been cloned?" Miss Silvers asked again.
"Long story, actually." Zoe said.
"It's a long walk!" Miss Silvers said.
The four of them walked into the Halloween night, trick or treating a little bit as they made their way to the hotel.
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Sorry for posting this after so long. I (my frnd) was busy with school work and was confused about the plot.