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Phantoms of Daytona
Category:
Mystery/Suspense
Publisher: R.B. Publishing
ISBN-10: 1980603316
Type: Fiction
Pages: 172
Copyright: March 20, 2018
ISBN-13: 9781980603313
Price: $2.99 (eBook)
The McCauliffe siblings investigate a haunted hotel in Daytona Beach while on vacation, only to get the scare of their lives.
It’s late June and the McCauliffe family is headed to Daytona Beach, Florida where they’ve gone the past four years for vacation. While the kids don’t have any paranormal investigations planned, twelve-year-old Sarah, a psychic medium, starts seeing a little girl spirit as soon as the family arrives at the condo. The little girl tells her she needs to go to an old hotel which is about four miles away. Sarah knows she must go because the spirit won’t leave her alone until she does. That’s the way it always is. But the kids must find a way to get to the hotel without telling their parents.
Sixteen-year-old Dylan and fourteen-year-old Mike decide to sneak out late at night by taking the family SUV. They only hope they can do it without waking their parents. When they start out, the GPS clicks on and starts spewing out directions to the haunted hotel, which the kids soon discover has been abandoned for decades. Once inside, they encounter a shadow man who tries to attack them. And on the second night they realize there are many spirits at the hotel, including a wicked witch who placed a curse on one of the owners many decades before.
On the third night of the investigation, they meet a shaman who tries to get rid of the shadow man. But once she leaves, thinking her job is done, the kids are thrust into a maelstrom of terror and torment—worse than anything they could ever imagine. And on top of it all, they must deal with the vengeful witch who says they will never leave the hotel. This is the fourth book in The McCauliffe Adventure series. The third book, Ghosts of Lake Dread, was selected for the New York Rights Book Fair in late May.
Excerpt
“Help me,” she said, as she gazed into my eyes. She looked down.
“I am, Sarah. I’m your brother, Dylan. Remember?”
My sister reached for my hand while she remained seated. She then slowly raised her head up and looked at me again. At first, I saw the look of terror in her eyes, then she grinned at me.
“Come on. This is no time to be messing around. The shadow man is coming.”
“He’s coming for you and only you,” my sister said. Yet it wasn’t her voice. She sounded like an old lady.
“What’s wrong with you, Sarah?”
She looked at me and leered. Her face then transformed into that of an old lady. A witch.
“Oh God!” I cried.
The witch started cackling. She reached up and grabbed the bottom of my shirt, but I grabbed it and jerked it out of her gnarly fingers.
“You kids are going to die,” she shrilled, as she stood and faced me. She stuck her bony arm and hand out and pointed at me. “You will never get out of here alive.”
I backed away from the witch, turned and headed back through the main tunnel.
“You’re all dead, every one of you little monsters.”
I made my way back to the point where I’d first entered the tunnel. It couldn’t be far, I thought, as the walls spread further apart with every step.
I kept moving ahead, hoping I’d recognize the area where I’d first come in. But it was so dark, it was hopeless.
The creaking got louder. The shadow man was getting closer. And now he’d be even more ticked off since we’d sent him to the nether regions or whatever you called this godawful place.
The stench of sulfur grew more distinct. I heard more moaning. A hideous white creature with one eye appeared to my right. It reached out and tore at the flesh on my back. I wailed. Another one scratched my stomach.
I lifted my leg up and kicked at one of the grotesque creatures, slamming the heel of my shoe into its gut. It dropped to the ground on one knee. The other one slung its arm out and clouted me on the side of the head, spinning me around. I almost fell but maintained my balance. I then threw a back kick at the monstrous being and knocked it back against the wall. Another one popped out from behind the shadows.
Weary and breathless, I sidled to my left as fast as I could, then sprinted forward—not caring if I fell, slipped or slammed into one of the cave walls. When I was sure I’d evaded the appalling creatures, I rubbed my aching jaw and kept moving—across the dirt and scree and around the rock formations in the middle of the tunnel.
I had just taken a couple steps forward into a wall, coming to a dead end, when I dropped to my knees and started sobbing.
There I was, a sixteen-year-old tough boy, sobbing like a baby, tears spilling from my eyes and dripping on the soil in audible taps. My chest heaved. I sniffled and wiped my nose with the back of my hand. I then ran the fronts of my fingers across my eyes.
Female laughter spilled from somewhere behind me, then something touched my arm. Seconds later, I felt insects crawling all over right arm and forearm.
“Spiders,” I cried, as I swiped my right arm with my left hand.
The creaking got louder as did the moaning. Something grabbed at my hair. I jerked my head to the left and crawled away from whatever was tormenting me.
I couldn’t take much more of this. I was hungry and lost—frightened out of my gourd. And for all I knew, my little sister was dead. Maybe even my brother.
I really regretted taking the Tahoe and driving to this God forsaken hotel. I had to get out of here . . . if I could ever find my way back to the kitchen.
The air started getting heavier as if multiple spirits were lurking nearby. But instead of getting up, stumbling about and wondering around aimlessly, I dropped my elbows to the dirt, bowed my head and prayed.
“Dear Lord. Please help me get out of this tunnel, and protect me from the demons, spirits and witch in here. I promise I’ll do whatever you want me to do from here on out if you’ll just get me out of here safely.”
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