All Chapters of The Midnight Hotel: Chapter 21 - Chapter 27

Winona woke up feeling far more rested than she should have after spending the previous day discovering a corpse, surviving a fire, and kissing a man who claimed to remember alternate timelines.For a few blissful seconds she lay in bed staring at the ceiling, pretending she was in a normal hotel on a normal writing retreat. Then reality returned and ruined everything.Her phone buzzed on the nightstand.AVA: Breakfast. Now. If this hotel plans to traumatize us again today, I'd like to experience it with pancakes.Winona snorted and climbed out of bed.The dining hall was already crowded when she arrived. Ava had collected enough food to feed a small village, Monica was taking photographs of her breakfast from several artistic angles, and Julian was attempting to charm a waitress who looked seconds away from reporting him to management.Near the windows, Moira and Liam were discussing theories over coffee while Iris listened quietly. Adrian sat alone at a nearby table, and the moment

Winona stared at the photograph for several long seconds before looking at the date again.October 18, 2017.The picture had clearly been taken a year after the one shown in the dining hall. Adrian stood near the reception desk. Ava was laughing with Monica. Liam appeared to be arguing with someone in the background. Every contestant was present.Except her."That's not possible," she said quietly.Adrian stepped closer to examine the frame. Unlike the previous photograph, this one didn't look edited. There were no strange distortions, missing shadows, or blurred edges. It simply looked like a normal picture taken during a normal day."You were definitely in the first one," he said."And now I'm gone."Winona reached for the frame and noticed something unusual. A folded piece of paper had been wedged behind it. It was hidden well enough that nobody would have seen it unless the photograph had been tilted."Wait."She carefully pulled it. The paper looked old and yellowed around the ed

Nobody dared to move after that reveal.Winona wasn't frozen because she was scared, she simply couldn't understand what she was looking at.Every person seated around the banquet tables had opened their eyes at the exact same moment, yet not a single one of them had changed position. They remained perfectly upright with polished cutlery in front of them, dressed in expensive evening clothes that belonged to another era.The woman standing beneath the spotlight smiled as though she had just welcomed honored guests to a wedding reception."I'm delighted all of you could finally make it," she said pleasantly. "Dinner may now begin."Julian leaned toward Monica and whispered, "If anybody offers me soup, I'm leaving."Monica elbowed him without taking her eyes off the woman. "I don't think leaving is an option."The woman gave a tiny nod, almost as if she had heard them. "Miss Monica is correct." Several contestants exchanged uneasy looks.Liam stepped forward first. "Who are you?""I'm t