Paranormal Melodies ~ Chapter 2

Chapter 2: An Offer

After staying a week with the Cromwell's, Alena finally regained her strength and felt well enough to head back home to her house in Pasadena. Her true home was in Boston, where she had grown up with her parents. Being only a single child, she never had siblings to play with, but she certainly had a good circle of friends who always enjoyed her visits and thoroughly enjoyed her music. The closest person to being her sibling had to be her older cousin, Cheyenne. Only separated by five years in age, Alena always looked up to Cheyenne as a role model and considered her to be her best friend. Several times they had talked on the phone for house whenever something serious occurred. Cheyenne even stayed with Alena after news surfaced about Cal's affair. Alena was twenty-one when this all occurred, only being with Cal for six months before the affair happened. She met Ross when she was twenty-three and dated him for two years before they ended their relationship. Finally, she began dating Anthony when she was twenty-seven. Now being thirty, Alena wondered if she would ever find the right man. Cheyenne was married, but always told her cousin to just let things happen, not to worry about marriage or anything like that.

At that time, Alena only wanted to focus on her new project. While at home, she began outlining ideas for the album and writing random lines for lyrics. She also got in touch with her agent and requested that she try and arrange a meeting with the Ghost Adventures crew. Alena was anxious as she awaited Natalie's call letting her know if it would all work out. When Natalie got in touch with her and let her know that it was all going to happen, Alena was so thankful and immediately began packing for Las Vegas. She hadn't been there in a while, only having done some performances there, but this was different.

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After arriving in Vegas, Alena went straight to her hotel to drop off her luggage and meet up with Natalie. As they drove over to the GAC office, Alena began to feel butterflies in her stomach. During the time leading up to that day, she had watched as many episodes of the show as she could get, absorbing more information and finding inspiration to keep her working. She really hoped the guys would be willing to let her tag along when she explained why she wanted to do this. They seemed like nice guys and that gave her a small jolt of confidence that this meeting would go well.
Once the car pulled up at the location, Natalie and Alena went inside to meet the guys. Natalie went on ahead to confirm the appointment and where the meeting would take place. Alena waited patiently, still donning her sunglasses to try and conceal her identity to anyone else who was unaware of her visit. Natalie soon returned to Alena after confirming everything to be in order.

"They are ready for you, Miss Ravenwood," Natalie told her.

Alena rolled her eyes and finally removed her sunglasses as she followed. "Natalie, how many times have I told you to just call me by my first name? You've been my agent for years."

Natalie smiled as she moved some stray strands of her dark blonde hair behind her ear. "I know, but we are in a professional setting, so I must address you appropriately."

"Very well, if you insist," Alena replied with a sigh.

They reached the door where Alena would enter and meet with the three men of the Ghost Adventures crew. Once more she felt that uneasiness in her stomach, nervous about meeting them. Sucking in one final breath before exhaling it, she mustered up her courage and stepped inside.

And there they were.

The moment she entered and the door closed behind her, three pairs of star struck eyes fell upon Alena while she looked at them with a similar expression. No one in that room could believe they were in the presence of the other. The silence between them was painfully awkward, enough so that Alena had to speak first.

"Good morning, gentlemen," she said stepping forward. "I'm Alena Ravenwood."

"It's an honor to meet you, Miss Ravenwood. I'm Zak Bagans, these are my fellow investigators Nick Groff and Aaron Goodwin," he said shaking her hand.

She smiled as she shook their hands. "Believe me, the honor is mine. And please call me Alena."

From there, they all sat down at the conference table to begin the meeting.

"I have to say, we were really surprised that you wanted to meet with us," Aaron told her.

She nodded. "I can understand. You probably wondered 'What on earth would a popular singer want to do with a paranormal group', am I right?"

Nick nodded. "That pretty much sums it up."

Swallowing hard, Alena prepared to present her idea. "Well, that I will answer. First of all, something tells me that you guys have listened to my music and maybe heard about my recent breakup."

They all nodded.

"You're one of the best female singers of this era," Zak complimented.

She smiled. "Thank you. Well, after said breakup, I was up late one night and I watched your documentary on television. I have to tell you, not only did it amaze me, but it struck a deep chord when I heard the history of the locations. Moreover, I was very moved by the story of Elizabeth at the Goldfield Hotel."

"That is a tragic story," Nick agreed.

"For me, I was in the early stages of my breakup and hearing this story made me realize that I had nothing to complain about. Elizabeth's tale is far more tragic than mine, and it really helped me to emerge from my sadness. I'm not saying that it cured me, but it really made an impression. I have also watched episodes of your show and I have to say that I have enjoyed them as well. In one night you made a fan out of me."

Zak smiled, a shy sort of smile. "Well I think I speak for all of us when I say we're flattered."

Alena folded her hands on the table. "Having said all of this, I want to get to the reason I requested to meet with you all. I have been putting together ideas for a new album which has been inspired by not only my feelings from my breakup, but also from feelings that I have sort of buried after my first breakup. What I was hoping to do to gain more inspiration, with your permission, was to join you on a few investigations."

Their eyes widened when she said this, completely taken by surprise.

"It doesn't have to be that many, but I would love to experience being in a place which has been filled with emotion, kinda like that room where Elizabeth was chained. To feel that energy and to experience being inside the physical location where history took place would mean a great deal to me. Although I have plenty of emotions to go off of, I was hoping this would unlock more of that and inspire me with my work. In return, I would be willing to possibly have you guys featured in the album somehow, whether it's on a music video or something else."

For a while, the guys looked at one another, completely blown away by her offer. Alena
bit down on her lower lip, worried that they would probably turn her down.

"Honestly, I think we would love to have you tag along," Zak replied.

Now it was Alena's turn to be blown away. "Really?"

They all nodded.

"We would love you have you come with us on a lockdown or two. We've had guests on the show before," Aaron said.

Alena could not believe they had agreed. "Oh my god, you have no idea how much this means to me. Thank you so much!"

Nick smiled. "You seem so enthusiastic about this."

She smiled. "I was so worried that you guys would think I was weird for wanting to go with on your investigations or that you might turn me down."

Zak laughed. "You? Alena Ravenwood? Absolutely not!"

Aaron grinned. "You think you're the one who is honored in this room? I can tell you, we're the ones who are honored to be breathing the same air as you right now."

That comment made her snort. "Oh I see, you guys must be big fans of my work."

All three of them nodded. "Not a car trip goes by when we don't have your music on hand," Nick commented.

She smiled. "Well I am flattered. Hopefully I will be able to find the inspiration I am looking for during the lockdowns and create an album you guys will like."

"Well in that case, do you have any ideas as to what kind of locations you might want to come with to?" Zak asked.

Now she wished she had done some research on that subject. "Not really. I'm not too picky and I am open to any suggestions."

Zak pulled out a folder and handed it to her. "We have a list of upcoming lockdowns we've arranged. Have a look and see which ones might work best for you."

Eagerly Alena opened the folder and looked at the rather long list of locations. Each one had a brief sentence or two explaining why that location was deemed worthy of them traveling there. She took her time looking each one over and considering whether or not it would work for what she was intending to do. They all sounded really appealing, but she knew she had to keep it to a minimum. After double checking all of her favored options, she narrowed down her selections to three locations.

"Okay, my top three are the Stanley Hotel, the Longfellow's Wayside Inn, and the Salem Witch House & Lyceum Restaurant," she announced.

Zak smiled. "Great choices. Have you ever been to any of them?"

She shook her head. "No, not really. I mean growing up in Massachusetts I did go to Salem before, but I never went to the locations."

Nick smiled. "That's right you grew up in Boston. I live out in Massachusetts too."

After discussing where they lived, Alena and Nick discovered that he lived just ten minutes from the house her parents currently resided in, and where she had grown up.

"Small world," Alena said.

"Well, we will be very happy to have you working with us Alena," Zak said. "We'll keep in touch and arrange times and places to meet when it gets close to the dates we set aside for the lockdowns."

She smiled. "Perfect. I look forward to working with all of you and experiencing the paranormal for myself."

Zak smiled. "I hope the experience will be everything you want for your album and more."

Alena had a gut feeling that it would be and she couldn't wait to get started. It would be a while before she met with them on the first lockdown, but it would be absolutely worth the wait.