Room 1303, The Moonflower Room: Meet Opal Nightshade

Room 1303 · The Moonflower Room · Floor XIII

“A little magic. Excellent manners.”

Opal Nightshade did not come for the party. She came to inspect the moonlight.

She told us this at the front desk, quite seriously, while straightening a hat so wide and so tall that it had to tilt to get through the door. She had heard that the moonlight at the ELE Hotel was unusually good for a building that isn't finished, and she wanted to see for herself.

The inspection

For three nights, Opal walked every hallway at midnight with a small notebook, standing at each window for exactly one minute. She rated the moonlight out of ten. The lobby scored a respectable six. The stairwell, a disappointing four. The window at the end of the hall on Floor XIII scored an eleven, which she underlined twice.

She unpacked that same night, in the room beside that window: Room 1303, which she has renamed the Moonflower Room. We did not argue. The moonflowers bloomed on the windowsill by morning, and we didn't argue with those either.

What's in her luggage

• Enchanted scarves, which tie and untie themselves while she's thinking. A knot means she's decided something.

• A kettle that answers questions. It answers honestly, which is exactly why the staff have agreed not to ask it anything.

• A broom, which she describes as a vintage vehicle and would like parked, not stored.

The invitations

Here is what Opal is actually doing on Floor XIII, though she would never say so herself.

Late at night, at the little desk in the Moonflower Room, she takes the masquerade invitations before they go out and makes small changes. A name crossed out. A new address in violet ink. A street most people have never heard of. The changed invitations always seem to find someone who needed one: someone new in town, someone who hasn't been asked anywhere in a long while, someone who had started to think nights like this were for other people.

Opal believes the best magic is mostly good manners: noticing who's missing, and making room.

Who invited Opal?

We asked. She smiled and changed the subject to tea. We asked again the next day. She smiled and changed the subject to the weather, which, for the record, has been perfect every night since she arrived.

Front desk note: Reserve broom parking. Do not answer the kettle.

If the kettle could answer one question for you, honestly, what would you ask it? Tell the Front Desk in the comments.

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Take Opal home. Shop the Midnight Masquerade on Etsy Tees, prints and stickers from the Midnight Masquerade are a limited run, available until Halloween only. Every shirt arrives with Opal's Guest Registration tag and a Check-out Slip from the Front Desk.

Join the guest list. The ELE Hotel opens its doors in December, and new guests are already on their way. Leave your name with the Front Desk to hear who arrives next: Join the Guest List

Every guest of the ELE Hotel is hand-drawn by Erika Erlenbach in her Everybody Loves Everybody studio.