Voice in My Head (or what we did on our holidays)

Chapter 3

Summary: Little update where Eddie and Venom do as much sleuthing as they can in a budget hotel on the wrong side of the world

"EDDIE! IT'S TIME TO MAKE THE BOARD WITH THE RED STRING!"

Venom bellowed excitedly in their hotel bedroom. Eddie sighed.

"You know they only do that in movies, babe."

His mind is filled with a disgruntled humming, grumbling growl. Tendrils of Venom dig through and finally upend their suitcase, looking for thread and marker pens.

"Look, anything for you, there's a thing for that on the laptop."

Eddie is bringing up a program for writers which lets him make note-cards and lay them out on a cork-effect screen.

"Better with string,"

Venom mutters, but they form a small head over Eddie's shoulder, eyes swirling like soap bubbles and tounge curling in interest.

"What do we know about Steven?"

Eddie types STEVEN on the header of a buff-yellow card.

"He is a good human. But very nervous. His heartbeat is annoying. He needs to sleep. He is lonely. Hey, Eddie, he is a loser! Like you!"

"Like I was. We are better."

Venom's small head digs into his cheek with a cat-like bump. Eddie pets him without looking, patting, vaguely at the rippling matter.

"Ok, but practical stuff too. He lives in London. He works at the British Museum gift shop-"

"Unless he got fired!" Venom interrupts.

"Yeah, true. And now he's in Egypt. Didn't get the feeling he was the sort of guy to just drop all his savings on airline tickets all of a sudden."

Eddie rubbed his stubbly jawline, making a card for EGYPT and adding undrneath, Luxor Hotel?

"Who's Mark? Who's Mark?"

"Mark took Steven!" Growled Venom.

"Or Mark isn't real, and we shouldn't be playing therapist."

The next card is headed MARC. Eddie doesn't know what to write on it. He wishes he had got Steven to talk a little more about what was actually happening to him. He scouted his memory for any clues that weren't obscured by stammered apologies and weird slang.

"Feels like I'm banging my head against a brick wall."

"We could do that! Or a bad guy's head? Hungry, Eddie!"

Eddie opens a tab for Google Maps and starts looking for hotels in Egypt. It sounded like Steven didn't remember getting there, so he must be able to see more kind of landmark from the hotel room. Huh! There isn't a hotel with a view of pyramids in Luxor, but there was a chain of hotels called Luxor, and they did have a hotel with views of the pyramids. In Cario. Eddie hesitated before making the call from his room's phone.

"Ugh. Vee, how much do you think this call will cost? Might as well break open the mini-bar. No, wait, not literally, I was joking!"

Eddie hopped on one foot, kicking the fridge closed as tentacles surged for the forbidden snack-heaven that Venom had imagined. He juggled the phone receiver.

"Oh, hi! I was wondering if you could help me? My friend Steven just booked in, and I was really hoping to catch up, maybe I'll change hotels if you have any rooms available. His name is Steven Grant, he's an English guy..."

Venom preened a little. He had found out Steven's surname by riffling through the cards in his pockets without getting caught.

"No Brits at all? Huh. Well, that's funny. Sorry to bother you, sweetheart...guess that means Mark isn't there either then, must have got mixed up. Wait, you have a Mark? With a c? I'm in London right now, but could you let me know the room number? I know, I know...yeah, he's a real dish, honey, I agree. Thanks, you're a life saver."

Eddie is scribbling down a number and drops the charming tone and warm smile as he bangs down the receiver.

"Marc Spector. Good-looking guy, just like our Steven. Exactly like him. But he's not a Brit, or at least, he doesn't sound like one."

"I do not believe Steven was lying to us, Eddie."

"I don't think so either, Vee, but it seems like there's a whole lot he doesn't know about himself."

Eddie recalled Steven's frightened voice in the call. Could someone hold themselves hostage? Whatever this all meant, it seemed like Eddie was back in a world where aliens, super-powers, and all kinds of supernatural bullshit could quite easily be real.