The Arrival | The House of Voices #3

Nine - Request

Request

 

I couldn’t sleep.

I tossed and turned for hours before I finally realized that I wasn’t going to be falling asleep on my own anytime soon. So I slipped out of bed, and tiptoed down the stairs where I found Ace and Spade asleep in the den. The blueprints and floor plans of St. Elizabeth’s that Spade had managed to get were laid out on the apothecary table in front of them.

I’d asked them, earlier, how Spade had gotten a hold of them, but he and Ace were both very tight lipped about it. So I decided not to push things.

Spade usually went home to his own apartment after dinner, but after everything that had happened today and that whole weird encounter with Doyle, he told Ace and me that he was going to stay over tonight, so that he and Ace could discuss things and come up with a plan.

I offered to help, but they insisted that I rest tonight. I would have argued, but after having two different spirits occupy my body in the same time against my will, I just didn’t have the energy for it.

Ace said that I’d even bled from the eyes at one point.

So I let them feed me and send me off to bed, content to let the two Spellcasters handle things on their own for one night.

Spellcasters were basically humans born with the ability to use magic. They were not, as Ace and Spade kept reminding me, to be confused with witches. Witches were almost always evil and were supernatural creatures. Not human.

Spade told me that the last time someone called Ace a witch, she set him on fire. I’d seen Ace angry. I didn’t put it past her to set someone on fire for calling her an evil supernatural being.

Being a Conduit, I supposed I was a little like them. I was human with a weird ability. They were human with weird abilities – and the magic powers. All of which I considered cooler than being used as gateway for dead spirits.

Stepping into the den, I walked quietly over to the large armchair that Ace was sleeping in – it was her favorite spot in the mansion – and crouched beside Spade, who was sitting on the floor with his back against Ace’s chair, his head resting by her knee.

“Spade,” I whispered, tapping him lightly on the shoulder. “Spade, wake up.”

His nose twitched slightly, and then he just turned his head over to the other side, pressing his forehead against Ace’s knee.

“It’s going to take a lot more than that to wake him up,” Ace’s voice was heavy with sleep. I looked up to see her blinking sleepily down at me, her expression questioning. “What up?”

“I can’t sleep,” I answered, a little sheepish. “And I was wondering if you’d, you know, use that spell thing on me?”

Ace frowned. Reaching down, she lifted Spade’s hand up and twisted his wrist until she was looking at his watch. He didn’t stir.

“Holy shit, it’s three in the morning! Why didn’t you come down sooner?” she looked at me, her fingers busying themselves with removing Spade’s watch. She undid the buckle, slipped the watch off his wrist and put it gently on the end table beside her. “He really needs to stop falling asleep wearing that. Bad for circulation.”

She gently lowered his hand back to his side. Again, he didn’t stir. I tried not to gape.

“Do you mind if I get Spade to do the spell?” She asked, sitting up in her seat and twisting from side to side. I heard the crack crack sounds of her backbone stretching. “I’ve used a lot of magic today; I can actually feel my gauge tipping towards the giant red ‘E’”

I nodded. “Yeah, I know. That’s why I was trying to wake him up instead of you.”

She smiled gratefully. “Sweet, but amateur move. This one’ll sleep through the end of the world if you let him.” With that, she sat up gently in her seat, careful not to jostle Spade’s head when she moved her legs. Folding herself until her face was hovering besides him, she touched his cheek.

“Wakey, wakey,” she patted him gently on the cheek. He grunted and turned his head further against her knee, frowning slightly. Huffing, she patted him harder, on the other cheek this time.

“Up and at ‘em, Dennings. Sleep is for the weak.”

She was about to pat him again when one of his large hands shot up and caught hers, just as her fingertips touched his face.

“I’m awake, Harley. God,” he grumbled, straightening up slowly. “What time is it?”

“Three AM,” she answered cheerfully, looking very much as if she was enjoying the grumpy look on his face. “You have a client.”

“At three in the morning?” He asked, letting go of her hand and running his own hand through his hair sleepily. “This better be good.”

“It’s me,” I said.

Spade blinked, as if he’d only just realized I was in the room.

“Oh, October, hey.” He straightening up, rolling his shoulders and twisting his neck from side to side. “What’s the problem?”

“She can’t sleep. Wants us to put a spell on her,” Ace told him. “I would have done it myself but—”

“No way,” He shook his head firmly, tilting his head up to look at her. “You’ve used your powers enough for one day. I’ll do it.”

“How kind of you,”

He stuck his tongue out at her.

Standing up, Spade smiled down at me. “Come on. If anyone needs a decent night’s sleep, it’s you. Especially after the day you’ve had.”

I straightened up and followed him up the stairs, almost laughing out loud at the way he shook his head in exasperation when Ace slipped out of her chair and trailed behind us.

Spade led the way into the green room, the guest room where I’d been staying for the past week or so. Stopping at the door, he and Ace waited until I crawled into bed and got comfortable.

“Disclaimer,” Ace said, peering at me over Spade’s shoulder as he folded himself into half to touch two long fingers to my forehead, “We’re not going to do this every time you can’t sleep, ‘kay? Don’t get used to it.”

“Understood,” I told her sincerely. The only reason I’d even asked was because I was so exhausted, yet too wired to actually fall asleep. I wouldn’t be able to function the next day if I didn’t get some sleep.

“Excellent,” Spade said. “Goodnight, October.”

I heard him whisper something in a foreign language as I slipped into the darkness.

The next thing I knew, I was falling.

Falling…

Falling…

Falling.