We change the topic of conversation after things start turning a little too serious. Only slightly, but that's on me. I ask Connor about his abilities, which he reveals are exclusive to spirit talking. I questioned the blessing thing, but he explained how anyone, even a regular person, can bless a place. It's just a case of learning. Spirit talkers generally pick it up easier, and create stronger blessings than regular people, but it's all down to learning. I'm not too eager to learn myself, but if I ever want a twenty-four seven high, I'll let Connor know.
We manage to stay away from the topic of dead families and evil spirits for pretty much the rest of the day. We don't do much, but it's somehow one of my best days in a long time. Probably since my birthday, not that the two can really be compared.
Once we finished at the café, we headed to a local park and just talked for hours. Connor explained to me the benefits of having me on the side of dark spirits, which he felt was veering way too much into banned conversation, but I demanded. Those with the strongest abilities have been known to bridge the connection between dark spirits without the need for a middle man.
Instead of being a go between, I could potentially allow them to talk as pure spirits do. As humans do. Just pass each other in the street, and spark up a conversation. Connor pointed out that dark spirits can be angry and violent, sure, but there's only so much one can achieve alone. The ability for dark spirits to interact normally could lead to something a lot worse.
At around six, we pop back to the hotel to check up on any progress the gang have made in researching my potentially evil granny, but it's little. Carmen's in her hotel room, but she hadn't had any luck last time Ava checked. Annabel is sitting with Ava, Jamie, and Tom, but the moment I appear, she manifests herself elsewhere without a word, and it makes me want to punch myself in the face.
I try to remain optimistic about the lack of progress. The guys have only been looking a short while. I tell them to call it quits for the night, and I'm about to say goodbye to Connor when he suggests we grab some dinner together at his place. Never one to pass down an opportunity for free food, I happily agree to the offer. As we're about to say goodbye to everyone though, Connor stops in his tracks.
"Wait, before we leave."
He pulls out two small stones from his jeans' pocket, and holds them out for the gang to see.
"Oh, whoa, are you sure?" Ava exclaims.
Connor shrugs. "I don't need them. Just make sure those of you who don't have them on your person are always with someone who does."
I'm assuming the stones are blessed, not just, like, stones. Huh. That works out well, right? I could do with the extra protection of Connor's house, and these guys should be safe with the stones. Not to mention my free food.
Once Ava and Jamie have taken a stone each--no way were we trusting Tom with one--Connor and I head back out. I'm a bit gutted I didn't see Carmen, but also hugely relieved I didn't see her considering how much I embarrassed myself last night. I cringe, physically cringe, as my mind creeps back to our conversation last night. Why do I do this to myself?
"Annabel reappeared yet?" Connor questions as we arrive at his place.
"No," I mumble. I sigh. "I basically told her she is, and always has been, meaningless to me, so y'know, can't exactly be angry at her."
"Ouch. How did you manage that?" Connor unlocks his flat door. He shakes his head. "It's alright, she'll know you didn't mean it."
As if a switch has been flicked, the second I'm inside the flat, my slightly deflated mood is catapulted into something good. Something great. Amazing, brilliant, incredible. Why was I so miserable? That was dumb. I should--Wait, no. I literally slap myself in the face, which makes Connor turn his head. Snap out of it, dickhead. Connor is right though. I shouldn't get caught up in the Annabel situation. I can make it up to her. We're great. We're always great. She's great! We're always--For Pete's sake, snap out of it. I'm starting to question if coming here for food was a good idea.
Once I've been inside Connor's flat for a few hours, the blessing daze has drastically mellowed. Connor said it would happen, that I'll get used to the effects after being in a blessed place for a while. I was sceptical at first, especially when I caught myself stroking the dog lamp, but I can't fault the guy. He was right. It still niggles at the back of my mind, but it's much easier to ignore now.
Resisting it initially makes it even worse, apparently, because it drains so much energy. It's a balance of fighting it to keep some wits about you without cancelling it out all together. I've never been great at balancing anything, so I ended up basically giving into it until it started to wear off. It provided Connor with some entertainment for a little while, at least.
We decided to get takeaway, and Connor insisted on Indian food from this place he swears is the best restaurant ever. It's around nine o'clock, and I'm spread out across his leather sofa with a bucket load of curry, rice, and naan bread, while Connor sits on the floor below me with his back resting against the sofa I'm hogging, and it's kind of the best feeling ever. I don't even think it's the blessing daze.
I did offer Connor a space on the sofa, and it's not like there's not an armchair a few metres away, but he said he was happy on the floor. What is it with my family and floors? Annabel loves a good floor to sit on. We throw some shitty paranormal film on, and the two of us spend the entirety of it pointing out and laughing, hysterically at times, at the inaccuracies.
I know I should probably head back to the hotel, but I don't really want to, so I suggest we put another film on. Connor says something about it getting late, but I tell him it's fine, and the guy is as soft as hell so he gives in and we find another crap film to watch. We opt for a shitty romantic comedy because we both despise that genre, so think it'll be funny.
I'm not sure what time it is, but my near empty plate of food is on the carpet below me, and the scent of cold curry is wafting into my nostrils as my eyes begin turning heavy. I'll just rest my eyes, I won't sleep. I let them shut, and I think Connor is commenting on the film, but I don't hear him so I just mumble what's meant to be a yeah, but I doubt it sounds like that. The film must have finished because the room is dark now, but I swear we were only half an hour or so into it, so that doesn't make sense.
"Hey, buddy," someone whispers in my ear. "Hey?"
I flicker my eyes back open. Connor's bent down in front of me, his face level with mine. I'm tired. I shut my eyes again, and hear a laugh.
"C'mon, you can't sleep here," Connor says, and it's annoying because I don't want to go back to the B&B now. I'm tired. "I've got a spare bed."
Damn it. I fell asleep, didn't I? I'm too tired to say much, so I obey Connor when he tells me to get up, and follow him into the hallway like some lost kid. He leads me to a small room that's only just big enough to fit the double bed inside it. The only other furniture here is a small wardrobe and bedside cabinet, but I'm too focused on the bed to pay much attention to anything else. Damn, it looks comfy.
"Felix, listen to me."
"Huh?"
"What?" Connor questions as I turn to him.
Didn't he just say something? What? Either my tiredness or the blessing daze is making me delusional. I swear he just spoke. I definitely heard some Irish guy say something. I'm confused. Whatever. I fall into the bed, and damn, is it soft. Connor's gentle laughter fills the room, and a light turns off. I didn't even realise the light was on. A sheet is pulled over me, and it smells freshly washed, and I need to remember to ask Connor what detergent he uses tomorrow.
"Night, buddy," Connor whispers before I hear him close the door, and all light in the room vanishes.
"Focus on it."
No, that's a different voice. That's not Connor. What? The smell of detergent is becoming sweeter by the second, and I can feel myself drifting back to sleep. The voice speaks again, and I must just be dreaming because moments later, I'm out of it.
I wake up to silence. It's still dark outside, and there's no sign of life in the flat other than the fridge humming from the kitchen next door. I'm wide awake. Why am I so awake? I sit up in bed, and go to grab my phone from the bedside cabinet to check the time, but I must have left it in the living room. That's annoying. I go to lift myself out of bed when a voice makes me freeze.
"Felix, listen to me."
It's the same voice as before. What the hell? Am I still asleep? Am I dreaming? The voice sounds distant and distorted, like I'm underwater and there's someone calling my name from the depths below me. It sounds like Connor, but it can't be him. I must be dreaming.
"Help! Help me!"
"You stupid child!"
Screaming.
"Help!"
"Ha! Got you! Let us in, let us in!"
What the hell? Voices shriek at me from all angles, but they're distorted, and they're so real that I wonder if I actually am underwater and I'm drowning. Am I drowning?
"Let us in!"
Screaming.
"Stupid, stupid child!"
"The things we could do!"
Screaming.
No, no, no. What's happening? What the hell is happening? I press my hands against my ears, but the voices won't stop, and they're screaming. There's so much screaming. Why won't it stop?
"Felix, focus on my voice, just mine."
I don't want to trust the voice, and I know I shouldn't, but it feels safe. It sounds like Connor, but it's not, and it doesn't make sense, and the screaming won't stop.
"Felix, just me. Just me."
The voice booms over the others, and I don't know what else to do, so I obey it and focus on it, but the others won't stop. I keep my hands pressed over my ears, but they won't stop. The voice calls my name again, and I focus on it so much that it feels like my head is pulsing, but the other voices begin drifting so I keep focusing on the one, and then it's deathly silent, and everything is white. It's a different kind of silence than before.
There are no cars passing outside, no faint sound of birds tweeting, no fridge humming quietly from the kitchen. Nothing. It's as if there is literally nothing surrounding me.
"Felix? Felix, you need to leave."
The voice is as clear as day. It's not even slightly distorted anymore. Hell, it's the crispest I've heard anyone's voice ever, and I think I recognise it, but it feels so far away in my clogged memories.
"Get out of there, do you understand?"
"I don't--Get out of where? Who are you? I don't..."
It doesn't feel like I'm speaking, but I can hear my voice. Am I still in bed, in Connor's flat? This doesn't make sense. What's happening?
"Baby, please, you need to leave."
The second voice winds me, and it feels like I'm choking because I know it, and it's as unmistakable here as it is in my visions, and nothing makes sense because it's my mother's voice, but it can't be my mother because she's dead. She's dead and she's passed over. Then it hits me. The other voice. I've heard that before too. It's my dad. I'm dreaming. Maybe this is another vision. Is this another vision? I can't breathe. I'm underwater again.
"Felix? No, Felix, stay here, focus on my voice."
I try to grasp onto my dad's voice, but I'm slipping back into the water, and the other voices are coming back. They're screaming. Why are they screaming? What's happening? I desperately grasp onto the sound of my dad's voice, but it's taking every bit of my effort.
A bright light bursts in front of my eyes, and the world around me falls into itself.
I can't hear anything. I can't hear the screaming, the angry voices, my mum, my dad. I can't see anything. I can't taste anything, I can't smell anything. I can't even feel anything. Am I real?
My eyes shoot open, I'm gasping for breath, I'm back in Connor's spare bedroom, and I remember. I remember everything.