It was late, and she was going back to New Winslow in the morning. So Cleo probably should be in bed by now. But instead, she was sitting in her kitchen with a bowl of cereal in front of her, lost in thought until soft footsteps padded down the hallway toward the doorway. “Cleo?”

Edie had been in bed for about two hours by this point, not that Cleo should have been keeping track. “Hmm?” Cleo said. “Sorry, did I wake you up?”

“By being silent out here? No, I just woke up. What’s wrong?”

Everything. Absolutely everything was wrong, wasn’t it? “My dad says I should spend extra time in Scotland when I’m there in January,” Cleo replied.

“You should!” Edie said, hushed excitement in their voice as they came into the kitchen and started filling a glass with water. “Wait, I mean…”

“He said my mom would be fine,” Cleo continued. “And he’s right. She will. I’d have to take two weeks off from whatever job I have at that point, though. And I’d have to get a job before I can pay for it beyond the parts the team is paying for anyway. But I’m working on that. And we’re closer than I think anyone’s ever been with the curse. So… that might not matter.”

She felt like she was playing with fire, both by saying this out loud and for saying it to Edie. And she knew that if she were to say that to any of the others, even now, the answer would be that it didn’t matter. She was going if they had to force her onto the plane. 

“You could take a vacation,” Edie said. “We saw some gorgeous places. Oooh, you could go to Edinburgh too! Me and Tyler went to this great venue there. It’s, um, I can’t remember the name…”

“I was thinking maybe I should try to tour.”

“Yes, you should!” Edie’s voice was a little too loud for the hour, especially for them, but they sat down at the table across from her, now looking wide awake. “Oh my God, Cleo, you should. If your mom is in safe hands, you really, really should.”

The idea of an actual tour had been half-formed and fluttering around almost shamefully until she said it. “Do you think I could be enough of a draw?” she asked.

Edie blinked at her. “Do I think… Cleo,” they said. “Do you know how many people asked about you when we were in Europe? Not just the team doing the Glasgow project, I mean everywhere. If they knew us, they knew you. And a few people only recognized us once your name got brought up. I know you’ve been detached from it for a while, but I truly think you could either sell out some of the clubs in the cities we were in or close to it. Oh, you should go to Berlin too! Oh, and Barcelona. It was a weird tour, I’m pretty sure the guys from Diamondbacks who planned it never actually looked at a map. But-”

“I don’t know,” Cleo said softly, cutting into Edie’s excited monologue. “There’s just so much I’d have to do. And I don’t have the time.”

“Then get help,” Edie said. “I’ll help.”

“Really?”

“Of course. I’ve got some connections from this tour and I’m sure Tyler and Ryan can help out too.”

“Alright.”

Saying it felt so final. Like she was signing a contract with Edie. With her father, and herself. And she knew as soon as she mentioned it to the others, there’d be even less of a chance of backing out.

Edie yawned, but stayed where they were. “So we have two weeks to work with?” they asked.

Cleo nodded. “The festival is two days long, so I’m going to stay in Glasgow for the whole weekend. But I have everything after that open.”

“Great. Let’s talk, then.”

An hour later, they had a stack of notes, potential leads, and reminders for Edie to call contacts in the morning. The less stressful option had been to remain in Scotland and England for the whole two weeks and, even though it wasn’t as big as the tour she’d missed out on last time, Cleo thought that was going to be plenty to keep her overwhelmed. Plus, as Edie reminded her, she could always go to other places next time.

Next time. Next fucking time. By the time she went to bed that night, the pang of loneliness Cleo felt was nearly completely offset by the excitement.

————-

It wasn’t working. For three incredibly frustrating nights, following Iris’s book instructions to the letter had done nothing. Noah’s dreams didn’t change in the few hours he did sleep. Each night the rain whipped his face as he stood alone on the deck of a century-old ship, waiting to die. Finally, running on three hours of sleep and far too much caffeine, Noah was back at Iris’s boarded up shop with Andrew and Cleo.

Iris looked glum more than anything, and the only thing that kept Noah from pushing to try something else again was the presence of the others. Liv wasn’t there, but he had a feeling that Cleo was here in her place. She’d arrived this morning after a quick trip home last night, and had barely gotten in the house before leaving again with him and Andrew.

A couple days ago, she had arrived with a car full of clothes and informed them that her job had let her go. And since her mother would prefer to go back to a more phone-based relationship, she was mostly going to be here for the duration.

As someone who also had a phone based – though very different – relationship with his own mother, Noah could relate. But he’d been embarrassingly tired and out of sorts when Cleo told him the details, so he hadn’t been able to muster up more than a genuine, mostly wordless, show of appreciation for her being here. It seemed like she’d made her decision, and he had to respect that.

“We can try something else,” Iris said, half to herself. “We could try to go straight for Samuel and leave Billy out of the equation entirely. Maybe now that he’s had some time to cool off, he’ll talk to me.”

Noah had a feeling that that one would mean he was stuck with these nightmares for the rest of his life. But the tradeoff was that it would get Andrew out faster, so it was still worth it.

“Or maybe if we go slow, he’ll talk to Noah through the spirit board,” Iris continued. “It’s been a while since he stopped answering through it, so it might be worth trying again. We’d need to prove it was him, at least as much as possible. But if he’s only going to talk to you, then that might be the only other safe option left there.”

Would he keep sleepwalking forever too? He’d woken up by the fridge yesterday morning, far too early, and then nearly walked into Andrew, who had stumbled out of bed looking for him. But maybe he’d get lucky and all of this would eventually settle with time. Or it would just go on forever, with no way of stopping it, and he’d just have to deal.

“Noah?” 

Noah jerked his gaze from the sunbeam coming through a small crack in the window boards. “Hmm?” he said. “Yeah, let’s do that.”

“Are you alright?”

He laughed, shaking his head. “Would you believe me when I say I haven’t been sleeping well?”

He didn’t imagine Andrew had slept that well the past couple of nights either, with Noah constantly snapping awake beside him in bed and saying God knew what as Andrew was trying to sleep. But if he was feeling the strain, Noah barely saw it on his face as he sat beside him. 

Iris looked around the shop for a moment and Noah recognized that calculating look on her face. “Do you think you could sleep?”

“Like right now?” he asked. “I don’t know, maybe.”

“Great, let’s try.”

The idea of falling asleep on Iris’s couch again, then waking up to his own disappointment and disappointing the others was almost as nauseating as his lack of sleep last night. But maybe reaching Billy would be easier here, surrounded by magic. And it wasn’t like he hadn’t done it before. Billy had reached him easily here in the spring. So maybe switching locations would help Noah to contact him again, even if the approach was different.

“So what do we do?”

He’d almost forgotten Cleo was there, she’d been sitting so quietly off to the side of the counter. Iris jumped. “Not much different from what you’re doing at home,” she said. “Um, I could see if I can set up some, um,” She swallowed hard. “Some crystals to help direct the energy. It’d be like the beacon Andrew set up, but intensified. I can send out a signal to Billy, try to draw him here.”

 “What do you need me to do?” Noah asked.

Maybe they could do both today. Contact Billy and set him up with Samuel Alderidge for a chat. Even if the idea of actually hosting the spirit scared Noah in a way he could never admit after so forcefully trying to convince the others to let him do so, he’d do it right now.

“Just the same as you’ve been doing at home,” Iris said. “But…” she trailed off, looking around the shop. “Let’s stay down here. I’ve got a yoga mat somewhere if that wouldn’t be too uncomfortable for your back or anything.”

Great, exactly where Noah wanted to be again. “Sure,” he said stiffly.

“So how many times has Andrew fallen asleep down here?” Cleo said.

Andrew turned in outrage. Iris glanced at him, and he turned back and glared at her. “Don’t listen to Cleo,” he said.

“He’s a menace, did he ever tell you that? Every single movie we watch, he never gets to the end. He fell asleep mid yoga class once. Oh, and at a play my friend put on.”

“End,” Andrew corrected. “End of yoga class. And not cool bringing that up.”

Iris looked like she wasn’t sure if she was allowed to laugh or not. She was clearly intimidated having Cleo here again, though it was nothing compared to how she’d been when Liv walked in the door the other night.

A few minutes later, Iris had everything set up. The same yoga mat they’d used weeks earlier, surrounded by small candles and rocks he didn’t recognize. Noah felt like a bug under a microscope, laying back on that mat. There was a folded sweater under his head and she’d offered a blanket, which he felt a little silly lying underneath in the middle of the day. The tiny flames on the candles shone against the dim ceiling as he looked straight up at it.

“Now what?” he asked.

“Um, what helps you relax when you’re getting ready for bed?”

“Considering I don’t normally sleep on a yoga mat on the floor of a magic shop, I’m not really sure how that’s relevant,” Noah said, his frustration finally getting the better of him. “Sorry, I’m just… sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Iris said gently. “I’m going to start calling Billy, alright? So just close your eyes and focus on your breathing.”

Did you know you stopped breathing? 

Her voice, soft like that, closed his throat for a split second. His breath was shaky as it returned and his hand scrabbled on the wooden floor for something to ground him. Andrew was closest, and he caught Noah’s hand in his before Noah realized quite what was happening.

“So listen,” Andrew said. “There was quite a lot going on with that play. For starters, I had a project at work that required me to write to approximately four hundred customers that day. And you know when someone is trying to reach you, but the two of you keep missing each other’s calls? Well, that happened all day and not with someone I particularly wanted to speak to. But at least it was a warm day, right? And my best friend, who would never call me out and share my embarrassing stories, had invited me to go to a play with her that night.”

Noah laughed, relaxing slightly as he continued to hold on to Andrew’s hand. “So this play was in a large space, and it’s dark and there’s this nice music going,” Andrew continued. “And it’s boring. Oh my God, Noah, the play is so bloody boring. Cleo, listen? I don’t care. And when the intermission begins, Cleo informs me that I’d been snoring.”

“You were.”

Noah glanced over at Iris, who looked… huh. There was a look of what could have been sadness. Or longing. Just for a second, before she caught his eye, then went back to what she was doing.

“We went out for dinner after, though,” Andrew continued, his voice light. “And it was the place where they make the best ramen I’ve ever had in my life. I don’t know what they put in the broth, but I was in love. Still am, mind. So I‘m ready to just crush a bowl. But when we got there, do you know who I saw? That same bloke I’d been playing phone tag with all day.”

“What’s the point of this?” Noah asked.

“The point is, I’m telling the story,” Andrew said. Noah could hear Iris murmuring nearby, but then Andrew continued. “This ramen, though. Homemade noodles, this broth that has just enough spice to it. Just enough vegetables. Perfect.”

Noah knew what he was doing and tried to have the energy to resent Andrew for treating him like a child who wasn’t settling in for a nap. But the flickering candles looked less menacing now, and the flow of Iris’s words weren’t as scary to consider as Andrew continued to talk about all the reasons why this ramen was better than any other he’d ever had. Cleo chipped in as well, with some occasional comments at Andrew for his fixation with this place, which she claimed was not very good. And when Noah said he’d never had ramen outside of Oodles of Noodles, that was Andrew’s cue to start listing off every place he’d ever eaten ramen at, and how he was going to bring Noah to each one.

“I’ve put up the beacon for Billy,” Iris said, interrupting the discussion after about ten minutes. By this point, Noah’s head was on Andrew’s thigh and Andrew was detailing the options at a little booth in Cambridge that was almost as good as the first place, but slightly less expensive. 

Andrew’s ramen monologue had done exactly what he’d wanted it to do. Noah was feeling less jittery as he lay here on a yoga mat on the floor of a magic shop, with their ability to contact a ghost completely reliant on his ability to fall asleep right here. He was tempted to ask again for something, both to get this over with and shamefully, to numb the general fear and buzzing that was always underneath the surface so that maybe he could sleep. But he was exhausted, so maybe there was hope that he could just quickly get into a lucid dream and move on.

“What about you, Iris?” Andrew asked. “Favorite ramen toppings.”

Iris seemed surprised to be included for a second, but then she looked thoughtful. “Salmon,” she said finally. “Bean sprouts, salmon, and green onion.”

This was still too weird. He wasn’t going to be able to just go to sleep here, not with everyone around and waiting. Maybe they should just try something else if this was honestly the plan.

“We should give you some space,” Cleo said, to Noah’s relief. “I have to call my mother anyway. I’ll be out at the car.”

She looked over at Iris, who said something about needing something upstairs. And then it was just Noah and Andrew in the shop. Andrew hadn’t said anything about leaving Noah alone and he knew it wasn’t just Noah’s comfort Andrew was concerned about. And yes, the shame was there and it would be there still later, whether he’d tried to take anything from the shop or not.

“You were snoring, huh?” he said, grinning up at Andrew from where he was still resting on Andrew’s thigh.

“So she says. But Alyssa never said anything about it, so it clearly wasn’t audible from the stage.”

He fussed with a lock of Noah’s hair in a way that was so particular that it screamed his nervousness under the casual patter. On the counter nearby, the crystal beacon Iris had created glowed eerily in the pink display lights of the shop. Noah did his best not to look at it.

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CONTINUE TO EPISODE 28

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