Henry Townshend is a ghost magnet (room_302) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2016-05-18 18:22:00 |
|
|||
Entry tags: | !complete, chloe saunders, henry townshend |
Who: Team Monster Movie (Henry and Chloe)
What: The Relationship Talk and then accidentally summoning a ghostie from Henry's Dreams
When: Yesterday into this morning
Where: Henry's apartment
Ratings/Warnings: PG-13 for implied sexy times and Dream stuff
Status: Complete!
Things had been going quite smoothly with Henry so far and Chloe couldn’t fight how happy he made her feel. There were butterflies in her stomach every time she saw his name on her phone or when she heard a knock at her door. The fact that he was so willing to help her with researching necromancy and discovering her powers really sold the fact that he was a good man. One that wasn’t just going to take her to bed and then ghost the next morning. The term in her mind almost made her snicker aloud, but she caught herself in the nick of time. She had already told Henry that she was weird, but she didn’t need to confirm that by giggling at something that she was just thinking about in her head.
The duty of watching over the crypt was finally finished and Chloe was incredibly happy to spend time with him away from that place. It wasn’t horrible, but she wish they could spend some actual time together and not in a place like that. But she had used her new cooking skills to make meals for him as an excuse to come over and spend time and once they had gotten books about necromancy she brought them along with her so they could go over the things she had read the other day and discuss things.
Henry’s voice broke through her thoughts and she was put back into place on their date. She was in his apartment and currently had a bottle of wine in her hand. It was yet another dinner date, but Chloe was hoping that it would be a bit more. She finished pouring their glasses and brought them out to Henry on the couch with a smile. After setting them on the coffee table she resumed her spot next to him and swung her legs over his lap with a chuckle, “Now, where were we?” They were finishing up dinner, kissing, discussing ghosts, and more kissing. Typical relationship stuff for two young adults that had a ghost issue.
Now that his task of literally guarding a body was over, Henry was anxious to get on with his life and put everything that had to do with the Dark One behind him for good. He couldn’t believe how lucky he was to have met Chloe when he had, at a time when things had looked so bleak that Henry had started to believe that his life would be in a constant state of helplessly moving from crisis to crisis and doomed to spend the rest of his life alone guarding a stupid hole in his bathroom. Meeting Chloe when he had made Henry realize that life could always get better.
He was determined to help her sort through her confusing (and let’s face it, horrifying) Dreams and whatever power they may give her here. She was already hearing whispers and Henry wanted to make sure she was prepared for when the whispers turned into something else. He wanted to be there for her. The idea of Chloe wandering through this on her own made his stomach tighten.
Even though what they were studying was serious and important, not to mention at times a bit morbid, Henry was enjoying the time he was spending with Chloe. Of course not every moment they spend together had to do with the dead and communicating with them. They talked about other things as well, much like they had the first day they had met. The two of them could spend hours in deep conversation about any topic that happened to come up. Henry couldn’t remember the last time he had felt this way about someone.
He smiled at her when she came back from the kitchen and took her place on the couch next to him. He placed a hand comfortably on her calf as it came to rest across his lap, his other hand went to find her’s as she got comfortable again. He really liked having her close like this. “I think we were talking about one of the spells we found in that book,” he motioned to the book on the coffee table, “and then somehow we ended up talking about the lady who lives down stairs.” He laughed.
Henry wanting to take care of her and help her navigate what was going on in this world made her stomach flip flop in a good way. There were definite butterflies when she was around him and she was so appreciative of how good he was. She hadn’t dated someone like him in a long time and she was realizing that fate had a way of making sure good things happened at the right times. He didn’t look down at her, didn’t think she was crazy, and certainly shared a similar dreamscape with hers in some ways. The hole in his bathroom was a little disturbing, but she thought she was strong enough to handle anything that came out of it if it meant making sure Henry was okay.
Their conversations were her favorite thing about her days now. It wasn’t uncommon for one of them to send the other a random thought in a text message in the middle of the evening that would make up the basis for their conversations for the day. The subjects ebbed and flowed with their conversations and she liked that. They were learning quite a bit about each other and it was making a good base for their relationship, which they should probably discuss defining what exactly they were since she had caught herself a couple times about to refer to him as her boyfriend and stopped herself.
His hands were nice and warm against her skin and she reached over to grab her drink and lifted it to her lips. A giggle escaped right before she took a sip when she remembered where they were. “Oh yes!” she exclaimed as she gestured with the drink in her hand, “I think that she’s a witch. Maybe not a real witch at all, but she’s totally got that vibe going on. I bet we could ask her about this spell and she would be able to tell us something.” The spell seemed simple, but she honestly had no idea if she had magic in her veins at all. Max had made it seem like there was a ritual involved with invoking spirits, but that had never happened to her when the ghosts appeared in her dreams.
Henry didn’t know from fate, really, however, whatever power that had brought him and Chloe together couldn’t have been all bad, could it? She was very special. She had taken what he had told her he dreamed about in...well, not in stride, necessarily, but she hadn’t looked at him as though he were crazy. She hadn’t dropped him like a bad habit when he told her about the hole in his bathroom wall, or later when he had shown it to her. Quite the opposite, actually. Henry had looked at the Hole as some kind of cross he had to bear, some kind of punishment, but now with Chloe by his side, he saw it as a challenge that the two of them together were equipped to figure out and conquer together. With Chloe, Henry felt strong enough to take on anything!
That invigorated his efforts to help Chloe, just as she was determined to help him. He wondered if that was what being in love with someone was all about. Part of him really wanted to ask her, but he wasn’t really sure how and he didn’t want to say the wrong thing and ruin what the two of them had.
“You never know when it comes to this place,” he laughed. He leaned over her feet to pick up his own drink, his other hand sliding up her leg a little as he did. “She really could be a witch, like the Wicked Witch of the West or something.” He pondered a moment as he rubbed her shin absently. “You know, I’ve been kind of wondering, though. Is it really magic at work here. With your Dreams I mean? Like, I see ghosts in my dreams all the time too, but I’m pretty much as mundane as you can get.” He tilted his head a little as he continued to think out loud. “But I don’t hear what they’re saying either...if they’re saying anything. I think I read something in one of these books about being a medium that didn’t sound as though any magic was really involved…”
He leaned over her legs again to fetch the book in question. As he did, his hand slid a little further up her leg to her knee. Henry only realized this when he sat back, book in hand. He stared at his hand, color creeping into his cheeks. “Sorry,” he said quickly. “I didn’t mean…” He trailed not entirely convinced that he hadn’t meant to let his hand stray so far up her leg.
Toes curled and muscles flexed as his hand rubbed against her skin. A snicker escaped as she tried to imagine their neighbor being the Wicked Witch from the Wizard of Oz. It honestly wouldn’t surprise her anymore if someone else in this apartment was another dreamer, but she certainly wasn’t going to go investigating. “That would be something if she was,” Chloe agreed as she settled into her seat and took a sip from her drink. An eyebrow raised if he explained what he had been thinking about. It was a good question if there was truly magic at work in here or if it was just something that happened. She didn’t really believe in the mediums that were on TV like that Long Island lady, but maybe it was a thing?
“So, you don’t think there’s any kind of magic? I mean, I do think it’s a Dream thing. Believing those people on TV is hard to do and I don’t think you’re really that mundane. I just think that each dreamscape is different on how mediums work. Max has to summon spirits, I think Caleb sees only people that he knows, and I can speak to random ghosts. But if you’re not calling it magic then how are you going to explain it?” the question hung in the air as he reached to get the book and his hand slipped further up her leg and she wasn’t planning on stopping him anymore, but she could tell he was a little flustered about it, so she reached down to place her hand over his.
Blue eyes gazed warmly at him as she slid his hand up onto her thigh and she couldn’t help but give him a sheepish smile, “Don’t apologize for that. I’ve….I’ve been meaning to ask you about something. I’ve caught myself a few times trying to explain us, but I wanted to check with you first. Do you mind if I call you my boyfriend?” It felt so silly to be asking something like that, but they were still newly dating and they hadn’t even slept together yet, so she might as well get that out of the way and figured out. She really hoped that he would say yes especially since she was more than happy to let his hands wander.
“No!” Henry blurted out quickly. “I mean yes! I mean-” he felt his cheeks getting hotter and he laughed at his own awkwardness. “I mean, I don’t mind if you call me your boyfriend. In fact...I was wondering the same thing, only, you know, if I could call you my girlfriend. I didn’t want to assume one way or the other and, well, it’s never easy just coming out and asking. I’m glad you did though. I really would like to be your boyfriend.”
He squeezed her thigh gently and leaned forward to kiss her soft lips. He had no idea the last time he had been so happy and relieved. Knowing that Chloe wanted to be his girlfriend made his heart swell. He moved his hand from her thigh to her hip and brushed her hair back behind her ear with the other and kissed her again.
When he blurted that word out her eyes went a little wide and confusion was apparent on her face but then he quickly backpedaled and explained what he was trying to say. A small breath let out that she hadn’t realized she had been holding. And the look on her face gave way to relief and happiness as she brightened with a smile, “Oh thank god. I really want to be your girlfriend.” It was as simple as that and now she could officially call him that to other people and the word rolling around in her head made her smile.
The kiss made her stomach do flips as she returned it, moving slightly on the couch so she could pull him closer to her. Now that formalities were out of the way she wondered if he would be up to moving onto the next step of their relationship and she really wanted to see him without his shirt on. A tiny moan escaped her lips as she felt his hand move up to her hip and she pulled back after returning the next kiss, “You know...making out on the couch is great and all, but we might want to move this to some place more comfortable…..” Cheeks were flushed as she flicked her eyes up to him to await his answer.
As awkward as Henry was known to be from time to time, he knew exactly what Chloe was hinting at. He really wanted to help her and all of that, yes, and he’d be willing to do anything for it, but now that they had clearly defined what they were to each other, he was more than ready to take that next step in their relationship. She had said she wanted to be his girlfriend. That word alone was almost electric and exciting to just think about.
The two of them had snuggled and cuddled before, but the idea of doing so maybe minus a few articles of clothing was something he really wanted to do. Henry wanted to be with Chloe, in every definition of the word.
He nodded his head, a bit of a sly smile pulling at his lips. “Let’s go into the bedroom,” he suggested. He kissed her again before standing up from the couch and offering his hand to her. He was still smiling a bit when he said, “we can continue this on my bed. It’s way more comfortable than the couch.”
In this moment she was incredibly thankful that Henry was a smart boy and able to pick up on what she was alluding it. The idea of being with him was incredibly appealing and she was blushing just thinking about it. It had been a while since she was this excited to be intimate with someone. Henry really meant a lot to her in such a short period of time, but she knew that this relationship had the potential to grow into something more.
That sly smile on his face made her grin grow as she kissed him once more before taking his hand. She took his assistance in getting back up and adjusted the shorts she was wearing. “I hope that it’s way more comfortable than the couch,” Chloe teased as she squeezed his hand and let out a soft laugh, “Lead the way.” She had briefly seen his bedroom when he had given her a quick tour of his place, but they had been playing polite by mainly sticking to the living rooms in their respective places.
An exciting sort of thrill shot through Henry as he lead Chloe towards his bedroom. Snuggling and kissing on the couch was all well and good, but there was something decidedly more intimate about a bedroom. It could be a place of privacy and sanctuary for some people and for Henry that was exactly what it was. He wanted to be able to take Chloe into that kind of sanctuary. As he lead her to the bedroom door he made a quick mental note of what could possibly be out or on the floor. Henry wasn’t a neat freak by any stretch, but he generally kept his space picked up and he was satisfied that Chloe wouldn’t be welcome to any stray pairs of underwear that hadn’t quite made it to either the hamper or into a drawer. Not that Chloe had never seen his underwear before, but there was a difference between seeing a few pairs in a laundry basket during laundry day and seeing them just laying in the middle of the floor. Or on him. That last thought sent another thrill shooting through Henry.
He lead her by the hand into his room and pulled her close to him. He kissed her deeply and passionately. One hand rested on her shoulder near her neck, the other braced the small of her back. He guided her towards the bed and gently laid her down, crawling up next to her.
Henry’s room. Just thought of it made her bite her bottom lip ever so slightly to keep from grinning. She had really taken a shine to him over these couple weeks and she was thrilled to be able to call him her boyfriend (which she was definitely going to text her roomie about the next time she got a moment by herself) and it was taking a lot to keep that excitement inside. She honestly wouldn’t mind how messy his place was because he had never seen her during her college days when sometimes she would get so busy that things would just pile up and it would take her a few hours on a weekend to finally get through it. Henry’s room was nice and she was pleased that he trusted her enough to share this place with her. It made the butterflies in her stomach grow.
When his hand tugged her close she pressed her body against his as she returned the kiss, parting her lips underneath his. A chuckle escaped from her lips when she felt her knees hit the bed and they laid down upon it. When he crawled up to next to her she gave him a smile, “Hey there, handsome, come here often?” As she awaited a reply she reached down to grab his shirt hem and tugged it up to remove it.
Henry laughed. “Funny you should say that. I do actually come here often. It’s like I live here or something.” He felt her tugging on his shirt hem, pulling it up towards his shoulders. Well, if that was what she wanted, he was only too happy to oblige her. He sat up on his knees and pulled his shirt off over his head. Henry wasn’t about to win any bodybuilding competitions, but lugging around heavy camera equipment all his adult life had given him a surprisingly fit physique that his typical choice of clothing very rarely gave any hint at.
Henry wasn’t a vain man. He knew he wasn’t bad looking as far as guys went, but his looks weren’t ever something he generally put much thought into. He was always more focused on what he was looking at through a lense to think about it. However, he was looking forward to Chloe seeing him shirtless, stripped of any pretenses. He was looking forward to seeing her the same way and taking their relationship that next step.
“I take it you wanted to see something,” he playfully teased as he discarded his shirt towards the foot of the bed. He leaned over her, bracing himself on one elbow so that their faces were close. “I’m happy to show you anything you want,” said. He kissed her deeply, his lips parting slightly against hers. His free hand glided down her torso to the hem of her shirt and then gently slid underneath and caressed her belly.
His laughter made her crinkle up her nose as she answered with her own laugh. The fact that he made her smile and laugh so easily was crucial to how much she liked being with him. They could get serious in conversation if they needed to, but he was so easy to be around and she really liked how happy she was around him. As she laid on the bed watching him undress she couldn’t wipe that smile off her face. The fact that he was so fit underneath his clothing was only a mild surprise, but she had been able to tell small details when she touched him. It was quite lovely to look at right now and she bit her bottom lip to keep herself from grinning even more.
“I did and it looks quite nice,” she couldn’t resist for very long as she reached a hand up to touch his chest before sliding her hand up his bare skin, to his neck, and then gently cupped his cheek, “And are you? I really like hearing that.” He was such a sweet boy and so good to her. Fate had been kind to make their paths cross and they were about to take a very important step in this relationship that she couldn’t be more happy about. The kiss was returned with a soft moan as she felt his hand make contact with the skin of her stomach. It also tickled a little and her stomach muscles moved around underneath his touch, but she was able to resist the urge to giggle and squirm underneath him.
Instead she broke the kiss and moved her hand away from his cheek. Both hands went to the hem of her shirt, “I’m more than happy to show you anything you want as well,” there had to be some tit for tat in this relationship. Hands grasped the hem of her shirt as she lifted it up and over her head, arching her back slightly, and revealed the light pink bra underneath. While Henry wasn’t vain Chloe had become slightly vain during college. It wasn’t an everyday occurrence, but when she knew she was going to be around a boy she took care in her appearance and tried to keep up some sort of physical fitness regime to keep her physique how she liked it. The idea of living in the entertainment industry had messed pressed some urgency on appearances to her, however, she was sure that spending more time with Henry would probably calm some of that.
Chloe’s hands were smooth and warm. The way they felt on the bare skin of Henry’s chest could be described as electric the way they made his skin tingle.
He loved the way she was smiling at him. He loved the way Chloe made him feel whenever he was with her, whenever she looked at him, whenever he heard her voice, whenever she smiled at him. No one had ever looked at him the way Chloe did. The way she was looking at him now. It made him feel good. She made him happy, the happiest he’d been in a very long time. It was almost as if everything that had happened in Henry’s life recently had been leading him here. Henry could hardly believe just how lucky he was. How lucky they both were to have found each other like this.
When her hands moved away from him, he longed for their return. However, he quickly realized what she was doing and a jolt of electric excitement shot through him, settling in the pit of his stomach. He braced his hand in the small of her back as she arched herself to pull her own shirt off and was rewarded with the sight of pink bra and fair skin. She took good care of herself and it showed. As much as Henry liked chloe for who she was, it would be a bold face lie to say that was all the attraction was. She was a very pretty girl and Henry was so very pleased that she felt comfortable enough to want to show him her body. Just as she had been with him, Henry liked what he saw very much.
The hand not supporting himself over her started to explore the newly exposed skin of her belly. He liked the way her muscles moved under his touch, it was exciting and sent a thrill through him. He leaned down to kiss her deeply as his hand made its way up towards her bra. He wanted this very much. This was an entirely new chapter of Henry’s life and he was so happy to have Chloe to start it with.
It had been a great way to start off their official relationship. He had drawn more passion out of her than she had known existed and the feel of his hands had left an imprint on her. Her skin was still tingling after everything was said and done and she was curled up against the warmth of Henry. Her lips still burned from the passion of his kiss and her hair was completely a mess, but she was happy and satisfied. If she had known this is how Henry would be then she would have tried to get him into bed with her a lot sooner, but in all reality it had worked to wait for the two of them. Things were official and she liked that she was currently laying beside the man she was able to call her boyfriend.
And that sense of happiness and warmth made it easy for her to fall asleep beside him. However, she hadn’t been intending to fall into Dreams while doing so. They weren’t pleasant Dreams either. Tori had decided that she had enough of Chloe taking over at the Lyle house and had convinced her to go down into a crawl space to look for something. While in that crawlspace Tori decided to bring a rock down upon her to knock her out and tied her up when she came to. That wasn’t the worst of it, oh no. It was during that time that she was trying to figure out how to escape that her powers took a turn that she hadn’t believed was possible and she began to raise the dead. Cold dead fingers ran over her skin as she listened to the voice of a spirit try to walk her through summoning, but it had only resulted in her pulling too quickly and raising those spirits.
Derek was the one to find her and to help calm her down enough to figure out how to send the spirits back, but not before she had seen the sickening sight of decaying flesh and bone coming for her. The hands had groped her legs and arms before she could finally figure out the path to banish them. It didn’t bode well for her if she couldn’t get it figured out right away, but it did eventually happen and she was able to get out of the crawlspace in one piece. But the sensations had sent shivers down her spine that translated into real life and she was jolted awake. It felt like spiders crawling over her skin as she ran her hands over her own arms to make sure there wasn’t a dead body in the bed with her and a few deep breaths were taken to remind her that she wasn’t at the Lyle house, but with Henry. A safe space.
At least it was until she turned her head and saw a woman beside the bed. A gasp escaped her lips as she reached out to grab Henry’s arm and tugged on it. Oh no. This wasn’t happening. This woman had to be a ghost of some time and after what Henry had explained of his apartment it was most likely one that haunted this place. She hadn’t intended to summon any ghosts to her, but she was incredibly terrified that she would possibly try to harm her in some way. A hand reached up to cover herself up as she tried to make herself as small as possible as the woman stared at her. “Henry…..you have to wake up. Right now.” she spoke in stern hushed tones as she continued to shake his arm.
Henry, as luck would have it, was busy having his own Dream. Apparently, fate or Orange County, or whatever, didn’t want him to grow complacent in his new found happiness with Chloe. In his Dream, no one had shoved him down into a crawl space or struck him over the head with a rock. Instead, Henry found himself wandering aimlessly around a surreal and corrupted version of South Ashfield, where his Dream!Apartment was located, wandering in and out of shops trying to figure out what it was he was supposed to do here. Every other world he’d been transported to had at least given him some kind of clue about what he needed to do. It always involved helping the poor S.O.B. Henry stumbled across there. Or, trying to help at least. So far, Henry’s attempts had always fallen just short. Cynthia, Jasper and Andrew had all died horrific and painful deaths just after Henry had assisted them. In the case of Jasper, the man had literally set himself on fire and had burned to death before Henry’s very eyes.
The man Henry had met in this new world, Richard Braintree, was someone Henry actually knew - or, rather, his Dream Self knew. On the one hand it was something of a relief knowing he wasn’t alone traveling through these worlds and that Braintree seemed to understand what was going on. On the other hand, Braintree was an asshole and Henry wanted very little to do with him. So far Braintree hadn’t asked for any kind of assistance and Henry was content giving the man as wide a berth as possible.
But that left Henry sort of just wandering around trying to figure out the pieces of a puzzle he wasn’t sure he really had the question for. For about ten minutes he was convinced it had to do with the abandoned birthday party - complete with cake and presents - he found in one of the buildings, but there was nothing there that told him anything important. Then a ghost had seeped in through one of the walls and chased him out of the apartment.
Oh, yeah, ghosts were out in this world in droves. They floated around and moaned and caused the air to hum in a way that reminded him how his apartment hummed every time a haunting occurred. Henry’s head swam and he became dizzy and sluggish when they were close and if they got too close, they thrust their hands into his chest or his back, sometimes all the way up to their elbows. Up until now, Henry had mostly been able to avoid them, but when he found himself on the world’s longest fire escape headed upwards to ...somewhere...the ghosts were nearly impossible to avoid. They chased him in a literal pack, moaning and making his head swim to the point that he thought he’d probably vomit.
He woke up when Chloe shook his arm. It took him a moment for his sleep drugged mind to catch up and remind him that he wasn’t in bed alone. It took another moment for him to register the urgency in his girlfriend's voice. “Chloe?” he murmured, blinking sleep out of his eyes. “What is it? What’s wro-Jesus!”
The moment Henry’s eyes settled on the woman standing on the other side of the bed, just staring at them, he sat bolt upright. With one hand he grabbed hold of Chloe’s arm and pulled her towards him and away from the intruder in his bedroom. With the other he reached back and fumbled the drawer to his bedside table open in order to retrieve his gun. No sooner had his hand closed around it then he realized the woman staring at them wasn’t standing. She was hovering, staring at them with blank vacant eyes, her arms at her sides and her head tilted slightly forward as if unsteady on the neck. Henry realized then that he had seen this woman before, very recently in fact. She had been one of the ghosts chasing him in his Dreams.
“Chloe…” Henry said slowly, not daring to take his eyes off the literal ghost in his bedroom. “What’s happening?”
Woah. Henry moved into action quite quickly once he was awake and she was suddenly being pulled back against him. Her hand gripped the bedsheet tightly to pull it along with her because even though this was just a ghost she didn’t think this ghost needed to see her naked at any point in her life. She was trying to fully wrap her mind on what was going on, but then something clicked in her brain. Henry had seen the ghost. He hadn’t been staring into thin air and asking her to describe what was going on. It was one thing to know that other people saw ghosts and a completely other thing to have her boyfriend being one of those people.
His hand was in the table and she wanted to ask him what was going on, but she decided that would be another time. Right now they had a floating ghost standing in the bedroom and she was so afraid that it was completely her fault. Actually, she was about 99% sure it was her fault because Henry hadn’t mentioned seeing ghosts in his apartment before she spent the night. “I -- I think I caused this,” she answered truthfully as she resisted the urge to reach forward and brush her hand through the air, “My dreams --”
Her answer was caught off as the ghost moved and looked her directly in the eye. It was unnerving to hear the woman speak because she sounded motherly and kind. “Can you hear me?” the question was directed at Chloe and she could feel the goosebumps forming on her skin.
“What is your name?” Chloe asked in a soft voice when she finally found it. This was so surreal and she couldn’t believe that she was actually communicating with a ghost in this world. She had truly hoped that her powers wouldn’t bleed over and she couldn’t help but tighten her grip in Henry’s arm unknowingly. The woman seemed to waver just slightly before she answered, “Sharon.” And Chloe turned her head towards Henry to see if he could hear the ghost as well, “Do you hear her?”
Henry stared at the ghost with wide amber eyes peering through his mussed brown hair. Yup, it was the same ghost who had chased him through the Building World moaning and shoving her hands into his torso whenever the opportunity arose. She wasn’t moaning now and Henry was too shocked to notice whether or not his head was swimming. He certainly seemed to have retained his reflexes well enough.
Had Chloe really summoned the ghost right out of Henry’s Dreams? He had to remind himself that the Dreams were more than just Dreams. It was a literal look into another world. It was possible that while he was Dreaming and she was Dreaming the perfect combination had occurred to bring the ghost from Henry’s Dream World here. Stranger things had happened.
Henry withdrew his hand from his bedside table. Guns were of no use against the ghosts in his Dreams. They were impervious to bullets and melee attacks, which was a huge pain in the ass in the Dreams, but downright terrifying here.
When the ghost - Sharon apparently was her name - leaned forward towards Chloe, Henry drew the two of them back, wrapping his arms around Chloe’s front protectively. A ghost sticking their hands into his chest was one thing, Henry did not like the idea of their ghostly visitor sticking her hands into Chloe.
Henry shook his head slowly. “I don’t hear anything,” he answered softly. “Chloe,” Henry licked his dry lips. “That ghost...she’s from my Dreams.”
“Your Dreams?” blue eyes went wide in a combination of shock and fear as she tried to figure out if this spirit would be friendly or not. They usually wanted something from her and she was so hoping that Henry could hear her and would make this a lot easier. But alas, the world was not meant to be fair. She would have to play translator between Sharon and Henry because obviously something bigger was at work now and it wasn’t just involving her Dreams anymore.
“Well, shit. Okay, she’s only told me that her name is Sharon so far --” the words were caught off as the ghost began to explain things. Strange things that didn’t make much sense to her, but were spoken in such a sense of urgency and she knew they had to be for Henry. They were probably a warning or information that he needed in order to continue through his own dreams. Her brow furrowed as she listened intently and replayed it to Henry, “She’s saying that -- she’s from the Otherworld. Wait, where is that? Is that somewhere here? She says that the Receiver of Wisdom would know.” With that comment Sharon lifted up a hand very slowly and pointed a finger towards Henry. Wow, that wasn’t creepy at all.
A chill ran down her spine as she continued to listen to Sharon’s story, “She’s saying that she was killed as a sacrifice in the ritual of 21 Sacraments of the Descent of the Holy Mother….wow that doesn’t sound ominus or anything like that… Wait, she’s continuing. She wants me to communicate that the Receiver of Wisdom cannot stop the 21 Sacraments and that he will die as well to complete the ritual….” Wait...if Henry was the Receiver of Wisdom…
Her head whipped over her shoulder as quick as she could and looked at him with fear in her eyes. “Henry….oh god, Henry, is this going on in your Dreams? Are you going to die?” This wasn’t good. She hadn’t realized that in order to figure out what was going on his Dreams that Henry ran the risk of dying in the process. Would that be something that channeled over to this side? It couldn’t be. She just found Henry and she wasn’t about to let him die because of some stupid ass ghost from his Dreams just appearing in the bedroom. “I can make her go away if you want…”
Receiver of Wisdom? 21 Sacraments? Henry stared at Sharon the Ghost, his brows furrowed together. His arms tightened around Chloe as she translated for the ghost in front of them. He had no idea what the hell she was talking about. No one had referred to him as the receiver of anything in this Dreams. And no one in the real world would ever use the term wisdom in the same sentence as him. But it was a clue. For the first time since his Dreams had started it seemed to Henry that a purpose for everything that happened was finally starting to take shape.
He glanced down at Chloe. The look she was giving him tore at his heart. She was so scared, scared for him, that something would happen to him. Quite honestly Henry had been wondering if his other half would finish the Dreams alive. So far everyone else he had met had died.
He gave Chloe a rueful smile. He didn’t want her to be scared. “It’ll be fine,” he told her. “I face down ghosts and kill monsters in my Dreams all the time and I haven’t died yet.” Truth be told, Henry was more than a little scared of the idea himself. “Just the same, maybe you ought to...send her on her way.”
That smile did nothing to soothe her nerves. Maybe Henry didn’t know what was truly going to happen in his Dreams, but if a ghost was sending a warning that wasn’t a good thing. She gave him a nod as he tried to reassure her and she really hoped that what he was saying would be true. Nothing bad would happen to him and they would be able to make it through these Dreams intact. Now sending her on her way was going to be a bit more of a difficult task since she had no true experience in this since the summoning happened by accident.
“If you say so…. Okay, good bye, Sharon,” she closed her eyes and tried to let her body rela. In her dreams what she usually visualized was the spirit and their soul going off into a new plane that would hopefully give them piece in the end. It took a moment before she was able to think about Sharon’s spirit sending away and what was happening in her mind was taking place in real life as Sharon’s ghost wavered and then blinked out of existence.
Her eyes opened up again as she turned to look at Henry, “Oh my god. I can’t believe it worked. I -- I was attacked in a crawl space and woke up and accidentally summoned zombies. I think that triggered something inside of me to wake up my ability to summon and banish ghosts. At least she wasn’t evil or anything like that.” Explaining it seemed so weird to voice aloud, but she needed to tell Henry how things had happened. Maybe they would be able to figure out something to stop it from happening again.
Sending Sharon the Ghost on her way had been surprisingly easy. Given all the books he and Chloe had been reading regarding mediumship and ghost summoning, Henry had expected Chloe to have to somehow forcefully push Sharon out of the apartment with her mind or sheer power of will and tell her to be on her way. Instead she had just said goodbye and Sharon was gone.
Henry wished he could do the same thing in his own Dreams.
He looked down at Chloe, his brows furrowing together tightly in concern when she spoke about her dreams. Who the hell attacked her in a crawl space?! Why were the people in her Dreams such fucking assholes??
“That’s terrible,” he said. “Who attacked you?” Seriously, if Henry ever met them here there would be some kind of hell to pay. Henry had been taking Pirate Lessons from Captain Hook himself, after all. “Are you alright?” He started looking her over to be sure that no wounds had carried over from her Dream to here. Then he realized the other part of what Chloe had said.
“Wait.” He looked at her, his eyes wide and blinking. “You can summon zombies?” Pause for a beat. “That’s badass. Did they help you out of the crawl space or were they the brain chomping kind? Not for anything, Chloe, but I hope they ate whoever it was who trapped you.” He didn’t like the idea of Chloe being trapped somewhere tight with a bunch of hungry zombies, thank you very much.
“It makes sense,” he went on thoughtfully. “You dreamed of an event that woke up your powers here and I was dreaming of being chased up a fire escape by Sharon and about five of her closest friends. Well,” he looked at her sheepishly, “it makes about as much sense as anything ever does here. Do you remember how you did it in the Dreams? Summon the zombies, I mean. If we know that, we can figure out how to keep you from doing it on accident.”
“Another girl in the house. It’s a teenage girl thing. She basically thinks I’ve shown up to ruin her life in the house and steal her boyfriend. She is completely over my shit and decided to teach me a lesson or something,” and now that Chloe was thinking about it she reached her hand up and she could feel the knot from the rock that hit her head. Really? Not only had the Dreams decided to knock her powers into reality, but they had to give her a bump on the head as well? Not cool. She winced just slightly as she rubbed the spot and then lowered her hand, “But I think I’m fine. Just a bump.”
Now being told that raising zombies was badass was quite amusing and Chloe couldn’t help but laugh. She was currently sitting naked in a bed with her also very naked boyfriend talking about raising zombies and seeing ghosts. This was not how she expected the night to continue, but at least she had found someone that wasn’t completely freaked out by everything that was going on. It made her want to kiss him and she didn’t fight the impulse as she leaned over to kiss him and placed a hand on his jaw as they kissed, “I’m so glad you’re not freaking out right now.”
“The zombies were basically just bones and rotten flesh trying to move around. Not really a threat, but incredibly creepy. They were touching my skin and trying to crawl up me to get out of the ground,” that part made her shiver as she pulled away from him so she could curl up, resting her head on his chest, “Tori will probably not get in trouble. Derek came to help me get out and we were burying the bones up when I woke up.” Thank god for Derek. Not something she expected to say, but he was coming in handy when she needed it and willing to help.
“I -- I could hear a voice when I was down there. Most likely a ghost. They were trying to get me to summon them forward so they could tell me something and I must have pulled too hard and raised the other bodies. And to put them back I had to calm myself and think about sending their souls off into afterlife or whatever is in there. I...I’m not sure if there’s a way to really prevent it. It’s the first major time I’ve done it, so it may take some more delightful learning experiences to figure things out,” Chloe was explaining as best as she could. She truly had no idea what exactly would prevent it, but she just didn’t want it to happen again.
As she thought that a yawn came out and she blinked her eyes sleepily, “Can we continue this in the morning? I was so nice and comfy with you and my body wants to go back to sleep.” She looked up at him with her best puppy dog eyes and hoped that he would allow her to curl back up with him and sleep. They needed to be clearheaded to get all this figured out as best they could in the morning.
It was people like this Tori girl that had made Henry extremely weary of getting to know other people in high school. He had bounced back and forth between his parents so often that he barely had enough time to finish a school year in one place before getting shipped off to another and having to get to know people all over again. At one point, Henry had just stopped trying. Names and faces were always changing and Henry had never been able to find a place among them to fit in. His peers whispered about him, the quiet weird kid who disappeared for months and months on end. There were catty girls (and catty guys, let’s be real here) in every environment, though, and they made Henry especially nervous of people as a general whole. There was no telling what would set them off or what they would do if they decided they didn’t like you.
Henry listened to Chloe describe her dream, nodding his head and picturing the fleshless corpses dragging themselves out of the ground. He frowned just slightly when he realized just how easy it was for him to picture the scene, almost as though he were picturing something he saw every day. Well, given what he dreamed about regularly, that wasn’t so far from the truth.
He gently stroked her arm as she leaned against him, a gesture of comfort and affection. “I’m glad you’re alright.” He kissed her on her forehead near her hairline. “We’ll figure this out together. If you don’t want to randomly summon ghosts, then we’ll find a way to keep it from happening. I don’t mind if a few random ghosts pop up in the process.” So long as none of those ghosts started prophesying his death again. That Henry could really do without. The more he thought about what Sharon had told Chloe, the more scared he found himself becoming.
But how could he say no to those puppydog eyes. Henry laughed softly despite himself. “Yeah, I think sleep is a good idea,” however sleep was the furthest thing from his mind. He held up the comforter of his bed for her to settle back in and get comfortable once more. Once she had, he settled in as well, putting his arms around her and held her close.