Page 89 of Oh No! There's an Incubus in my Hot Spring
“We’re the best in Denver for a reason,” he says with a sniff.
“And I wanted the best,” I say, giving him a smile.
Gabe blushes. “You called the right guy.”
“Tell me more about how this works,” I say, following him down the hall when he moves. I know he has a body cam on somewhere. Irene and I researched this guy before calling him. He has millions of monthly subscribers and just so happened to be close enough that it wasn’t a hassle to put him up in the local hotel.
“We’ll find the area where your presence has taken root and set up to capture some sound. If we can get a clear message out of them, it might be as simple as doing what they want to send them on their way. Sometimes it’s more complicated than that. Sometimes, all they want is…” He trails off, turning to me dramatically.
I let my mouth fall open, rounding my eyes. “What?”
“A host.”
I gasp and let my lower lip tremble. Maybe that was over the top.
He puffs himself up. “Don’t worry, there’s things we can do if they’re a malicious force.”
I nod and we continue on. Gum Boy starts heading into the locker rooms and Gabe stops him.
“That’s the ladies’ room, dude,” he says.
I’m just about to tell him that no one’s here and it’s fine, but then I remember Apollo is lying in wait up on the second-level patio. Anything I can do to hasten them up there, I suppose.
They poke around in the private baths, getting great footage of the place on several different spectrums of light. It highlights just how gorgeous the spaces are, and it makes me smile.
We spent hours infusing the walls with different-colored crystals and lining them with LEDs to make them glow. The second bath has a wall of succulents that I painstakingly installed, and treated wood canopies over the reclining benches wound with fairy lights and snake plants.
They take a few minutes to listen for sounds on the EVP machine, and when they’re satisfied the rooms are clear, we head up the stairs. The second-floor sitting room is bright with colored light. Crystals hang on thick wires in front of the windows and shine brilliantly across the space. It’s considerably warmer with the sun’s heat being captured up here too.
“Do you feel that?” Gabe asks Gum Boy as he puts his arm through a pillar of light.
Gum Boy does the same. “Yeah, what do you think? Orb?” he asks.
Gabe nods. “Maybe an IP.”
Perfect, let’s get this over with.
I tug on my earlobe a few times and feel Apollo’s presence move behind me, dragging claws across my butt. I try not to yelp, but it comes out of me anyway.
Gabe whirls around. “What is it?”
“I…I felt something,” I say, my face flushing.
Gabe nods. “Okay, let’s set up here.”
Gum Boy sets his pack down and they start unpacking gear. Within moments they have an entire computer set up with several machines plugged into it, including the EVP reader. Theglass windows of the patio doors start fogging up. I pretend not to notice, turning around and keeping my gaze averted.
“Oh, shit, dude. Look,” Gum Boy exclaims, slapping Gabe’s arm. He points at the doors as a finger drags through the steam, making a curvy “S.”
“Holy…fuck.” Gabe pulls out his own camera and starts recording.
A “T” comes next, and then an “AY.”
“Stay,” Gabe whispers.
The message goes on and I try not to smile.
“Stay a while…” Gum Boy says.
