GHOST PORTAL (#1 GHOST PORTAL series)

THIRTY

Once the darkness faded, Jessamine saw and felt chaos. White orbs danced about her vision, buzzing like bugs, getting in her way. She swatted at them as her lungs filled with the stale and copper-tinged air of her nightmares.

She didn't have time to pause at the threshold and take in the place she'd been having trembling visions of since she'd first been inside; the place that had haunted her, her spirit, that had been a figment of her imagination until she'd been informed it was real. It was real. The place that had reluctantly let her go, and that now had her back to do its sinister bidding.

But the house wasn't an entity; it was the entities within it that were fighting for Jessamine's soul. They wrestled with her consciousness, continuing to lull her towards their domain, the sound of their lips licking causing her to grimace.

A new orb joined those already flapping about her—a soft blue glow, with a transparent face she recognized as Faz's. She wanted to exclaim, to acknowledge his presence; but her would-be possessors had taken her tongue hostage and wouldn't let her speak. She'd said too much outside, to Avery, and they weren't pleased.

"Don't do it, Jessamine." Faz's voice was distorted, deeper than when she'd heard it inside her mind. "Fight!" He outstretched his misty arms to stop her, but Jessamine, on a war-path, walked right through him.

A breezy chill wavered down her spine at the brief contact.

He reappeared in front of her, hovering, preventing her from fully seeing where she was headed. His body was only semi-transparent; she noticed the large stairs behind him, and felt herself angling slightly past them to reach her destination.

"Jessamine!"

Another blue being joined him, as if it had popped into existence; Jessamine might have missed its arrival had she blinked. This being was bigger, its energy more potent, causing the beings seeking to take hold of her mind to growl louder, to deafen her.

"Don't bother," said the creature, with a silvery voice, smooth like a fine wine, but spiked with spite. It was her—Ada, the leader, the boss of the Guides, the prophecy maker. She sneered at Jessamine while floating an inch or two above her, looking down on her. "Avery chose to let her in, trusting she could end this on her own... and now, the prophecy is inevitable. It's taking place."

"Idiot," whispered Faz, looking ready to spit on the ground—and hurl out more insults, too, but he gave a sideways glance at Ada, who snickered, showing that he'd do best not to. "It's not too late, is it? Can't we block her? Throw her out, like last time?"

Ada shook her head. Her high-and-mighty airs faded a smidgen, but she kept her cold, steely blue gaze on Jessamine. "It is too late. She's in the house, they've got their claws in her mind already. Look at her," she waved at Jessamine, "can you visualize that vagueness about her eyes? They're in her, dragging her closer. They can do that, remember?"

Jessamine couldn't see her own face, but she envisioned herself staring blankly at them, like a robot devoid of emotion, a zombie trudging its way to a tasty human to gobble up. She wanted to gag, but none of her bodily functions were under her control; all she could do was pursue her path to the basement.

She flinched, ground her teeth, summoned the strength from somewhere in the depths of her core.

"I... have weapons," she said, her timbre too tremulous to make much sense, but she imagined Faz and Ada understood her well enough. "I'll... do the deed... myself. No... taking... my soul."

Ada's expression shifted; her eyes creased, her lips down-turned, and she slumped forward, shrugging. "I know. A valiant effort, Jessamine." She sighed; she and Faz were floating backwards as Jessamine advanced, and they were now passing to the right of the staircase. "And while I don't usually condone suicide—that's a one-way ticket to a lengthy stay in Limbo—this would have been the one time I did. Alas... it won't work, my dear. They're already in your head." She reached out, her cloudy, sparkling blue fingers caressing Jessamine's cheeks; she felt like ice, cooling down the heat on Jessamine's face. "I hear them. Their voices alone brought you in, taunted you, and now... there's nothing to be done but for us to evacuate and regroup elsewhere to plan. For the aftermath."