Out of Sight, Out of Mind//A Beetlejuice Fanfiction

||Chapter Fifty Two|| Shadows of a Doubt

Barbara and Adam helped Lydia up, guiding the teenager over towards the same couch that Betelgeuse had sat down before he'd lost control of his powers. Lydia's brief death had been a shock, yes, but all five adults were glad that she was okay.

Adam, Barbara, Charles, and Delia sat down on the couch on either side of Lydia - with Adam and Barbara to the left of the teenager and Charles and Delia to Lydia's right. Emily sat down on the floor in front of the five of them - looking from one to the other with a mixed look of worry and concern plastered on her face.

"Guys, what happened?" Lydia sounded calmer, taking a few deep breaths and relaxing as she looked around the attic.

After hearing her family's explanation as to what had happened to her, Lydia's eyes widened in complete and shock then a widened grin crossed her face as she looked around at all five of the adults.

"Wait, so I actually almost died? Neat!"

All five adults laughed softly, rolling their eyes in amusement. Typical Lydia.

"Has the barrier been fixed yet?" Lydia continued, a look of expectation crossing her face.

"No, not yet," Barbara said, Lydia frowning in disbelief. "But it hopefully will be soon."

Lydia mumbled something under her breath. Something her family couldn't pick up on.

All five adults looked at one another, then turned back towards Lydia. As they opened their mouths to speak, the sound of the attic door opening startled them and they turned to find Betelgeuse and Miss Argentina standing in the doorway and looking equally as panicked as the other was.

Betelgeuse's voice was stressed. "You guys need to get downstairs! NOW!"

"Date prisa ahora!" Miss Argentina said, sounding equally as stressed. Though also a little concerned.

All six of the others briefly glanced over towards one another before turning and looking back over towards Betelgeuse and Miss Argentina. Nodding, they stood up at once and followed Betelgeuse and Leslie out of the attic and downstairs.

As they made their way down into the living room, what they were expecting wasn't what they saw. A massive portal had opened up in the center of the living room and Rose and Marcus were definitely inspecting it. Arthur was sat on the nearest couch, looking through the most recent edition of the Handbook for answers. But, so far, he'd found nothing. And what seemed odd about the portal was that ghosts from the Netherworld seemed to be pouring through it. Almost like it was an acting door to the Netherworld itself.

"What in the living world?" Lydia seemed to comment, moving further into the living room to look at the portal before any of the others could stop her.

"Careful. We don't know what effect this portal's going to have on a living person so you'll have to keep your distance." Lydia looked up to find Marcus putting a hand on her shoulder and gently pushing her out of the way. Lydia nodded, deciding now to keep her distance and moving back over towards where her family was.

Adam, Barbara, Betelgeuse, and Miss Argentina moved over towards where Arthur was sat with Miss Argentina sitting down on the couch next to him. Resting an arm across the top of the couch, she turned her attention towards the male ghost. "You found anything yet?"

"Not yet. But I'm still looking."

She nodded, looking back over towards the portal again and noticing something else off about it. "Hey... uh, guys?"

The others turned in her direction to find her pointing a hand out towards the portal. Then they focused their attention onto said portal. From the looks of it, something dark, although not a dark shadow person, was trying to come through the portal but there was something that was blocking it from coming through. It took a few minutes, but the gathered group of eleven watched in complete shock as the dark shadow completely broke through whatever was holding it back and entered the living world.

And, for a while, none of them knew what to say. Or what to think. Then things went wrong.

The dark figure advanced towards Lydia, her family immediately moving to stand protectively in front of her as they, Betelgeuse, Leslie, Rose, Marcus, and Arthur stared down the shadow person. But that didn't seem to faze it. Not one bit.

It kept its sights solely on Lydia, continuing to move towards her. At that, Barbara turned her attention over towards Charles and Delia. "Char, Del, get Lydia to safety. The rest of us will hold this thing off for as long as we can and try to get it back into the Netherworld where it belongs. While also seeing if we can find a way to seal that portal."

Although hesitant, both living adults nodded firmly in unison, Charles ushering his daughter out of the room with Delia following behind. As they left, Emily turned towards Barbara with a worried look on her face.

"I'm going too," she said, Barbara nodding. "When you and the others manage to get that thing back in the Netherworld and the portal sealed, come up and join us."