DEMON DOOR (#2 GHOST PORTAL series)

FOUR

Shading their faces from the sunlight peeking through the trees, Avery and Jamie reluctantly squeezed into Avery's car. Louise lingered on her doorstep, watching, waiting as if expecting them to change their minds and drive off towards the main road instead. Her galaxy gown drifted in the wind, and from a distance, she looked like some sage seer wishing them well on their journey to doom.

They didn't try to escape, knowing she'd find a way to stop them.

Avery ground his teeth and gripped the steering wheel, then turned the engine on.

They were quiet on the way, both glancing about the area as if seeing it for the first time. The fog had long since dissipated, and everything was tranquil and untouched, a typical forest on an early morning, with swaying leaves and flurrying bushes and sightings of birds flying from branch to branch. Avery drove slowly, anticipating someone or something to jump out in front of the car and prevent them from arriving at the clearance. A roaming traveler, a panther, a ghost, maybe? He hoped for it, in fact—anything to avoid the potential confrontation with a supernatural being he'd had a bad vibe about, and the recollection of what had happened that night after speaking with said being.

He wasn't hoping for Jessamine to be around, though. He wasn't ready to see her, if she was indeed alive. Possessed by demons, what would she look like? Feel like? Act like? Would she be her normal self on the outside, but like a bomb about to explode on the inside? Would she have red eyes and claws and daggers for teeth, and kill them on sight?

What do demons even look like? And more so when possessing a human?

Nothing stopped them, no one interfered. If Jessamine was lurking in the forest, she didn't show herself. If ghosts and Guides were watching them, they didn't get in Avery and Jamie's way.

The car glided into the clearing, and it was blasted with sunlight. It was a different atmosphere during the day, without the looming shadows and ominous silence. Instead, it looked like an empty expanse of flattened grass in the middle of a forest. Abandoned and innocent as could be. As if there hadn't been an insane amount of supernatural power concentrated there not a few hours ago. Whatever that power had been, it was now gone, having deserted the area and left it in ruins.

Actual ruins.

As Avery parked, he struggled to not let his jaw drop at the scene displayed before him. The house wasn't a house anymore. There was no proof whatsoever that it ever had been. Every bit of it was in tatters, every wall and portion of ceiling burnt to a crisp. A handful of pillars were still standing, but barely. Avery worried if he breathed in their direction they'd crumble, or dissolve into a cloud of dust.

The ground and debris from the explosion were covered in ash, and with the sunlight blaring into the area, Avery noticed a gloomy smoke still swirling over the remains. The fire itself appeared to be extinguished, but Avery wanted to be sure, so he turned parked the car at a distance before turning it off. He got out first, covering his mouth and nose with his sleeve.

Jamie did the same, but dared to take a whiff through his fingers, and nodded at Avery. "It's okay," he said, indicating the air around him. "Not too smoky. As long as we don't stay here for too long."

"Let's poke around, then," Avery gestured towards the ruins, "and see if we can find anything... useful."

"Useful for what?" Jamie scoffed. "Like a weapon, or something? To use on the Guide? Or on Jessamine?" He patted at his back pocket. "We have the gun, that's all we need. And in any case, I doubt that'll work."

Avery stuffed a hand into his own back pocket and grimaced towards the spot where the front door used to be. "I don't know, I just... I feel like we need to investigate this thoroughly before we try to talk to Ada. What if there's something here worth keeping? Something to use later? Or what if we opt to go public with all this?"