DEMON DOOR (#2 GHOST PORTAL series)

EIGHT

Adjusting from the blaring red to a bland, faint glow of faded light took a toll on Avery's eyes. He kept rubbing them, and wasn't sure how much time passed before he was finally able to see enough to get a grip on himself.

Somehow, he hadn't crumbled to his knees, despite the force of the winds whipping into him when he'd gotten past the threshold. He was standing—standing in a wasteland.

There was no other word for it. The world he'd landed in was like a nightmarish never-ending desert, soaked in a sepia-toned sunlight, blasting down from a cloudless, beige-colored sky. He couldn't see the sun, if there was one, but it gave enough lighting to visualize the demonic dimension in all its gloomy glory. Beneath him was hard dirt, and he stomped his feet to it once, twice, grounding himself. Surrounding him, at a distance, were clusters of leafless trees, with branches scratching up towards the dulled-out sky.

Was he alone? Was this the right place?

He set a hand over his sweaty forehead, scanning the scary woods in the horizon, seeking a sign of life—or death.

Within a few minutes, he detected reddish orbs igniting along the tree-line. They stood out, bright against the sepia-hued backdrop of tall trees. They were small orbs, at first, paused in their movement, probably having noticed Avery's arrival.

What were they? Actual beings, or atmospheric changes in the realm? Optical illusions?

When they bobbed up and down, Avery jolted, blinking at them. They were getting bigger. Nearing. Traveling. Approaching him.

Are those demons? Is that what they look like?

He almost chuckled at the misty entities floating towards him. They were like ghosts, globs of light and energy without bodies, without hands to touch and grab him and choke him out. Harmless things that he and Ada had been terrified of, but here they came off as innocent, unable to hurt him.

But as they got nearer, he noticed their large, menacing black eyes. Like dark wells devoid of emotion, without pupils—and yet he knew all sets of eyes headed his way were fixed on him. Staring at him, reading through him, demanding to know why he was there.

Maybe not so innocent after all.

Three red orbs disconnected from the bunch that had been steadily coming up to him. One of those three got within a few feet of Avery, hesitant. Unlike Ada and her misty self, this thing didn't have a face, aside from the eyes. Avery sensed that it was sniffing at him, assessing him. It moved side to side, silently taking in Avery's energy. Deciding if he was an ally, or a threat.

The orb went still, then jerked backwards. "Oh!" It shook up and down, waving what looked like an arm at the other two orbs that had halted their trek a bit back. "Guys, it's him! Him!"

The two buzzed over immediately, mimicking the first orb's strange sniffing motion.

"Oh," said one, the smallest of the three, its red a lighter shade, harder to look at. "You're right, it is him."

"Our savior!" said the first, its voice neutral, not feminine, not masculine, but peppered with excitement. "He's the one who let our vessel come to deliver us!"

The third orb, the darkest and largest, said nothing, but Avery felt that it wasn't finished assessing him.

The second shimmied up and down, its joy matching that of the first. "Thank you. Thank you, for what you've done. Are you here to let us out, now?"

"We've been stuck in here, waiting for our turn," added the first, sounding almost childish. Was it a child? Was it possible that spirits of children had been devoured by the demon door and transformed into demons? "We weren't able to get out, and our vessel... she left the door open for only so long, and when we tried to leave, to enter her, we were rejected. Sucked back in."