DEMON DOOR (#2 GHOST PORTAL series)

FOURTEEN

"Horrific odds," said Ada, eyebrows arched as she scowled at Avery. "Your sarcasm isn't appreciated here. This is serious."

Avery's cheeks overheated as he waved his arms about himself. "Do you actually think I'm not taking this seriously? I almost died, twice, putting myself in harm's way to give you information you already had assumptions about, but I'm not allowed to cope with a bit of sarcasm? You stand—I'm sorry, float there and tell us that you've known all along that you can't do anything. What do you want me to do? Scream? Kick at shit? Run away? Try to hurt you? I can't hurt you, dammit, I can't touch you!"

Ada scoffed, acting way too dismissive for the situation. "I can't deal with this, with you, right now." She twisted towards the woods, craning her neck to show her wrinkling nostrils in profile. "I'm going to go consult with the other Guides. I need council. This... I can't keep it all to myself. Everything you've revealed to me coupled with everything I know... we have a major problem to consider, and I can't handle your attitude. But I'll be back—I want to know more about Jessamine."

Without giving Avery a chance to retort that her attitude was the issue, she zoomed off and into the forest, brushing through the trees. Disappeared.

"This is bullshit, man," said Avery, as chills raced up his spine. The heat infusing his cheeks slowly became unbearable, and he wished for a fan to blow ice onto his face. "Why didn't she worry about this beforehand? Or will she claim she didn't want to upset us? This whole time, this whole time she knew she couldn't fight demons. But she waited until after I went and confronted a horde of them in their realm, on their turf, to let us know? She waited for me to risk my neck to tell her something she already knew?"

He was suddenly woozy, swaying on the spot. The intensity of his anger was too much, and stars danced before his eyes.

Jamie grabbed him and guided him to the car before he collapsed.

"You need to chill for a second," he said, opening the driver's side door and shoving Avery onto the seat. He then flurried around to the passenger side and sat beside Avery, closing and locking the door once he was settled.

"There's no time to chill. I need to brainstorm, since she's being cryptic as fuck," said Avery, seething. His teeth clattered, but at the same time, an ominous warmth developed in his belly. Hot and cold—was he developing a fever?

"Yeah, she's cryptic and yeah, we need to figure this out, but what you really need to do first is breathe, and relax. You're..." Jamie held the back of his hand to Avery's forehead, then hissed, removing it. "You're hot as hell, dude. You have a fever, and you're shivering. Sit, chill, give it a few minutes."

Avery's hands tightened into fists as he rested against the seat cushion and closed his eyes. He'd felt the fever rising while in the basement, and had hoped some fresh air would help—but he'd forgotten Ada was still around to press his buttons.

Jamie turned on the ignition—Avery had left the keys in the slot—and pushed the air-conditioning button. As cold air slowly spread into the vehicle, Avery melted into his seat, taking comfort in the sweet silence surrounding him.

There was no such silence in his mind. Screams, whispers, visions of blood, of throats being slit, of spirits being sucked into that sepia-colored realm—they wouldn't stop. They wouldn't shut off.

After what felt like forever of drowning in his frightening recollections of the past few hours, Jamie broke the quiet that had enveloped Avery.

"What the fuck happened down there, dude? I've never seen you like this." He'd lost the overwhelming papa bear concern, and was back to being Jamie the regular overbearing friend—which Avery preferred. "And we've been through our fair share of scary shit. You weren't even this bad after your possessions. So tell me. Confide in me."