DEMON DOOR (#2 GHOST PORTAL series)

TWENTY-ONE

Ada and Avery engaged in a silent staring session that was only interrupted by the arrival of another Guide, squeezing between them. When Avery disengaged from Ada and swerved backwards to leave room for the interrupting Guide, he recognized the form and features of Faz—the one who'd possessed Jessamine.

His staring—more like scowling—resumed, but fixed on Faz now. "What do you want?"

Arms raised, Faz bowed his head, instantly averting his gaze from Avery's. "I'm not here to cause trouble, and I'm sorry to interrupt," he said, his figure diminishing in size, as if shrinking from Avery's aggression.

"Avery, mind your tone, please." Ada extended her misty arms and with her energy, she swiveled Faz to face her, instead. "Ignore his rudeness, Faz. Speak freely." She sounded so sweet, so nice to Faz—was she friendly only to her fellow Guides? Had she fooled them into thinking she was a genuine, caring creature?

Faz cleared his throat, but kept his chin tucked. "I think I can help, Ada. With finding Jessamine." He fidgeted side to side like a kid eager to ask permission to spend the night at a friend's house.

"Oh?" Ada quirked an eyebrow, and shot a sharp look at Avery, before returning to Faz, lifting his chin. "I appreciate your willingness to help, but I'm not sure you can. What did you have in mind?"

He continued his nervous twitching, his fingers jittering, reminding Avery more and more of an anxious teenager. Was he a teenager? Or a child? Or a young, shy man? "Well, I have some additional knowledge when it comes to Jessamine, because I possessed her. If I remember correctly, doesn't that mean I left a bit of myself inside her? Isn't that what happens when we possess someone?"

Ada lit up—as in actually lit up, glowing from within—and perked up, her arms still outstretched towards Faz, as if holding his shoulders. "You're correct, that is what happens. A piece of yourself—of course, I should have thought of that, but I rarely ever possess anyone and I'd forgotten."

Avery studied her, his mind filling with images of her slipping into someone's body. She said rarely—which meant she had possessed humans before. But who? And why? He'd been under the impression Guides preferred to kill humans, not get inside their heads. Or to avoid them altogether and throw them off the path so they'd never reach the portal. Faz was the exception among the Guides—his role had been to prevent or at least try to delay the inevitable—but Ada? Whose body would she have invaded, and for what purpose?

As much as she annoyed Avery, Ada also fascinated him, though he'd never admit that out loud. She was such a curious being, created for the sole purpose of guiding spirits to their afterlife, but she didn't even know what that afterlife was. She sensed when they were ready, activated a door, let them through, and repeated the process. Over and over, witnessing souls squirm through a portal and on to a world she'd never access. Or had she been there, and after several years of good behavior, she'd been given some kind of promotion? Had she been human, at any point? Or was she always a Guide, born this way centuries ago with her role tattooed on her brain?

Her actions disgusted Avery—all her secrets, her decisions to delay delivering important information, her habit of murdering humans that got too close to her precious portal—and yet his intrigue of her wouldn't dissipate.

These Guides—there was so much more to them that he wished he'd be able to understand, but he didn't have the time or resources to investigate them. And in any case, Ada would tell him to fuck off if he asked her to sit down for an interview. It'd be a dream come true to get a one-on-one with a supernatural being no one knew the existence of—but Ada would prefer it that way. That she remain anonymous and unknown, and her job uncomplicated.