FINAL GATE (#3 GHOST PORTAL series)

FOURTEEN

Avery raced up the stairs, his legs in agony—from the proximity to the demon door or the panic seizing up his muscles, he couldn't tell. And if it was panic, did it come from the door itself, or from hearing Jessamine speaking behind it? So close, yet so far?

Ada was waiting on the other side of the basement door, eyes widening at the sight of Avery when he exited.

"So? Did you get in touch with her?" She studied him, squinting at his features, his hunched posture, his heavy breathing.

"She's alive," he said, catching his breath as it wheezed through his lungs. "And yeah, stuff is going on down there, but she's not sure what. She said the demons mentioned portals opening, but I don't think she knows much else yet. It must be barely starting down there."

"Crap," said Ada, spinning away from Avery to face a wall. She shook her head. "I was hoping Limbo's portals opening would be a coincidence, and that the demonic realm would be business as usual. But... I can't dismiss that whatever we're experiencing has to be going on everywhere. In every realm. So, I believe Jessamine, surrounded by demons or not. Oh," she covered her mouth, then squinted harder, "was she..." She turned her head enough for Avery to sight her profile; she winced.

"No," he said, knowing at once what Ada meant. "She claimed she wasn't possessed anymore, and I trust her. Like you." He leaned against the closest wall, relaxing his tired limbs.

What an experiment that had been—to know she was on the other side of that door, alive, no longer possessed, no longer in pain. But stuck, alone, and encircled by the monsters that had taken hostage of her body.

"Good. One piece of positive news, at least." Ada sighed, and whirled back around, massaging her forehead. "But we still need to know more. There has to be more to all of this. Not that I'd want to help that dimension, but..."

"There's that risk of things getting out and invading our world, yeah, I know," Avery huffed, "we kind of don't have any other options."

"No clue what doors would open up in there." Her gaze was serious, her see-through lips thinning. Her blue glow illuminated the otherwise darkened hallway. No other Guides lurked here; they all knew their places, their positions, and they gave Ada and Avery space to talk. "Something dark and dreary, for sure. But our priority is this plane, and Jessamine will have to handle things in hers. Did she say what, if anything, the demons were doing about it?"

Avery flinched. "I... didn't give her time to tell me." He gulped, unwilling to tell Ada how surreal it had been to communicate with her, to hear her. The real her. How he'd freaked at first when she'd replied, and felt his legs moving backward with every new sentence she uttered. "The second she mentioned gates opening in her space, I hurried here to tell you." Which wasn't a lie, not truly; but he kept to himself all the other reasons he hurried to get away.

He'd pushed her in. He'd doomed her to that place. How could she ever forgive him?

Ada's arms jittered at her sides. "This is world-level, no... dimensional-level destruction. It's a universal emergency. And it's terrifying. In all my years of operation... I've never been prepared for this." One finger twitched, pointing towards the stairwell. "Oh, boy, this is bad, deeply bad."

Avery squinted at her, but was strangely absorbed by her flickering finger. "Obviously, it's nuts. So what are we supposed to do, then? All worlds are being invaded, basically. How do you... do I... do we prevent an all-out dimensional war? Because it'll be a war, right? Between the invading monsters and us? Defending our territory, our world, our people?" He scoffed. "Fuck, I sound like I'm in some science-fiction movie and about to hop into a time-travel machine or some shit."