FINAL GATE (#3 GHOST PORTAL series)

SEVENTEEN

"Care to explain?" Ada's arms squeezed tight against her chest as she glowered at Avery's mess—Jamie's undug grave. And she'd seen Jamie, too, of course. What a sight that must have been, even for someone of her age, her caliber.

"Um," Avery gulped, "well, Jamie came to me," he said through gritted teeth, a mix of angst and anger swirling through him. Ada's presence always caused such mingled emotions to swarm him, and he never knew if he hated her, pitied her, or simply didn't want to be near her. "He told me this was the way, this was... his idea. The ghosts need humans down there, too, but since no living souls can get in... he asked me to unearth his body and he somehow hopped into it, and—"

"—right," Ada let out a sigh that seemed to deflate her hardened exterior, "I've heard that rumor before. That if you dig up a freshly dead body, its ghost can possess it temporarily. I'd never seen it done, though, and had no clue any other ghosts in there were spreading that gossip. And I wasn't aware it granted access to Limbo..." She rubbed the back of her neck. "That'll be something to remember for future reference."

"Future reference?" Avery's eyes burned. "You think all this shit might happen again?"

Ada flinched. "No, that's not what I meant." She sucked her lips in and shook her head. "And no, it won't happen again, not on my watch. Not if we survive this. But I must take note of certain pieces of gossip that turn out to be true. Spirits possessing their former bodies... that's important." She swung out her arms, stretched her legs, then focused on Avery. "Anything else he mentioned while I was in another world?"

"Not yet." Avery passed his hand over his scalp, sensing the sweat that had started to gather there in his nervousness. "He took control of his body and vanished. And I'm more confused than ever. Humans in Limbo? Monsters in monster-land? Dinosaurs in here?"

"Here's what you need to understand." Ada waved him over to a set of logs, to take a seat and a breather from his hard work. He sat, but not without groaning and grimacing. When would he get to go into a real house, with real furniture to sit on? "Both the Limbo and demon dimensions aren't as massive as this one. They're more like eternal wastelands; well, I don't know for sure about the demonic realm, but that's the case for Limbo."

Avery scoffed. "Oh, I can confirm the demon dimension is a wasteland. It was dry and smelly and looked like I'd stepped into an old-timey photograph."

"Yes, well," Ada hovered on the spot, in front of Avery, "Limbo is similar, then. It's a gray world lacking in color. A never-ending forest that spirits can never quite escape from. Though this world and Limbo bleed into one another, most of what they see are tall trees cloaking a graying sky. No sunlight, no moonlight. No houses or people or objects to use."

"There was a sun in the demon world," Avery snickered at the memory, "but its light was dimmed, like it was sick or something. Not real."

"Hm, interesting." Ada tapped her chin. "Though both realms are similar, the main differences are the doors. There are no such things in Limbo; spirits melt into it through the ground or the air itself."

Avery raised a finger. "Exactly; that's how Jamie disappeared. Through the ground. But with an actual body, I... didn't think that was possible. It took me and the Guide who helped me aback."

Ada chortled; a heartless sound that rattled Avery's insides. "At this point, young man, I'm beginning to believe just about anything is possible. We should be bracing for anything to happen."

"So the door thing... that's specific to the demon realm?" Avery set his elbows on his thighs, watching Ada she slowly swept side to side.

"I'd assume so. And it's safe to also assume that those doors in each house's basement lead to different parts of the realm. But once in the realm it must be feasible to walk to them, be close to them. Which would explain how Jessamine went through the Nevada door, but was able to communicate with you through this one. She figured out she had to find the California door, and it must not have been far."