FINAL GATE (#3 GHOST PORTAL series)

TWENTY-NINE

"Forget this place ever existed."

The sentence repeated in Jessamine's mind, an echo that wouldn't relent. Five words stringed together that made no sense to her, as much as she wanted them to.

How was she supposed to forget about the house, the ghost portal, the demon door, the secret realms opening? The chasm of chaos spewing all sorts of monsters out into multiple worlds? How was she supposed to forget when this place, those places, were her existence, the reason she lived, breathed, nearly died? The reason she'd met Avery, gotten lost in a world beyond her world, encircled by creatures she hadn't imagined in her wildest nightmares?

Oh, of course, she wanted to forget, but she never would. The Guides' request was an impossible one; but they didn't need to be aware of that.

She bobbed her head once in farewell as Avery ushered her out the door, out into the wilderness. The non-sepia-tinted sky smiled at her; vast and bright and blue, speckled with pinks and oranges. Dawn was rising, the mortal realm awakening, the air was soft with a slight, chilly breeze that caressed Jessamine's skin.

She hadn't thought about seeing any of this again. The lengthy pines stretching towards the sky, their greenness not an illusion. Nor had she envisioned being able to touch those trees; in the demon realm, forests ran away from her. And the air—the oxygen was pure, unfiltered, sliding into her nostrils and filling her being with calm, hope, peace.

Though for how long she'd maintain that peace, she wasn't sure.

Don't bring yourself down, not now. Not when you're finally liberated.

She spun on her heels, lifting her arms, tilting her head to admire the sky. Avery and Faz approached her from either side, but giving her ample space to continue taking in the atmosphere, regaling in her second chance at life. Her second chance at being demon-free, in a world that was demon-free. Finally. Alive.

"I'm sorry about them," said Faz, his voice choked, muffled; as if he were trying to lower it, to keep it hidden from the others. They were inside the house, behind a closed door, and wanted nothing more to do with Avery and Jessamine—why would they eavesdrop?

"It's probably for the best," said Avery, grazing Jessamine's arm as he headed towards his car.

Jessamine stopped twirling, her head spinning. She glanced at the car—the beat-up thing that had transported her here, that she'd been stuck in while he and Jamie investigated. The thing that had protected her as long as she was inside it. And she'd fallen out, cast Faz out of her, and made herself vulnerable. Made herself bait. Made herself a demon.

She turned to the house, squinting at it. Faz was right—it had been rebuilt. Its facade was different, more modern, less worn down by age. Yet the vibe she got from it, the spooky, bone-chilling sensation that something was off, here, remained. White orbs poked out from corners, peeked over from within the forest, and blue lights ignited in the upper floor windows; the attic. The biggest difference was the nothingness from the boarded basement windows. No blinking red eyes staring out hungrily. No voices whisking into her head, yanking her forward, clawing at her soul.

Nothing but silence.

Avery tugged the car door open and reached inside, grabbing his phone. "Let's see what the world has to say now." He unlocked it, and as Jessamine walked up to him, his eyebrows raised. "Damn, well... this dimension won't recover easily."

He tipped the phone to show Jessamine what he'd been reading. A headline from a popular news app said, "Blue beings blowing up the sky: aliens? Or magic?"