The Return - A Michael Vey Fanfic

Chapter 12

Jacob and Ethan, who had left Emily at the pool by herself to go get their towels, hurried up to their hotel room. Fortunately, Jacob was able to get the door open on the first try this time. After Emily had demonstrated the correct way to open the door, it was actually fairly easy for Jacob to get it.

As soon and Jacob and Ethan walked into the room they both realized that there was something in the room that seemed slightly... off.

"Do you feel that?" Jacob hissed softly to his brother. Jacob immediately began blinking rapidly.

"Yes, but why are you whispering?" Ethan responded in a whisper. He could feel the difference in the room and the hallway outside. The room now was colder and had a more electric feel to it.

"Well, I think there's someone in here. And you're whispering too so just shut up," Jacob sneered in response. Still, it didn't take long for the look of discontent to fall off his face as he scanned the room once again. "Seriously though. What is that? I mean, you're hair's even beginning to stand up."

Ethan shook his head. "I don't think it's anything. I think you're just being paranoid. There's probably some sort of electrical problem, is all. We'll call the hotel manager later and find out what it is."

Ethan glanced over at Jacob, who was now gulping loudly for him to hear. It was probably the most annoying thing about his Tourette's. He didn't have normal Tourette's syndrome, like everyone else, where he yelled curse words or did animal impressions. No, he was just like their dad in that all he did was blink and gulp. Usually Ethan didn't mind it except in situations of possible danger, when Jacob was gulping loud enough to sound like brass drums in his ears. "Could you stop that?"

"Not really, no," Jacob growled. "Let's just get the towels and get out of here."

"Fine by me." Ethan walked into the bathroom to get the towels. He has just placed his hand on the towels when he heard the door to the hotel room, which they had left open, slam shut.

Ethan popped his head out of the bathroom to find his brother desperately trying to get it open. Jacob was pulling against the handle as hard as he could, making it seem like he was one of those characters in a cartoon TV show who couldn't open doors.

"What happened?" Ethan asked.

"I don't know. But, some how, were locked in," Jacob said, his face as white as death itself. His tics were going crazy.

"Oh please," Ethan said. "You're just not pulling hard enough. Or correctly."

Ethan shoved past Jacob and tugged at the handle but the door didn't budge. He tried to unlock the door to no avail. "Okay... perhaps we are locked in... somehow," Ethan muttered. It didn't make any sense that they could get locked inside their room. The door wouldn't even unlock.

"Told you." Jacob muttered. Ethan ignored his brother, studying the door. There had to be something in it that could have locked them in the room. Something that they could reverse. "Uh... Ethan..." Jacob suddenly said.

Ethan froze studying the door. He wasn't sure what was wrong. He didn't want to move a muscle in case that would somehow get him killed.

"What is it?"

"Turn around. Really slowly."

Fear struck Ethan's heart at the sound of Jacob's voice. Ethan, who was still facing the door slowly began to turn around. He had his hands at shoulder height, prepared for there to be a person with a gun in the room. Instead, he turned to see that some kind of... being was forming in the middle of the room. And that the being greatly resembled what seemed to be like a ghost.

"What is that?" Ethan asked.

"I have no idea," Jacob gulped. "Any guesses?"

"None."

The being was slowly beginning to advance on Ethan and Jacob. Though it moved slowly, it had Jacob and Ethan frozen still. The thing was like a storm cloud, a misty form, that neither of the two brothers could tear their eyes from. It was so surreal that while they were scared for their lives, they had no willpower to actually do anything about it.

It was Ethan who finally came to his senses, after the figure had already crossed half the room.

"We need to get you out of here," he said quickly. "Maybe if you take the key with you, you can get the door open from the outside."

"Wait, why me?"

"You're the one with the tics. I can tell how nervous you are. You need to get out of here."

"I'm not leaving you behind, dude," Jacob proclaimed, despite the fact that his tics were obviously increasing as the being moved closer to the two.

"You're not leaving me behind. You're teleported about two feet behind me to save me. Nothing will happen in the two seconds that you're gone."

"There's a lot that could actually happen in the two seconds that I'm gone," Jacob replied.

"Oh for goodness sake," Ethan groaned. Watching the being closer, he carefully snatches the key off of the cabinet near them and shoved it into Jacob's hand. "I'll see you on the other side."

Before Jacob could protest, Ethan pulsed, sending his brother to the other side of the wall. He was now alone with the figure that was nearly upon him by then. He just hoped that Jacob would hurry.