The Heartless Prey

11. Homestead

"I'm about ten minutes out", Tim said over the phone. "I have the box. Is it going to be safe for me to be there with whatever the hell you two are doing?"

"Yeah", Akira said, her voice distorted from tearing up. "By the time you get here I'll have Laura in the void. You'll be okay. The Kanashakuma will be in the void when Laura's there."

"I don't know what kind of shit you two are getting into", Tim said through the receiver. "But you're one crazy girl", he said. The tone and speed of his voice indicated that he was driving at high speeds.

"I'll see you when you get here". She hung up the phone. Akira's eyes were puffy and red. She wiped the residue tears from her cheek and attempted to regain her composure.

"How do you know?", Laura asked. "Maybe he's actually okay?". Laura's voice was slow and her eyes were half closed. She wanted to comfort her best friend but the exhaustion was starting to set in.

"We'll worry about it after we're done with this", Akira told her. The tone in her voice was angry, but also content, as if she'd come to terms with everything. "I've lost people before", she said. Laura wasn't sure if it was the sleep deprivation or not, but she could have sworn she saw Akira's normally dark brown eyes flare with a lime green for a split second. Akira's thought ran wildly through her mind. She didn't realize how much it would hurt losing Nate. Akira had been around a long time, longer than most would ever guess in their wildest imagination. But this loss stung.

Akira took a deep breath and composed herself. "I'm sending you into Yomi. Into the Void. Tim will be here soon and he won't be safe within a mile of you if you're still in this world."

"But you don't have the Yomi board yet", Laura said, her voice full with hesitation. "How can you send me in?"

"I don't need the board to send you in. I'll need it to get you out, and to interact with the void. Basically I'll need it to manifest reality there and to trap the demon within the house." Akira's words here hollow. She hadn't made eye contact with Laura during their entire conversation. Laura could tell that her mind was elsewhere. "Are you sure you want to do this?", Akira asked.

"There's no other choice right?", Laura asked, sighing.

"I mean we could always just send you in there. You'd just need to look at the homestead. The homestead you've seen in all your dreams. And call out to me. I can trap that fucker where it sleeps in a heartbeat", she said as she snapped her fingers.

Laura, exhausted and irritable sat for a second and contemplated. Or rather, she tried to contemplate. She already knew her decision from the moment Akira brought it up. "No", Laura said firmly. "I'm getting Chris."

"Glad to hear it", Akira said, nodding her head, still looking straight down to the other end of the trailer. "I want this thing to know we beat it. Not just got away from it. That we beat it at its own game."

Laura let out a sly grin before it faded away, and her eyes began to shut alongside it.

"You'll feel plenty awake when you're in there", Akira assured. "Nothing sleeps in the void." Akira told Laura to sit in one of the dining chairs, which Akira positioned right in front of where she was sitting in her cot. Laura was shaking. Akira remained calm and collected, as she'd always been. "Be careful", Akira told her. "You'll know when I send the others in. I can't describe it, but it will be the same way that the Kanashakuma knows when you arrive."

"What happens when you bring the other ghosts in?", Laura asked. Akira noticed now that Laura's legs were trembling as well.

"They'll come after you. But they'll also go after Kanashakuma. You'll need to hide, but they'll naturally be drawn to both you and the demon. They may either go towards the homestead, or after you. They'll be able to sense you. They're drawn to beings different from them, to those that don't belong in the void. So that'd be you, from this world. And Kanashakuma, from whatever world it originates from."