Avery gawked at Ada. "Wait—there are more portals? More demon doors?"

He sensed heat rising up from his chest, sprawling from the base of his neck to his temples. All this time he'd believed one portal existed—the one in ruins before him now, ashes scattered all over the grass, and its ghosts hovering at the edges of the forest, likely eavesdropping on the conversation.

"Wow," he hissed through his teeth, "don't you feel like you left this little section out while explaining your realms and purposes to us?"

Ada's expression remained unchanged, her gaze neutral as she looked at him, looked past him. "Let me remind you that I didn't even have to tell you the bare minimum that I did, young man." Her lips puckered slightly, and she arched her spine, lifting herself a few inches above Avery. An intimidation tactic? A means to show she was—she thought—superior? "I only gave you some information to aid you in understanding what your purpose was, and why you needed to dispose of Jessamine. And you opted not to, so I don't feel like that little section was necessary to explain."

Jamie, who'd been silently staring at Ada while Avery fumed, raised a finger to the air, as if requesting permission to speak. "Um," he cleared his throat, "how can there be demon doors everywhere? I get the ghost portals, sure; there are a lot of deaths, which equals a lot of ghosts, I'd assume. But demons? How? They all showed up at the same time at different locations around the world?" He scrunched his eyebrows. "Just like that, random spirits rebelled, or whatever it takes to become demonic?"

Ada clasped her hands behind her back; her form was so near invisible that Avery saw her fingers entwining, squeezing. "It's a little more complicated than that."

"Okay," Avery waved his hand at her, "then can you explain what makes it complicated? Because this is a huge piece of news that I think we need to consider if we want to help."

Ada scoffed. "Who said you were helping? I asked you to leave. You shouldn't be involved in this."

Avery stomped a foot to the ground. "But we—"

"—you shouldn't be here." Ada's glow intensified, but it dimmed almost as quickly, as she winced and backed away to scour the area. "I don't owe you or anyone else explanations, and in any case, I don't have time to discuss our origins or the demon's creation with you." She shrank in size and the blue of her body grew fainter, grayer. As if she'd filled herself up with a burst of power, but lost it. "I am a Guide, here to guide spirits. Yes, I received a prophecy long ago, and yes, I wanted to thwart it, but the damage is done, no? You," she jutted her chin at Avery, "and Jessamine made your choices. Choices that led to the prophecy being fulfilled. There is nothing for you to help with. All I can do now is pick up the pieces and prepare for war."

"War?" Avery gulped, and the heat that had shot up to his forehead became cold, tingly. "You're going to fight the demons? Fight Jessamine? Is that what you mean?"

Ada flinched again. "Guides are benevolent beings, and we don't seek violence. We avoid it. But," she puffed her chest, sucking in a large breath, "we're also protectors of spirits, of Limbo, and of the Afterlife. If they're threatened, it's our role to step up. Fight... yes, it's a strong word. Perhaps too strong in this context. Defend is more what I intend to do."

Guides, Guides—Avery wracked his brain for why the concept irked him so suddenly. Every time Ada said it, every time he said it, thought it, a ripple of weird energy ran through him, as if prodding at him to remember something. But what? He'd never come across a Guide before, never read about them, never caught one on camera—that he knew of.

So why were Ada's kind and their roles bugging him so much?

A surprising flashback came to him, prompting him to press down on his temples with his middle finger and thumb. "Ugh," he said softly, as images whooshed into his head and immobilized him, choked up his breathing.

It was the time he'd gotten lost in a forest, as a kid, while hiking with his dads. A beautiful woods, with leaves colored like the sunset, with chunky bushes that bristled when he walked past them, with tiny hoofprints in the dirt as he glanced down at his shoes, not paying attention to where he went. That was how he'd gotten lost—by being so absorbed in the scenery, in the sounds and smells and the taste of the autumnal air, he'd missed the turn his dads had taken and continued down a wilder, lesser used path.

And it was that day that he'd seen a ghost for the first time. A wispy, white being floated ahead of him, whispering to him. He hadn't been afraid, because he was too busy panicking about being lost. Instead, he'd been open to the encounter, fascinated, even. More so when this misty creature kept gesturing at him to follow it. By that point, he'd resigned to his fate of being lost in the woods, and he'd felt his best option was to determine where this thing would lead him. A few times, he thought he was in a dream; fast asleep after tripping over a large root and hitting his skull. How else was it possible to see what he was seeing? A see-through, blanket-like being urging him onward through the woods, seemingly guiding him towards a larger path, with more light.

Next he knew, he was reunited with his dads—the ghost, or whatever it had been, had taken him to them. And from that day forward, the word guide had a deeper connotation in his mind.

That was why Ada rubbed him the wrong way. She claimed to be a Guide, yet her demeanor was so negative, so defensive, that he wondered if she'd ever guided anyone or anything towards a better place. She was more the type to steer away than to encourage and assist. The thing that had found Avery in the forest? That was a Guide, a real one. Ada was a poser.

"Avery?" Ada's voice, softer than he'd been used to, startled him from his recollections. She didn't ask if he was okay, didn't offer to help him up—apparently he'd fallen to his knees and was holding his head, writhing side to side.

"Oh." He paused, opened his eyes, and let go of his head. "Uh, hard memories coming to me for some reason."

Ada squinted at him. "Powerful places like these can sometimes trigger one's mind, and can cause hallucinations."

"It wasn't a hallucination," said Avery, a growl gyrating in his words. "It was a memory, like I said. One that's making me wonder if I've encountered a thing like you before, or something better? How far can Guides travel?" He got to his feet with ease, gritting his teeth through the dizziness that such an abrupt movement caused. "How far do they go to retrieve ghosts?"

Ada appeared taken aback by the question, but trying her hardest to pretend she wasn't. Her eyelids twitched at the end of Avery's sentence, and it looked like a shiver slithered from her chin to her toes, like a tiny bell being shaken once or twice to draw attention.

"Usually, not far. They prefer to stick within the perimeter of the house they were assigned to." She rolled her shoulders, batted her lashes, taking on an unaffected demeanor. "But sometimes Guides do go beyond, if they have a powerful connection to the individual they're wanting to guide or help. If a soul calls to them, needs help, they'll respond... sometimes."

Avery rubbed his chin, staring straight at her. He had so many more questions, so much more to ask her; yet he knew she'd dodge all his requests. Because of her negative attitude, she'd close up, and she'd banish them from her portal any moment.

But was it a Guide, on that day in his past, who'd assisted Avery in getting back to his dads? Or a fluke, a gentle ghost, something else?

He opened his mouth to make an attempt at asking his burning questions, but Jamie slid in front of him, shaking his head, cutting him off. "Dude, I'm curious too, but there's more at stake here, yeah? Should we focus on what we came here for?"

Though offended at Jamie's interruption, he couldn't disagree that Jamie was correct. If they got through this, there'd be time enough for Avery to hound Ada with all sorts of inquiries, and she'd have no excuse to deny him anymore.

And if they didn't make it... well, she'd likely be guiding him elsewhere. That would provide answers, too.

"Right," he nudged Jamie out of the way, "so what do we do, then? If Jessamine is, like you say, on her way to unleash more demons... how do we stop her? Can we stop her? What's the plan?"

"And I say again, gentlemen," Ada expanded in size, hovering over them like a tower about to fall atop them, "that you can't do anything. You must leave and stay out of this. You're humans, you're... there's nothing you can do for me, for us." A hint of hesitation lingered in her voice. No matter how big and tough she made herself seem, something told Avery she was hiding something. She wasn't telling them something.

Wouldn't be the first time she lied though, would it?

"I don't believe you," said Avery, straightening up to his full height, arching an eyebrow as he scrutinized Ada.

"Yeah," added Jamie, fists on his hips. "Something's not adding up. Avery's part of your prophecy, but you're advising us he has no way to fix his fuck-up? That we can't be of any help to you? Lady," he puffed out a breath, "you're exhausted. We can see it, and you should stop trying to hide it. Clearly, you're overwhelmed with your regular tasks already, and you're too proud to let anyone else help you. But us," he pointed at himself, then at Avery, "we're here, and we're willing, yeah? So fucking let us."

Avery raised both eyebrows now, watching his best friend and colleague step up and speak out. It was usually Avery's role to be pushy, like when they needed access to a certain building or location to investigate and film it. When they needed to convince home-owners or reluctant groundskeepers to give them access to the places they wanted to go.

But today, Jamie was the one voicing concerns and offering help.

Does he feel guiltier about all this than he'd let on?

Avery would have added more, but Jamie said it all. Insisting now might make Ada angry, and then she'd physically force them out of her territory. Avery didn't want to know what it'd feel like to be overpowered by a being like her, weak as she was or not.

She stayed silent for a spell, considering Jamie's words, glancing from him, to Avery, and to something in the distance behind them. At one point, she spun away, muttering under her breath, floating back and forth in pace-like motions. She grabbed her chin, waved her arms, peeked at Avery, shook her head, whisper-yelled at herself, then stopped in mid-air, becoming rigid.

"Okay," she said at last, raising her voice as she flipped back to face them. "Okay, I have been thinking about options for a long time, obviously. Sure, there are ways for you to help, I've thought of them, but... they're risky."

Avery snorted. "Don't you think we're aware of that? Why else would we have come here? Jessamine's carrying demons. Fuck—she probably is a demon, by now. But we've offered to help, regardless. I think we can handle a little risk."

Jamie, beside him, shuddered. "No matter how stupid that is," he mouthed, under his breath. "But yeah, we came, we know it's risky. Go on, tell us what you have in mind."

Ada chewed on her lower lip. "It's dangerous." She grimaced, her gaze focused on the ground. "And foolish." She snapped her neck up and glanced at Avery with a wince. "And I don't know if either of you will consent to it."

"Enough of the wasting time," said Avery, sensing himself about to snap. She didn't want them there, but she'd considered them being there, but now she was hesitant—why would she get to the point? "We've done nothing but dangerous and foolish shit for the past few days, and how much clearer can I make this? I'm willing to do almost anything to fix my mistake of letting Jessamine go into that house. Or of not instantly following her so I could stop her, like I was supposed to. It's on me, Ada. I take the blame. Now let me rectify it."

He cringed, well aware that rectifying his error would involve tracking Jessamine down and likely killing her. But that was what he'd been meant to do, wasn't it? And he'd chickened out, he'd let his developing feelings for her get the best of him. He'd done what he'd always promised himself not to do—fall for the damsel in distress, open his heart to the one who was best placed to break it. She had broken it, though not of her own volition. It wasn't her fault she was a woman destined to contain thousands, millions of demons inside her to enable whatever their sick plots were. How could he have known?

The night they'd gotten drunk together, been vulnerable, been naked, how could he have known she was days away from swallowing evil and becoming its vessel? How could he have known she was involved with the beings that had killed Amy, covered up her death? How could he have known Jessamine was, deep down, his nemesis, and he had every reason not to let her sneak into his heart and steal it?

It was on him. All of it. If he'd stayed strong, as was his habit, if he'd put up all the barriers he usually did with women, he wouldn't have succumbed. He wouldn't have figured out all he needed to, granted, since all the time with Jessamine was what had brought him the truth; about Amy, about ghosts, about most of his life. But he wouldn't have brought Jessamine here, he wouldn't have fulfilled her side of the prophecy.

If only he hadn't touched her, that day at the coffee shop. It'd been that shock-wave of electricity, that pulse of energy that had tethered her to him, and him to her, and connected their destinies forever.

Now, he was fucked either way. And he had to assume the consequences.

Ada was still watching him, her mouth opening and closing as she formulated her sentence.

"I should have fought harder to get into the house," he said, dropping his chin. He couldn't look at Ada, couldn't look at anyone while he came clean like this. "Should have pushed her into the demonic realm. I couldn't kill her, can't kill her, but I should have... or gotten her away from the house, as I'd originally planned to. She wasn't supposed to get out of the car, wasn't supposed to be drawn inside, and I... I failed." He joined his hands near his navel. "Let me make up for it, Ada. If I doomed the world, if I did this, let me risk my life to fix it."

Ada's lengthy sigh prompted Avery to glance up, to find her slowly approaching him. She set a translucent finger under his chin, though not touching it, and lifted it up higher.

"Understood," she said, tone firm, unwavering. "The consequences will be severe, and I cannot guarantee your safety or your survival. Can you confirm that you agree to this?"

Though he flinched, Avery nodded. She turned to Jamie, implying she wanted his consent, as well; he gave it with a quick nod.

"Right," she shimmied backwards, "then here's the thing. Here's the big issue that I, myself, cannot resolve, but that needs to be taken care of. The demons—we don't know enough about them, and before we can pursue Jessamine, we must know more. So, one of you needs to enter the demonic realm and ask the demons some questions."

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