With her own flailing energy, Ada escorted Avery up the steps and outside. The clearance was gloomier than before, with the sun slowly setting beyond the trees.

At the top of the stairs, Avery collapsed to the ground, and didn't bother getting back up—his legs, his arms, his spine, everything was too painful to try.

Jamie hurried over and kneeled before him. "You okay?" He hovered, checking Avery's for visible wounds, then grabbing his chin and staring straight into his eyes. "You made it! You made it? What happened?"

He reminded Avery of a worried papa-bear, which Avery didn't want at that time. "Stop." He swatted his friend away and looked up at the darkening sky. "Don't get in my face right now."

Ada, gently tugging Jamie away with her energy, whispered, "Jessamine was here, down there." She jutted her chin towards the basement's hole entrance, beside Avery. "He's going to need a moment to breathe."

"I can hear you," grumbled Avery, pinching the bridge of his nose, adjusting to the free-flow of pine-scented oxygen. Albeit being tainted with ash and smoke, he preferred breathing this in than the stench of blood downstairs. Or the spice and cinnamon—

Jamie's eyebrows shot up and he again crouched before Avery, even more worry wrangling across his features. "Jessamine came here? Are you okay?" He ignored Ada's protests and even Avery's grunts. "Fuck, man. Fuck."

Ada yanked him away again, this time with such force that he toppled backwards and nearly lost his balance. He glowered at her, but she glowered right back. "I said to give him a moment to breathe, all right? I think something terrible happened when she came."

Avery choked on the saliva he'd been in the process of swallowing. "Something terrible?" He planted his feet on the ground, bracing to get up, but pain flared down his calves, and he couldn't move. "You're implying only one thing happened? Are you fucking crazy?" He rubbed the back of his mostly buzzed scalp and shook his head. "What time is it?"

Jamie pulled his sleeve up and checked his watch. "Uh, five o'clock."

Avery's eyes bulged. "How long was I down there?"

Jamie prepared to speak, but it was Ada who responded. "A few hours, at most. Maybe longer."

"And you two were," Avery gestured wildly at them, "chilling up here, waiting? You didn't think to verify that I was still in there, still alive? You didn't think to check on me at all?"

Shrugging, Jamie stuffed his hands in his pockets. He tipped his head sideways, indicating Ada. "She said to wait."

"I did." Ada's arms tensed at her sides. "Because I could somehow sense that you weren't dead. Your heartbeat resonated inside me, sometimes picking up so much speed that I panicked, but... it didn't stop. Not really. I knew you were alive, and so we kept our distance. It was best not to interfere."

"You knew I was alive?" Avery pressed a hand to his heart.

Ada nodded. "Because I made a prophecy about you, I have a sort of tether to you, to your consciousness. I can't explain it, but I knew, yes, and your friend believed me."

Jamie snorted. "Barely. Not that I had much of a choice."

"And do you have that tether with Jessamine, too?" Avery's cheeks grew hot, and he narrowed his gaze on Ada. If she'd known Jessamine was there, felt her, would she have come downstairs to save him from her clutches? To stop their situation from growing worse? Or had she stayed out of it, to not interfere, like she'd said? "Since she was here like, seconds ago, and neither of you deigned to come down and rescue me before she decided to slit my throat?"

At his words, he grabbed his throat and massaged his thumbs along his skin. He still imagined a glowing handprint there, in the place where Jessamine's hands had been, trying to squeeze the life out of him. Tiny convulsions wracked him as he moved his fingers to the back of his neck, wondering if Jessamine had contused any bones back there.

He'd never been so afraid in his life. Nor had he ever come so close to death. Not like this. Even the demons within the demonic realm hadn't petrified him that much—though they'd definitely terrified him a good deal. Nothing compared with a seductive, sly woman containing thousands of monsters inside her, and being the decider of his destiny. A woman who was no longer an actual woman, but who maintained all the assets of a lady in charge of herself, confident, eager to seduce.

A woman's body containing murderous beings who, with a snap, could have murdered him, and ended his suffering, her suffering, their suffering.

She could have proceeded on with her plots of world domination and left him there to rot. But she hadn't—and that puzzled him most of all.

"I..." Ada's mouth gaped open, then clamped shut, then opened again. "Well, I do have a tether to her, yes. But I didn't sense her, specifically. I sensed... evil. I guess I should have assumed it was her, but I thought those were the demons getting animated behind the door. And if I came down there at the wrong moment and interrupted something... that might have ended your life."

"They were getting animated," spat Avery, releasing his neck and tightening his fist. "They absolutely were getting animated. Before I got in, while I was in, after I was out. Those things were intense and insane and I..." He blew out a trembling breath. "It wasn't pleasant."

Ada looked at him, but didn't seem to see him; she was focused on his lips, but not listening to him. "If that was her, she must have a means to partially mask herself from us Guides. The sensation I got from that presence was blurry, at best. Evidently malicious, but... unclear. So I wouldn't be surprised if she'd figured out how to hide from us. It would allow her to operate sneakily, to creep past each ghost portal and wander into the basements to open the demon doors."

Jamie lowered to a spot beside Avery. "Okay, but I'm trying to process this. She was here? Jessamine, the demon-filled woman, was here, and you," he nudged Avery, "you're still alive? How—"

Ada cleared her throat, interrupting him. "Enough time to discuss her and the consequences of her arrival later. We have more important things to understand before we can understand her. Avery," she gave him a hardened look, "you made it out. You went to the demonic dimension and are conscious to tell the tale. So, tell it—what did you find out in the realm? What... was it like?"

Shuddering to even remember, Avery pulled his knees to his chest. It was all turning into a blur now, especially after what he'd been through with Jessamine—which, to him, took precedence. But that ominous, apocalyptic vibe was still there, still haunting him, and he doubted he'd ever get rid of it.

He didn't want to speak of it, but it had been the whole point of him going into that realm in the first place, right? To learn about demons and potentially uncover their weaknesses.

They have no weaknesses...

"It was like a nightmare," he started, his voice lowering against his will. "A weirdly sunny wasteland, but sepia-toned. Depressing, murky, almost. There was a forest, but all its trees were bare. Like the area was stuck in permanent autumn transitioning into winter, or something."

Ada and Jamie both leaned closer, as if they were huddled around a campfire telling ghost stories. Intrigued, but unsure about what sort of tale Avery was about to spin for them.

"The demons were... red globs, basically. Similar to your composition," he motioned at Ada, "looking like mists. But they were shades of red, and only had eyes, no other facial features. Big, black eyes that were horrifying to look at."

"Red orbs," said Ada, flinching. "Yes, I knew they showed themselves in that form. Red... a color of heat, of anger. It makes sense."

Though he wanted to press her for more details on how she knew, Avery also wanted to get his recitation over with. "They floated near the forest, but they smelled me, detected me. They called me their," he grimaced, "savior. Because I enabled Jessamine to open the door, though these particular demons couldn't get out. Still, they were interested in me, so I... took advantage. I tried to trick them, so I lied and told them I wanted to help get them out..."

"Did it work?" Ada's voice was scratchy, and she arched an eyebrow as she floated backwards.

"At first, sort of. I didn't get much from them, though." Avery toyed with a loose thread on his jeans, near his knees. "I found out their powers, and they told me their goals."

"Goals?" said Ada and Jamie at the same time. But while Jamie simply looked at Avery in waiting, Ada pressed on. "What goals? Which are they?"

A nasty taste swelled in Avery's mouth. One of blood and acid and something foul he couldn't identify. "They want to restore the world to the way it used to be. Like, cave-men times."

Jamie blinked at him. "Cave-men? They want those back? Why?"

"Not the cave-men themselves, but those times. Simplicity, no gray area, only black or white." Avery concentrated on Ada, who'd gone eerily silent, studying him. If she had a regular human skin-tone, he imagined she'd have been blanching by then. "Live or die, no in between, no special realms to go on living, like Afterlife."

"Afterlife," Ada mumbled under her breath. "They know about Afterlife?"

"And they want it gone." Avery licked his lips and disconnected his gaze from hers. "They want all realms gone but this one, the living one. And for everyone to concentrate here. The living, the dead, the monsters—"

Ada let out a gasp so monumental that it shook Avery into glancing at her and wondering if she was okay. She wasn't, clearly—her eyes had enlarged so much that he could have sworn he saw bluish veins traveling from one edge to the other. Her muscles were tense, her fingertips twitching—but she said nothing, as if she were deprived from speech.

"They want everyone and everything living on the same plane, obeying the same rules." He inhaled. "Their rules."

Jamie was as taken aback as Ada, stuck in a similar silence as he took in Avery's words.

"It's almost a noble thought, if you think of it," said Avery, deciding to share his true opinions on the matter. He had seen some good in what the demons wanted, some fairness. But the way they'd spoken of it, with such malice in their sentences, a taint of vengeance on their tongues, had made him uncomfortable. "But their means of doing so..."

"Did they explain those?" Ada returned to the conversation, her words curt, her feathers ruffled. She wasn't shocked anymore. Her fingers had straightened out and her jaw was tight—she was pissed.

Pissed at what? Because the demons wanted to blow up the place she was instructed to send all her spirits to? Or because they'd be forcing her to mingle with humans and with all sorts of other creatures she likely feared or hated?

Avery's teeth gritted. "They'll use Jessamine as an incubator. Their words, not mine. Once she has them all inside..." He pinched his lips. "She'll nurture them, feed them with her energy, I guess, then let them out, where they can go on doing whatever they need to to change the world."

"The rest of their powers?" Ada waved at him to continue. "I need to know those. I had theories, and I must confirm or deny them."

There was no point beating around the bush anymore—Ada wanted answers, and Avery wanted to end this conversation as rapidly as possible. "Killing," he said, as a jolt of pain roared up his throat, reminded of the asphyxiation death Jessamine had planned for him. "Fire. They instill their former human knowledge onto their vessel. Oh, and per Jessamine, a few minutes ago, they have some kind of fast-flying ability, too."

Ada turned away from him. "Incubator, of course." She sent a hand through her silvery tresses. "She's a vessel, nothing more. Something to strengthen their orb-like forms so they can spread their cult without needing to possess others. Once they're grouped together inside her..." She hovered upwards, fixating on the obscuring sky. "We Guides have the human knowledge and the fast travel, too. I had assumed it would be the same for them. The fire," she dropped her gaze to Avery and frowned, "that's also something I presumed. Which means they made the house explode, and I predicted that. Not that I'm happy to have been right."

Avery stretched out his legs, wondering if he was ready to stand up yet. "Did they think the house exploding would destroy the portal?"

Ada raised her shoulders. "That I'm unsure of." Her hand stroked her chin. "The killing, though disturbing, is also predictable. But they need strength for that, I assume. So... energy. Their sunlight needs? Was I correct about that? Do they get sufficient sun in their realm? It's not actual sunlight, it can't be."

Flashes of images scrolled through Avery's mind. Fangs and claws dipped in blood, mouths glued to necks, slurping from throats, red liquid drizzling from corners of lips.

He'd almost forgotten the worst, most messed-up part of all.

He rubbed his eyes. "I have no idea if the light in there was actual sun. And sunlight can energize them, from what they told me, but what they really need is," he gulped, "blood. Human blood. In moderate doses, but for someone like Jessamine, housing thousands of demons..."

"Fuck," whispered Jamie, fidgeting next to Avery. He scrubbed his face and seemed to suppress a chill. "Blood? Ugh. She'd need pints of it."

"Oh," said Ada, her mouth forming an O of surprise. She turned rigid and her eyes twitched. Avery imagined she was about to burst, and pictured her lashing out, breaking things, howling out a string of blush-worthy curses.

But that wasn't her style; she remained ominously calm, despite her extremities trembling and her entire demeanor unsettled.

"What you discovered," she said, snapping from her moment of tension, her gaze concentrating on the basement's hole. "It adds to my knowledge. Their goals, their powers, their... blood-thirst... oh, dear." She puffed out a breath so intense that her body doubled over once it was released. "We can't fight blood-feasting freaks like them. We can't fight fire, we..." She sucked in her lips and rubbed them together nervously. "Guides... we have powers, too. Electricity, traveling, like I said, possession and defensive style abilities... but we can't harm, not really. And especially not spirits."

"They're not spirits," said Jamie, groaning as he got to his feet. "They're demons."

Ada rounded on him as if he'd delivered a blow to her back and startled her, urging her to straighten her body. "And what are demons but spirits who have gone rogue, young man?"

Avery had been about to say the same thing—but when he realized what it meant, he froze. "Shit."

Ada watched him while addressing Jamie. "They developed into something else, true, but their foundation, their core, is spiritual in nature. Which means," she twisted her body towards Avery, switching her speech to him, "we, Guides, cannot harm demons."

Avery had felt it coming, and didn't know how to react aside from huffing. He looked up at Jamie, who looked down at him. Both shrugged, dragged their hands down their faces, and blew out tremendous sighs, weighed with worry and regret and fright.

What the fuck do we do now?

"Cool," said Avery, forcing himself to stand up. His legs were still wobbly, but he wouldn't sit still and watch as Ada told them they were fucked. Not without trying to do something about it. "So it's two humans against an army of demons inside a really, really enraged and over-possessed woman? Great odds, Ada. Great odds."

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