"She's alive, she's trapped? And there's no escape," Avery gulped, his saliva grating down his throat as if it were lined with daggers, "but alive. And there's... other ways?"

Ada squinted at him. "What do you mean? Other ways to do what?"

"Other ways to figure out what's going on down there. If she can't get out, she can't get out... I'm not sure I believe you, but for now, I'll have to accept that. But can I... talk to her?" Avery's fingers were jittery at the notion of potentially hearing Jessamine's voice again. Her real voice; not the one drenched in darkness, appealing and sexy as it had been. He missed her, the real Jessamine, her dulcet tones and arching eyebrows and the scowls she was so prone to giving him—before she transformed into his biggest nightmare, his worst enemy.

Well, he'd only be able to listen to her, in this case, but it'd be their only alternative.

"You want to talk to Jessamine?" Ada was the one scowling now, and it didn't have the same effect on Avery as Jessamine's eyes did. "Amidst all this, and with what we discovered, you want to speak to her? Our realm is the priority, Avery, not hers. I'm sorry, but we don't have time to track her down and chit-chat with her about the state of her demonic dimension and if it's worth saving the demons within it."

"But you're saying it's possible, right?" Avery puffed up his chest. "Ghosts can manifest in our world, even if they can't talk or touch; so can those in the demon realm do something similar?"

"Avery, you're not listening to me." Ada shook her head. "This is not the time or place to—"

"—yeah, you don't give a shit about the demonic dimension and those inside it, I get that." He raised a bunched fist at her. "But did you stop to think what would happen if those who might invade their dimension got out into ours? Once they're done with demons, do you think they'll kick back and relax, or figure out how to sneak into our world and contribute to its destruction?"

Ada's jaw dropped, then popped into place. "I... no, I hadn't thought of that." She appeared to melt off her frame as realization hit her. "Demons were bad, but anything horrifying enough to be locked in their realm... no, no I don't want to imagine what'd happen if they got into our world. That's a terrifying notion indeed."

"So, as I was saying," Avery lowered his fist, unclenching it, "is there a way to talk to Jessamine? We need to determine what the situation is down there. Up there? Over there?" He shook himself. "Anyway, she needs to be aware of what's going on here, too, so she can prepare. I'm not implying she should save the demons, but... she might have to set up some barrages to prevent anything else from getting out of there. Or any of our monsters from getting in her realm."

"Well..." Ada's hands were twitchy as she spun to the house. "Demons can't manifest, and the demonic dimension has different rules from Limbo, as far as I've been told. But," she whipped around, brows reaching upward, "they can target someone and speak to them through the door. They did it with Jessamine, to draw her to them, and if I'm correct, they did it to you, too, when you entered their territory?"

Avery nodded, recalling the ominous whispers that, though he couldn't comprehend much of them, yanked him towards the door, compelling him to open it. "But I broke that connection. I betrayed the demons in there, I lied to them. So the door might not let me use it to communicate?"

"Jessamine had a tether to the realm. She was the emissary, the vessel. You..." Ada winced. "Yes, you may have turned the door and the realm against you, but not Jessamine. She's in there, and I'd assume she's alive, for sure. So though you're no longer connected to the place, that doesn't mean no one can hear you on the other side. It's still possible."

"Exactly," Avery folded his arms, "I have a tether to her. The vessel. She's contained in there, but that doesn't sever our connection, right? That's still active? The demonic woman and the man meant to be her demise? Or is that all nullified now that we've fulfilled the prophecy?"

"Technically... yes." Ada clasped her hands behind her back; a weird vision, since she was part see-through, and Avery could see her hands joined. They trembled slightly, and her posture grew stiffer than usual. "The prophecy was completed, but I doubt that would disconnect the two of you. Your bond is abnormally strong. I'd be more worried about the fact that you're on different planes of existence, different timelines, different places, but... it's worth a shot."

"Perfect, so then let's get to it." Avery strode towards the house, Ada on his heels. As he reached out for the doorknob, though, she swept in front of him, blocking him, frowning. "What? Did we not agree?"

"You don't know how this works, and we need a minute to... brainstorm." Ada firmly barred his route to the door, her cold energy shifting him backwards a few paces.

"OK, fine, so how do I do it? How do I talk to Jessamine through a door to another world? A door that probably hates me?" His face contorted as he understood he'd been about to trek down to the basement without even knowing exactly what he was doing.

I'll scream at that wood until something happens, something activates.

The tiniest part of him almost wished for the demon door to open and swallow him, so he could be with Jessamine inside. There was nothing left for him here, and though he'd agreed to help, he truly didn't want to be a part of this inter-dimensional, dinosaur-infested world war amongst supernatural beings. It was too much, after all he'd been through, and to find a reassuring, familiar face would be more than welcome. Even if that face was in an atrocious place like the demon dimension.

The only thing stopping him was not being sure Jessamine was herself again. She was most likely alive, okay; but what if the demons were still in her, fighting to get out of the realm? What if they still plotted down there, and she'd never be who she once was? Damaged, tainted, forever filled with the monsters she'd consented to swallow to fulfill her destiny?

"The issue is that she was thrown into the Nevada side of the dimension, and I'm not sure how things work in there." Ada twisted to the door, eyeing the door-knob she'd barred Avery from touching. "This might not go the way you'd expect, but I guess if you don't try... we'll regret it."

"So, what, I just go down there and yell until someone answers?" Avery sneered. "Or the door answers, or I get zapped or sucked in or something? Is there a ritual of some kind, a technique to use to make this work?"

Ada grimaced, using her power to open the door. "No yelling. Get close enough to the entrance to sense its energy, to feel a little destabilized by its presence. Don't attempt to open it, don't touch it, actually. If necessary, barely graze it with your fingertips."

Avery recoiled. "Yeah, I definitely wasn't planning on touching that thing ever again."

He winced as he caught himself in his own lie, hoping Ada wouldn't detect it. He had planned on touching it—on jumping in to rescue Jessamine, changing his mind. Or joining her so he wouldn't have to live in misery without her or his best friends.

But in the few moments since Ada had halted his progress into the house, he'd let all these thoughts churn. Abandoning this world, hiding in another? That wasn't Avery. He wasn't the kind to give up, to choose the easy option. And he'd committed to lending his humanity to Ada in this crazy battle against portal-dwelling beasts he'd never known about until now.

The least he could do was try to warn Jessamine of what might be awaiting her in her new life, in her new world.

Ada lingered in the threshold, peering towards the stairs. "Once you sense that a sort of connection has formed, speak. Summon her, use her name often and repeatedly. If she's in there somewhere, she should hear you."

"Should hear me. But will she be able to respond?" Avery stepped into the new house, breathing in its strangely stale air. The building was different on the outside, yet within, it had the same abandoned stench, the same despair and obscurity from years and years of neglect. Dust and splatters of red on the crown molding, chipped banisters and doorways leading into rooms of worse filth.

Why would the Guides purposely build something so revolting? They didn't let humans get close enough to enter this place—Amy aside—so what was the point of making their permanent dwelling so depressing? So downgraded and foul-smelling?

No time for these questions, dude.

"It'll depend on how their world functions. Avery," Ada rested a hand over his shoulder, infusing him with her chilly energy, "this is a risky thing to do, you getting so close to the door after what you did. It might have a bad reaction, it might suck you in, like you said, and the demons on the other side... I can't begin to describe the ways they might try to torture you for it all. Jessamine may be there, she may save you; but she may be elsewhere, or still controlled, and..."

"Yeah," Avery deflated as the door closed behind him, draping him in darkness, "I'd thought of that, too. I'd wondered if they were still occupying her body, plotting. But I guess it's a risk I have to take, right?"

"We cannot let anything get through that door, ever again." Ada cringed. "Including Jessamine herself, because we can't trust that she'll be rid of the demons. Don't make any promises about getting her out, if you do talk to her."

Avery ground his teeth. Of course he'd hoped to find a means to release her, and now he knew if he tried, Ada would block him at every turn. He was only allowed to talk to her, and stick his neck out for doing so. No saving. No reuniting.

Ada's hand went through his shoulder, sending shivers up and down his arm. "Good luck, Avery. Make it quick—ask her what's going on in there, tell her what's going on with us, and come back up. I'll be waiting near the door; I'd rather not go down there for a long, long time."

Avery wished he didn't have to go down there, either. If the ground floor smelled the way it did now—rust and rot and disrepair—he had no doubt the basement would have retained its odor of blood and death. He wasn't ready for it to attack his nostrils, to settle in his mouth, coating his tongue and making him gag. Wasn't prepared for it to sit in his belly and upset it, rumble it. For it to traipse around in his brain and bring back the memories of all his basement encounters. Kissing a demonic Jessamine, nearly being suffocated by her, watching her possessors slit his best friend's throat—none of it had processed in Avery's mind yet, but he had no choice.

She needed a warning before all hell literally broke loose.

"If she can respond, she will," said Ada, nudging him forward with her power. "Go, get it over with."

Avery's legs moved out of his own volition, leading him forward, toward a door on the side of the massive staircase. Whispers whirled about in his head as he got closer—muted muttering he couldn't understand, hisses of words that seemed to pull him, tug at his limbs to get him to hurry up.

The demon door spoke to him, demanded his approach—and he couldn't delay any longer. He opened the basement door and sped down the steps, holding his breath, bracing for the impact.

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