It was like being trapped in an old-timey movie. One depicting a western setting, but minus actors. Minus any form of life. Not even any stray cactuses or tumbleweeds to blow through and give a dramatic illusion.

There was no drama. There was nothing; nothing but pebbles, some rocks, and a few skeletons sticking out of the sepia-colored dirt.

And the further they walked, Jessamine wrinkled her nostrils, trying to glance away from those skeletons, but they were everywhere.

"Is there no other way to this door?" She focused ahead on the horizon, devoid of trees or any kind of landscape to look at. This place truly was a wasteland with nothing but a forest here or there, and bones on the ground. "This is... disturbing."

"If it helps," Landon snuck his hand in Jessamine's, making her shiver at his sudden contact, "I don't think they're real. There haven't been any living humans down here to justify any rotting corpses, and the demons can't do anything without a host, remember? They don't have bodies, so these can't be their bones." He chuckled. "I'm pretty sure they're just... ambiance. Decoration. To really drive that point home—that you're not getting out of here. You know?"

Jessamine side-glanced at him, sucking in a smile. He hadn't changed a bit, though he'd softened from his years in this desert-like captivity. He'd always had a dark sense of humor, an obscurity to his soul. A deep imagination and a skill for seeing things others didn't. It was what had drawn Jessamine to him—a drop-dead gorgeous man who was so snarky it was sexy, and so sexy it hurt.

Thankfully, the skeletons disappeared, replaced by thorny bushes that lined the sort of pathway they'd made for themselves. It was straight ahead into nothingness.

Dirt caked over her shoes, leaving a sepia film of dust over the edges. "You remember everything, then?" Jessamine removed her hand from Landon's and stuffed it into her rear pocket. "Everything from that night? From the house?"

Landon let out a slow sigh. "I wish I could forget, but I guess it's part of my curse to remember. But," he rubbed her back, "I don't know your side of things. What happened to you was different from what happened to us, wasn't it?"

Gulping, Jessamine looked down at her feet, fixating on the dirt. "I was the prophesied one, so yeah, totally different." Tension strung through her and despite Landon's gentle rubbing of her back, she gritted her teeth. "That Guide, Ada... she should have killed me, too. But the prophecy wouldn't allow it, and she's a stickler for rules, from what I understand. So she threw me out, and another Guide possessed me to block my memories and attempt to stop or postpone the prophecy. I forgot all of it. Maybe it was a blessing, I don't know. But then..."

She lifted her chin, peering up at the dimmed sky, at the colorless clouds shifting across it, temporarily blinding her. The sun—if it was a sun—was masked for a moment, allowing her to actually visualize the sky's true color; an off-beige, like an old wallpaper peeling off from an ancient mansion's facade.

"Then what, Jess?" Landon slowed his pace and quit rubbing her back. "What happened next? What brought all your memories back? Something had to have triggered them."

Avery.

She hadn't wanted to tell Landon, to talk about Avery with him. Mentioning him was a risk, with Landon's jealousy, with his eerie sense of possessiveness over Jessamine. It had been three years, sure; but so far he'd proven he was more or less the same guy. For all Jessamine knew, those three years had felt like three days to Landon.

But the discussion was inevitable. Avery was at the root of all she'd done, all she'd been through. He was undeniably tethered to her, even while she was stuck down in the demonic realm. Landon had to know, if he was to be Jessamine's guide during all this. If they were to be here together, potentially forever.

She winced. "Then Avery happened. And Amy, her disappearance, the documentary..."

Landon grabbed her arm, stopping her. "Whoa, what? Details, please?" He resumed walking, but at a steadier pace, distancing himself so he could watch Jessamine as she spoke. "I may know everything about the prophecy and all those details, but what happened to you during those three years... enlighten me, would you? It's been so long."

Of course he wanted the details; Landon loved stories, loved listening to adventures and picturing them in his mind. He was a huge movie buff, Jessamine recalled; tales and characters and quests were his thing.

But this was no tale; this was her life.

"I saw a video on the news," she said, something tightening in her gut. Before, when she'd speak of the documentary, she'd grow aggressive, nauseous, not in control.

Faz isn't in me anymore. Speaking of this won't affect me, will it?

"It was the last moments of Amy LaRoya, a paranormal investigator who'd stumbled upon the house containing the ghost portal. The same house we visited and... didn't quite survive." Jessamine took a deep breath, then regretted it as the stench of decay and blood filled her nostrils. "The video triggered me, and my mom just so happened to show up at that moment and she... explained everything. After the house, our failed exploration of it, I ended up in the hospital, in a coma. I walked there from the house. Mom knew it all; she had all the footage from my phone, and the doctors ordered her to keep it away from me, to not mess with my memory. My health. But I demanded to know, so..."

"Yikes," Landon flinched, gazing away from Jessamine, "a tad overprotective? She wouldn't even tell you you were in a coma?"

"They all worried that if I remembered it would be detrimental to me. And it was," Jessamine swallowed, "because once my memories started coming back, I was restless. Weird and violent, lots of nightmares. Aggressive attitudes I didn't recognize in myself. And it all got worse with Avery's arrival."

Landon paused again, this time without tapping Jessamine's shoulder. She spun to watch him as he scrunched his eyebrows and cocked his head. "Wait, Avery... are you talking about Avery Boomer? That dude with the paranormal YouTube channel?"

Jessamine blinked at him, taken aback. She tended to forget Avery was a tad famous, what with his million followers and all. "You know him? I didn't know he was a name three years ago."

"Barely. I know of him," said Landon, brushing his fingers through his tresses, a splotch of red over his cheeks. "He was still building his audience back then, but his name was out there. Angela," he cringed, "she really liked paranormal stuff, in reality. She watched his videos religiously. Sometimes even talked about bumping into him while clubbing and asking him for... well, there's no point talking about that now."

Jessamine froze, icy chills streaming down her back. The coincidence was too much for her, and she knelt, placing her hands on her knees. "Well," she took another breath of gross air, "that explains why she got us all high on drugs and drunk and drove us out to a creepy forest at night. Was she trying to replicate something she saw in one of his videos?"

Landon snorted as he helped Jessamine to get herself upright again and resume their stroll. "To be honest, I have no idea. She told me of the place, what she wanted to do, and I executed the plan. But that does sound about right. And what about Amy?"

"You know of her, too?" Jessamine rolled her shoulders, cracked her neck. She felt sore, as if she'd spent days walking in this wasteland, instead of the twenty or so minutes since they'd left their shelter of trees.

"Yeah, because there's no Avery without Amy, and vice-versa. You mentioned her full name, and that's how I registered who Avery was." Landon made hand gestures as he spoke; similarly to when he was alive, he was an active guy who got deep into his speeches and wanted to ensure everyone was paying attention. He loved to listen, yes; but he also loved to be listened to. "They got each other into this stuff, them and that other guy, Jamie? Jamie," he grimaced, "fuck, that's the one you killed? Damn. He seemed like the normal one of the bunch. Avery and Amy were super close, if I remember right. In the paranormal community, some said they were—"

Jessamine huffed. "They were only fucking, okay?"

Landon shrugged. "Okay... well, anyway, you said the last moments of Amy LaRoya, what did that mean? What happened to her?"

Jessamine's fists tightened. "She disappeared. Or... well, from what I understand she entered the house, and..."

"Ah." Landon's voice lowered. "She was in the house, which means she..."

Liquid tickled Jessamine's eye, but she sniffled to erase it, not wanting to drown in another round of tears. "Killed by the Guides for getting too close. I don't know where she is now..." She perked up, peering around.

Landon shook his head, knowing exactly where her mind had gone. "No, she's not here. I would have known. I've combed every inch of this place, and I'm the only human. Well, aside from you. The others, Angela and those I was sucked in here with... they're not here either, but that doesn't rule out them having become demons. I already told you, it wouldn't surprise me if Angela did. But I've never seen Amy. Whatever determines where a spirit goes, it didn't put her in here."

Jessamine frowned. "She's dead, either way, and the Guides confirmed it to Avery. It was... devastating. He pulled out so many stops to find her, only to discover she'd been dead the moment she started recording the place. And in passing, they told him he was the other part of the prophecy, and," Jessamine snickered, "well, everything sort of went downhill from there, yeah?"

"So it's true." Landon halted his steps again. "The demons said it. They called him out by name. Avery Boomer—the one linked to you, meant to either enable you or finish you off?"

Jessamine's eyes widened. "You eavesdropped on that, and you only tell me now?"

Landon pinched the bridge of his nose. "I didn't want to believe that one. It was too much; an amateur paranormal investigator destined to be connected to you and be your demise, or allow you to wreak havoc on the planet? No, I didn't want it to be true."

Jessamine didn't like Landon calling Avery an amateur—and she doubted Avery would be okay with it, either—but she nodded, confirming the demon's words. "It is true. He did finish me off—he pushed me in here."

"Asshole." Landon spat, then wiped his mouth, his eyes turning dark. "You know I saved him when he was in here, right?"

"What?" Jessamine lost her balance and stumbled slightly backwards. "He was in here?"

She remembered finding him sprawled out in front of the demon door, but his conversation with the demons controlling her was vague. She blacked out a lot, sometimes on purpose, to avoid seeing and tasting the blood they consumed to keep her strong.

"He was. The door recognized him as the one who enabled you; that's what the demons whispered about, after he was gone." Landon waved at her to keep walking. "He got in, he talked to the demons, he learned what he needed to get shit working on the outside, I assume." He distanced himself again, but this time not to look at her. In fact, he didn't look at her at all, and she felt the tension radiating off him. "I saw him from afar. Didn't know who he was at first, it was hard to recognize him... but now it all makes sense."

Jessamine massaged her temples, processing the information.

Avery was in here? For real? He came to the demons... for what?

"His voice was familiar," Landon cringed, "after all the times I'd spent listening to Angela fawning over it. I could tell he was human, not a spirit meant to become a demon, so I watched closely." His nostrils flared. "And then when the demons started to swarm him, I knew I had to try something."

Jessamine choked on her own saliva. "Swarmed him? They... tried to possess him, you mean?"

Landon dismissed her question. "I gathered up all the nasty demonic realm air I could, and I screamed." He puffed up his cheeks, as if he were about to mimic that scream; but he let all the oxygen out in one lengthy breath. "It scared the demons, dispersed them, and gave Avery a chance to leave. The door wanted him out, so I helped. But now I hear he chose to end you, to push you in here?" He growled. "I shouldn't have saved him."

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