The darkness was empty.

Everywhere I looked was nothing. A dark, empty void. I wasn't sure which way was up. Here, there was no gravity, no light, no current, no sensation. Just me, my racing heart, and the endless black nothing stretching on and on in every direction. I floated in this nothing, like I was suspended in water, though I felt no wetness on my skin and I could breath just as easily as I did on land.

Where was I?

The last thing I remembered was falling, solid ground giving way to...

My eyes slowly began to adjust to the darkness. I could see my hands in front of me, see my hair floating around my head from the corners of my eyes. I turned, trying to make sense of where I was. Above me were splotches of slightly lighter darkness, like being beneath the surface of a murky lake... Only it was like I was sinking to the bottom, never to be found. A shiver of panic began to creep through me.

Where was I?!

I thrashed my limbs, trying to push myself upwards, reaching for the surface, but it did nothing. I couldn't move. I was stuck. I could only float helplessly in the middle of this nothing and sink further and further down.

My heart was pounding in my chest, in my ears. I wanted out. I needed out. It was like the darkness was pressing in... I glanced around frantically looking for something to help me. Anything.

Something caught my eye. In the distance, just beyond the shadow's edge... Something was just floating there, like me. I squinted, trying to make it out...

When my eyes finally focussed on it, my pounding heart stuttered.

Floating there, in the nothingness, was a corpse.

I opened my mouth to scream but nothing came out. I tried to push away from it, clawing at the nothingness to get away, but of course that did nothing.

I was stuck in here with a dead body.

It took another moment for me to realize that I... I recognized the body. It was the very same corpse from my dream. The floating corpse of the drowned girl. One of the ghost girls...

⟢ ⟡ ⟣

A small, rusted-out compact shot out of the cloud. It flew past me, missing me by inches. I was spun around—propelled by the force of the passing car—and came face to face with a bloated corpse. I choked on my scream and toppled over, the grit of the pavement gouging into the palms of my hands. I ignored the pain and scrambled back, eager to get away.

But waterlogged body didn't chase after me, like I expected it to; it hung limp in the air, hovering a few inches above the ground. Its hair drifted around its rotten head like it was still floating in the water from which it was dragged.

I staggered back to my feet, readying myself to run in any direction... But something caught my eye. Something about the body... It—she? The state of her body made it hard to tell—was wearing pajamas. Wet pajamas. They clung to the grey, swollen body.

⟢ ⟡ ⟣

She had appeared in my dream, in my world. Now it was like I was in her world, floating in the nothing just like she was. I watched her, floating, waiting for her to move or jump or lunge like they do in horror movies...

Suddenly the lights overhead began to glow brighter, chasing back the darkness and blinding me. I barely had enough time to shield my eyes when something whipped out of nowhere and wrapped tightly around my middle. It squeezed the air out of me as it ripped me upwards, into the light.

I landed hard on a wooden floor. Lights danced in my eyes and I rolled over and groaned, gripping my ribs. Fucking ouch.

"Dammit! Careful!"

Someone was already at my side. Flaming red hair, a terrifying scowl... Polly.

"You could've hurt her!" Polly snapped at someone nearby.

"She'll be fine," came the reply in a voice as thin and delicate as paper.

Easy enough for them to say... I massaged my ribs and blinked, trying to clear the spots clouding my view. "What the hell happened?" I rasped.

Polly looked down at me and grimaced, like she wasn't sure she wanted to share the details. "Matilda had to, uh, transport you."

"Transport?" I groaned.

"It was just a simple shadowing," came the papery voice—Matilda.

Shadowing? It took a second for my dazed mind to catch up. The falling, the darkness, the unceremonious dump onto the floor. I tried to piece the details together...

"She, uh," Polly stuttered, looking anywhere but me. She looked sort of guilty. "She carried you out of Luc's inside... inside her shadow."

"Inside her shadow?!" I echoed loudly.

Polly ran her hand through her wild red hair. "Yeah."

I just stared at her for a minute. The sensible, logical side of myself wanted to argue that it would've been impossible, but I had no argument. I'd grown to realize that nothing in this world was impossible anymore.

Still clutching my sides, I carefully drew myself up to my knees and looked at my surroundings. It was true, as they said—I was no longer in the shop. Now I was in an unfamiliar room, so small and grimy it was almost suffocating. But that might've had more to do with the mountains of crap that surrounded me on all sides. Piles of books were stacked high and teetered on every surface. Papers were shoved into every nook and cranny. And dust... the dust was everywhere. I coughed, pulling up the hem of my shirt to cover my mouth.

"Shadowing was the easiest way around that barrier," Matilda continued, appearing around the side of one of the stacks. "Don't worry, it's completely safe, though perhaps a little disorienting."

Safe... I scoffed. Regardless of what she said, I hadn't felt safe in there. The floating corpse resurfaced in my mind. "You sure? 'Cause there was someone else in there."

Matilda stopped what she was doing, then slowly turned to look at me. Her milky-white eyes grazed over my face. I felt the pressure of her gaze again, like hundreds of soft finger tracing my features. "Are you sure? You should've been alone," she said.

A shiver shook through me. "I wasn't."

Polly and Matilda exchanged a wordless glance.

"How unusual," Matilda said, looking back to me. Her placid expression didn't show any alarm. "Perhaps I should take a look you." And with that she disappeared into the stacks of books again.

I looked at Polly and tried to search her face for some sort of warning, but her expression was just as calm as Matilda's. She offered me her hand.

I took it and climbed shakily to my feet. "Where are we?"

"This is Matilda's home," Polly said watching me carefully, like she expected me to crumple again.

I glanced around again at the never ending mess. This is where Polly had been staying for the past few months?! "Yikes," was all I could think of to say.

Polly just sighed and nodded, as if to say, Yeah, I know.

"Wait," I said as it dawned on me. "But Matilda's house is like several hours away from downtown."

"Yeah," Polly replied, quirking her brow like she didn't understand what I was getting at. "And?"

I just gaped at her, not sure what I could say. It hadn't felt like I had been in the shadow for that long. Time had felt different in there... Disorienting, indeed.

Matilda reappeared again, dragging a chair behind her. The chair was old and wooden, but elaborately carved to look like vines all twisted up together. She dropped it in front of Polly.

"Put this in the centre, will you?" she asked, then tottered off again.

Polly as she did as she was told. She grabbed the chair and dragged it down a narrow path made in the piles.

"The centre of what?" I asked, following after her. I didn't want to be left alone in here. I felt like I might get lost or—worse—crushed beneath a tumbling tower of books.

"You'll see," Polly said as she wove effortlessly between the piles of stuff, chair and me in tow.

Finally the towering mess dwindled, opening up into a wide, circular room. It was the only space I had seen so far that wasn't covered and cluttered with crap. The wooden floor was clear, with thick white lines that traced around the perimeter. Then the lines met and criss-crossed through the centre of the circle, forming a many pointed star and a smaller circle in the centre.

"W-what...?" I stuttered, glancing around. I had so many questions, I didn't even know where to start. I lingered on the edge of it, afraid to cross the line.

"It's a ritual circle," Matilda said, answering a question I hadn't even formulated.

Damn Psychics.

"It helps concentrate and focus our magic for our most difficult spells," Matilda continued. She walked over to the newly-placed chair and beckoned to me. "Now, if you could please take a seat and let me take a look at you..."

I glanced at Polly, gauging her reaction. Is this safe...?

Polly's brow was a little tense, but she still looked pretty calm. she blithely stepped inside the circle and placed the chair in the centre, just like Matilda had asked. When she caught me staring at her, she nodded. "It's okay," she said. "Go ahead."

I trusted Polly, so if Polly trusted Matilda, then I guess I could trust her, too. I took a deep breath and made a tentative step into the circle. I waited for a moment and when nothing happened, I took another step. Still fine. I was okay.

I released the breath I was holding and walked over to the chair and sat down. I gripped the armrests to stop from trembling. "So, what are you going to do?"

Matilda smiled gently at me, and placed her delicate hand on my cheek. When she looked at me like that, I was suddenly reminded of my loving, doting grandmother.

"Do you remember what I said before I pulled you into my shadow?" she asked.

I didn't. It was all kind of a blur of hangover and heady emotions... I shook my head.

"Well," she said, tilting her head to the side. "You're not alone in there, Rachel. Someone has taken up residence inside your body."

"What?"

"A spirit has entered you. Possessed you."

My whole body went cold.

How?

A distant memory came trickling back of my drunken bender the night before. A weak, fractured memory of the stairs and the mirror and the cold, wet arms wrapped around my chest...

...a thick, gurgling voice whispered in my ear. "I can help you... if you let me."

Did I let them in?

What had I done? What had I agreed to?

My breaths started coming in fast and ragged as panic set in.

Someone was inside me.

I was possessed.

Matilda clucked her tongue and stroked my cheek. "Don't worry, my dear. It's okay. You'll be okay. You're in good hands now..."

Suddenly the wooden chair twisted beneath me, winding around my arms and legs, holding me in place.

Matilda grinned. "You see, I can get them out."

🔮

Who do you think the bloated corpse is?
What do you they want with Rachel?