Idris Point of View

Demon girl's phone buzzed.

But her fingers froze mid-air, the wine glass in her hand tilting slightly as the message lit her screen. She didn't speak. Didn't blink. Just stared, her pupils tightening into something sharp and unreadable.

The air shifted around her, like the temperature dropped a degree, and for a moment, I could hear nothing but the slow drip of music from the event's string quartet across the room. It felt... distant now. Like the party was happening through a wall of glass, and we were standing behind it.

She set the glass down on the marble counter carefully, too carefully — and stepped back like the floor beneath her had just become something uncertain.

What is it?

Why do I have a very bad feeling when I look at her like this?

I stepped closer. "What is it?"

She did something terrible, didn't she?

I've seen her make terrible mistake and stay cool, calm and guiltless all the time. Now, looking at a hint of anxiety, guilt and much more on her pearl makeup face –

I have a very bad feeling.

Her lips parted, then closed again. I watched her breath leave her in a slow, uneven stream — and then she pressed the phone against her chest like it might leak something out into the room.

"Zephyra." I even called out her real name which I don't do at all but she didn't meet my eyes.

"I... might have made a mistake," She said, so softly I almost didn't catch it.

Mistake?

Is does them always and quite ritually so. What new mistake could she do that might cause her to look like a shrivelled cucumber right now?

My stomach tightened. "What kind of mistake?"

If possible, I want to pull her to an available vacant room and force the answer out of her all at once.

This suspense, I cannot bear with it at all.

"A house. One of them. It activated. On its own." I stared at her intently.

For a moment there, I did not understand at all. All the words she said, I know them but putting them together, it did not make sense.

At least at first.

Until I chanted it over and over - One of them. It activated. On its own.

One of them. It activated. On its own!

One of them. It activated. On its own?

Huh?

"I thought the activation process was manual." Although I don't believe in her magical nonsense at all, I still know how to make sense with some things.

Like electricity have switches to operate,

Like machine has buttons to operate,

These so-called super houses are manually operated too. Otherwise option is not considered possible at all

"It is." Her voice cracked slightly. "It was." Just freaking give me all the answer in one whole sentence, damn it.

I'm dying of anxiety!

I lowered my voice. "Zephyra, talk to me. Slowly."

She bit her lower lip - another rare thing.

"I was assembling components for the activation cycle," she said finally. "You know, testing compatibility. The crystal-thread leyline tracers, the memory sigils, the planetary anchors..."

She waved her hand vaguely in the air, like that clarified anything. I narrowed my eyes.

"I'm going to pretend I know what the hell those are. Keep going."

"I didn't mean to activate it," she said. "It was a full calibration run. I was measuring how stable the energy resonance across the amulet-linked grid was."

Still not helpful. "English, Zephyra."

She turned, stepping closer to the wall, pressing her palm flat against the cool stone surface like she needed something solid to lean against.

"I assembled the whole formation. Fully. For the first time. Not just parts. I... I wanted to feel what a complete grid would do when it had access to the full material set and the environmental triggers."

My heart dropped a little.

"And then?"

She looked at me, her voice barely a whisper now. "Then I forgot to take it apart."

A silence hit us — not empty, but heavy. Like a full room where everyone had just heard a gun cock.

"You forgot," I repeated. Again; slowly this time. Like if I said it gently, the truth might reshape into something less idiotic.

"I forgot." She repeated affirmatively.

I thought for a moment and then suddenly posed the question of the century. "So what?"

"What do you mean so what? Of course, if a super house is activated all by itself, the energy will attract the people towards it." She said in an exasperating tone.

"Okay... so you are saying... you know what, nevermind. Let's just go home and see what the heck is going on. I can't believe that some electrical activation is such a big deal."

"Spiritual activation!"

"Same difference. Same difference." I waved it off and pulled her to the parking lot.

We soon drove back to Valen mansion where everyone was waiting for us very anxiously. I can understand Oreo and Via's anxiety because they have been with demon girl since young and had seen her make several terrible mistakes.

Why is my family anxious? Even if they believe in her metaphysical nonsense, they don't even know the depths of trouble this suddenly activation caused.

Sometimes, I think my family loves and believes demon girl more than their own son.

Huh! My life!

"Oreo" Demon girl ran to her best friend and asked anxiously, "What is the situation. Which of the super houses activated by itself? I ran a trial on six of them recently; which of them were left assembled by me?"

Oreo, with a very serious and troubled expression, "The most troublesome one."

"What do you mean? Which one?"

"The 'Spirit whispering' house." As soon as the words came out, for the first time ever, demon girl's face went extremely pale... almost transparent.

"Which one?"

"The spirit whispering house." Oreo and Via repeated together.

Everyone in my family is acting anxiously as well and I bet my whole head of hair on it, they don't even know what this spirit whispering house is all about.

They just want to be anxious with everyone else. That's it.

"So, what exactly is this 'Spirit Whispering' house?" I took up the opportunity to ask the question that everyone wants to know.

Demon girl, still in her pale transparent self, did not forget to explain it herself.

"It is a super house where the visitors can either talk to the dead who are constantly in mind or to those dead ancestors of their choice for some advice or something."

Okay. Sounds like a haunted house, but with a twist to me.

However, no matter what, a haunted house is a haunted house with or without a twist.

Thinking about spirits, I felt an involuntary shiver in my spine. I still couldn't forget the day when I was possessed by that dramatic female spirit on the debate event.

Such a terrific experience.

She built a super house for that so that everyone can experience something similar?

Is demon girl crazy? Or is she really becoming demonic?

"It is activated, alright. Now, why don't we just go deactivate it again? What's the fuss about?"

Oreo looked at me like I'd just asked if we could unplug an earthquake.

"You can't just deactivate it, Idris. Not anymore. Not when it's reached this phase," she said in a whisper, as if the walls themselves might hear her. "It's... open."

"Open?" I repeated. "Like a 24-hour spirit mart?"

Via winced. "No. Open as in... the veil's thinned. Between here and there. Spirits are listening now."

Demon girl stood still. Rigid. Her gaze lost somewhere beyond the antique chandelier, like she was tracing constellations on the ceiling. "It didn't just activate. It awakened. The grid completed itself — without me. I wasn't supposed to leave it exposed that long. Not during this moon phase."

"Moon phase," I muttered. "So it's the moon's fault. Not yours."

"I left the lunar seals on the east axis and forgot to reverse the harmonics," she snapped.

"Again, I feel like you're blaming rocks and geometry for this." I mumbled, scratching my chin in a frustrated manner. "So, what now? How we undo this? Can this be even undone?"

Via glanced at Oreo, then slowly said, "Zephy... tell us. What happens now?"

"Let's go there first and look at it. Thankfully, it's not one those houses that can appear and disappear according to the connections with right people. It is a solid structure that cannot move anywhere so I can only tell after I see it and know to what extent it is activated and what level of energy it contains." She answered.

Everyone – Which means the whole Valen family along with Oreo and Via, nodded and raced to their respective cars to go to the location.

Including Liana and my nephew, who are only five years old. I thought they would be scared and terrified but on contrary, they look extremely excited.

Soon, we reached the location where the super houses are built. Some are already ready; some are close to finish and a few are still in the early stages of construction.

We stopped before the house that has 'self-activated' and the moment demon girl saw it from outside, her whole body was stricken with extreme shock.

"What is it?" Everyone of us asked unanimously in same tone.

"My dear ancestors! What have I done?!"

What?

What happened?

What is it?

~*~*~*~*~*~

Hello Sweeties,

Next chapter is here. Enjoy!

What do you think about it? Boring?

What exactly might have happened with the activated super house?

Why is Idris still in semi-belief stage?

What new trouble did Zephyra bring upon the world and Valen family?

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Lady Prim