Five minutes?

How did that deadly and disturbing creature expect Arielle to gather her bearings, swallow down her nausea, and prowl through her impossible-to-breach barriers to get upstairs in five fucking minutes?

She'd barely been dealing with the excruciating migraine, barely managing the stomach aches when passing next to the stairs. So how was she supposed to ignore her body's woes and squeeze out of her perimeter as if it were no big deal? As if it wouldn't tear apart her insides and cause her to faint before she even reached the top?

"Fuck." She glared at the steps and sighted the windy blockade she'd noticed earlier. Its undulating waves beckoned her close and yet screamed at her to stay put, to not try anything stupid. So conflicting, so enticing, so difficult.

But what choice did she have?

"Join me up here, or... I'll snag you myself."

She imagined Penny piercing those horrifying claws through her skin, digging into her like a knife slicing through a tender chunk of meat. Sure, she was dead, but it would still hurt, wouldn't it? Would she bleed? Would she faint, disappear, die again? What happened to ghosts who perished a second time? Arielle wasn't immune to pain, her head and belly aches were proof of that. And a few chops from Penny's talons wouldn't leave her unscathed, that was certain. So where would she go from there?

Gulping, she sauntered a few inches forward, arms outstretched as if preparing to hit a brick wall. The wind's intensity whooshed through her fingertips and applied pressure to her face, her torso, her legs, preventing her from advancing much farther.

"Shit, come on, man." She huffed, pushing harder, trying to break through. "She's going to rip me apart. I have to get up there."

But the gust, if it even understood words or cared about them, grew harsher and jammed into her with more force, knocking her backwards. Whoever—or whatever—controlled it had no intention of letting her through to confront Penny upstairs. It had never been so direct until now; usually, it only hindered her from touching the first step, and it didn't reach out to stop her. But this time, the wind whipped at her like a spear threatening to stab her if she didn't get away.

Her nausea grew as she continued to push. "Let... me... through!" Her vision blurred and that all-too-familiar acidic taste took over every confine of her mouth, coating her tongue, clogging her throat. "Shit, stop it!"

She wanted to hurl her guts out, and yet nothing spewed from her mouth, nothing bubbled at the base of her esophagus. So she kept thrusting into the breeze, begging it to weaken, daring it to make an exception for her. She didn't want Penny to seize her, to devour her soul, to send her into a dimension of utter terror. She didn't want to fight to survive when she'd fought too often in her actual life.

This was death. She was dead, she'd made her peace with that; so why couldn't she rest? Why couldn't this realm let her move on to somewhere her mind would shut off and she wouldn't have to battle bullies to get answers? She'd received some answers, enough of them to feel somewhat satisfied, at least. So why did she have to go through all this?

An ominous, ear-piercing screech came from upstairs. "Come oooooooon, Arielle... clock is ticking!"

Arielle shuddered, losing a bit of strength and allowing the wind to shove her backwards once more. Her arms shook and her shoulders ached, as if she'd been driving into a wall of steel for the past hour. But it had only been a handful of minutes, and she was running out of time.

"I... cannot... give up," she said, gritting her teeth, clenching her fists, and resuming her war with the wind. She scrunched her face up and squinted, sucking in the surrounding energy as Penelope had taught her to. It filled her insides, wrapped around her bones and strengthened them—but would it be enough?

Her temples throbbed, her neurons were on fire, and she had trouble concentrating, yet she pushed. And pushed. And pushed. Eventually, she realized she'd made her way to being a few inches from the first step. Her eyesight was still foggy, and she couldn't feel her upper body from all the shoving, but she permitted herself a moment to smile. She was overcoming the agony, defying the odds, not letting anything stop her.

She was doing it for Stella; to reach this petrifying piece of crap that had terrified her into leaving their ghost-hunting trip. The one who had likely prompted her to make the mistakes leading to the house fire. Stella had traveled on to the Soul Realm, and she'd never get a chance to be face to face with the spirit that caused so many issues during their voyage, who had bullied them and rendered them paranoid. So Arielle would confront Penny for her.

And she was doing it for Jade. Because this monster had traumatized Jade in her childhood, and again in her teenage years, and Arielle had no doubt she'd played a role in her later death. And then this demon had the nerve to come back to traumatize Arielle and taunt her, because she loved Jade. So now, Arielle was doing this, pushing her boundaries, because of that love. And because no matter what Penny said, Arielle would never be able to confess that love to Jade.

The wind died down, though the barrier remained in place, see-through and sparkling, resembling a thin waterfall separating the entryway from the stairs. Arielle flipped around for a glimpse of Benny's corpse, and she realized she was doing it for him, too. He hadn't deserved such brutality, such horror. All he'd wanted were answers about the afterlife, and his insistence got him and his partner killed. It wasn't fair, and Arielle loathed Penelope and Penny for their involvement.

Was he in the Soul Realm? Or was he lying there because he was destined to stay in the Void, and waiting to wake up as Arielle had been not that long ago? A part of her yearned to linger and watch him, be there to welcome him once he woke, ensure he steered clear of Penelope and especially of Penny. But what use would she be to him if Penny swept down and ripped her to shreds?

No use at all. I have to get upstairs.

An eerie, elongated humming sound came from the middle bedroom, fluttering through the balcony railings and down the steps, hitting Arielle square in the face. It was the gloomiest tune she'd ever heard; deep, raucous and unruly, distorted and disturbing.

She covered her ears, but it penetrated through her skin and got into her head.

"Arieilllleeeeeeeeeee..." it hammered inside her skull, "come ooooooon, your time is running oooooout." It was mocking; like a child blowing raspberries and daring another child to play dangerous games with it—games they'd get punished for.

"Ugh." Arielle groaned as she stretched her arms out and slid them through the windy waterfall barrier. To her surprise, nothing stopped her, nothing barred her progress. A cool, almost comfortable wetness coated her arms, as if she were truly passing under water. Wincing, she tugged the rest of her body through it, expecting pangs of pain or a harsh resistance.

But nothing happened. On the other side, her bellyache didn't cease and her migraine didn't diminish; but she saw clearly. She saw the creaky, creepy stairs looming before her, each one a step closer to Penny and her truths, to Penny and her guilt. She saw the possibility of escaping this hellish torment and somehow convincing Penny to let her stay here, or to let her join her best friends in the Soul Realm—

"Wait." She paused, her foot hovering over the second step. "She said she'd lied. Right? She'd lied... so are Jade and Stella in the Soul Realm?" She whirled around and gawked through the gusty fountain of water, her gaze fixed on Benny's corpse. "Is he in the Soul Realm? How can I trust anything that witch says?"

Another morose moan meandered from the room, and its vibrations raced over Arielle's flesh like tiny critters creeping up and down, tickling her limbs.

Penelope had been so certain, had assured Arielle her friends had crossed on; but she had a deal with the devilish Penny. Surely that deal included lying to Arielle, convincing her that her friends were safe, gaining her trust to better trick her. Had Arielle been the target this whole time? Penny said it was random, and she wasn't special. But was she the soul that Penny had been after from day one, and Jade and Stella were only puppets, pawns on her chessboard?

But why? What had Arielle done to draw such attention? Everyone around her died—was that at Penny's hand? Some sick game she played to torture Arielle and make her ripe and ready for an afterlife of literal terror?

Arielle rolled her shoulders, cracked her knuckles, wiggled her toes in her shoes. "I'm going to figure this shit out, and if that means standing up to that malicious beast once and for all... I'm doing it." She returned to the steps and sucked in a deep breath as she proceeded upwards. "I'm doing it for Stella, for Jade." She gulped. "And for Benny. Someone has to talk this bitch down and tell her souls aren't hers to snatch."