"Our house?" Avery's voice blurted through the phone's speakers, laced with an indignity that made Jessamine picture him sneering. "This place belongs to you? Who are you?"

Jessamine didn't think she'd get on such a high horse while addressing some otherworldly being that had just popped up in front of her; but Avery was another breed of being altogether. A stubborn, experienced investigator who taunted spirits—mostly malevolent ones—for fun. He wouldn't let this thing intimidate him.

But as Jessamine's mind pieced together various flashes of this Ada—yes, she'd definitely met with that curt voice before, and was now able to put a misty body to its sound—she doubted Avery should have been so high-and-mighty.

Ada was, or so Jessamine remembered, a majestic creature of a vibrant blue shade with a gentle touch of turquoise, but more blue than green. She had a vague female outline with feminine features, big eyes that gave off airs of curiosity, of innocence, and long, silk-like silvery hair. The image of her was so clear now, as if she were floating next to Jessamine, speaking to her, guiding her out of the house—

Whoa... these memories are getting more and more intense; is that you?

Jessamine's possessor didn't reply to her thoughts, clearly too busy listening in, spying on Ada having appeared to Avery and Jamie in the attic. Had this being told Jessamine to guide them up there on purpose? To meet with Ada? Was this a trap?

"I'm Ada," said the blue being, in a slightly distorted voice, like she'd been dunked under water and had spoken before coming back up. "I'm a Guide. The Guide, with a capital G."

"Guide?" Jamie's tone, unlike Avery's, was broken, trembling. Jessamine pictured the big and burly dude huddled in a corner, glaring at Ada and swatting at her with the remnants of his exploded flashlight. He'd been more of a comic relief in Avery's YouTube video, she recalled; still, she'd thought Jamie to be unafraid of most ghostly things, as he'd chosen to go on these adventures with Avery. Maybe he was only shocked, and would come to once adjusted to looking at this eerily ethereal creature.

"Let me be clear," said Ada; Jessamine envisioned her eyes narrowing on Avery and Jamie with a hint of spite in her inflection. "I rarely converse with humans, especially living ones. You're no different. But you made it this far—farther than any human who has ever entered this house, bar an exception or two. So I'll be frank with you." She went silent—likely assessing the two mortals before her; Avery glowering, Jamie gulping. "I protect spirits in Limbo before they move on to an alternate dimension for their new life. Their afterlife."

Again, it was Jamie whose voice broke through with surprise, possibly cutting Avery off before he had an opportunity to react. "Limbo? Alternate dimension? New life... afterlife... whoa." He sounded distant, turned away from where Avery's phone was stashed in his jeans. "You mean life after death? Reincarnation?"

"Not in the biblical sense, if that's what you're referring to," said Ada, a stern school-teacher tone to her words. "This is a sort of reincarnation into another realm. We, the Guides, aren't tied to religion or whatever gods you humans have seen fit to create. We're part of the atmosphere, beings developed from nature, formed from foreign particles. And we arrived here to guide spirits—hence the name. Do these explanations suffice, or must I continue to waste my time?"

In her last sentences, she'd gone from sounding almost kind to completely condescending, talking down to Avery and Jamie as if they were inferior beings. And surely in her mind, they were—she was a higher power, in a sense, able to communicate with ghosts and guide them on to their resting places. Avery and Jamie were mere mortals. And they'd been forced to face this cloud-like, see-through, ghostly woman who'd surprised them in an attic and was now acting as if she were better than them.

Something pinched inside Jessamine's gut—her possessor, attempting to get her attention? Or punishing her for her comments about Ada?

"She is better than them, better than all of us." His voice nearly matched Ada's—low, charged with an emotion akin to disgust. "She's our leader, and she's an ancient, wise being. Do not disrespect her."

Jessamine scrunched her nose and resumed staring at the backseat's worn out cushions, as she had been this whole time, unallowed to look at the house.

So you're a Guide, like her?

"I am. My name is Faz," said the possessor, loosening his clipped tone a little. "I'm sorry for not being able to tell you sooner, but I... was under orders."

Jessamine snorted.

Orders? Orders to possess me? Why?

"Ada is about to explain that to your friends." Faz's voice shifted, deeper, rumbling inside Jessamine's mind. "She'll want to give them the full story before killing them."

"Killing them?"

Jessamine gasped—in her shock, she'd spoken out loud, and recalled too late that she was still on speaker, coming through Avery's phone that he'd secretly put in his pocket.

Shit. I did it again, and at the worst possible time.

"What was that?" Ada's inquisitive manner ordered chills to scrape down Jessamine's back and arms.

Avery, somehow, fumbled to cover up Jessamine's faux-pas. He wouldn't want Ada knowing anyone was listening to their conversation, let alone that Jamie was probably still filming it.

So he repeated what Jessamine had said, attempting to mimic the volume she'd used. "You're killing them... those explanations, yeah? Killing it."

Jessamine had to cover her mouth to muffle a blast of laughter. She pictured Avery giving Ada a thumb's up and bobbing his head while issuing the fakest of smiles, and the idea bubbled up inside her. She'd expected Faz to mock her, or tell her to quell her silly thoughts, but he'd gone silent after belting out such ominous words. A threat? A warning? What did he mean by Ada killing Avery and Jamie? And how the fuck did a transparent being with no legitimate arms do that?

She heard a scoff through the receiver, but it wasn't like Avery's, nor did it sound deep and gruff like Jamie's. Ada was scoffing, then?

"Don't try to fool me, young man." There was that curt tone from earlier—only now it was glacial, turning Jessamine's insides to actual ice. "I may be in this house most of my days, and I'm quite ancient, but I'm fully knowledgeable about technology. I know what you're doing. Are you filming this?" She paused, for effect; or to analyze Avery's expression, to find the lies scrawling across it. "Planning to show the world, are we?"

Now Avery's voice wasn't so firm, so unafraid. "No, I'm not, I—"

"—no one can hear this." Ada's voice was so close, it was as if she were talking into the phone, whisper-growling at Jessamine, directly. Jessamine's body chilled over and she couldn't move. "No one can know. Our world is a secret world, and what we do can never be revealed, do you understand?"

"But—" Avery's lips were trembling, Jessamine could tell, as he stuttered on his words, "—but we—"

"—you're not listening. We," Ada's voice grew louder, morphing, echoing, "cannot be exposed. Ah, you see what you have done? Such nonsense is why the other girl perished—Amy, her name was?"

The world stilled. The air itself became immobile, particles hovering near Jessamine's face, stuck in time.

Amy... is dead?

"P-perished?" It was Avery who spoke, but his voice was higher-pitched, choppy, cutting in and out.

Jessamine heard Jamie swearing in the background, and imagined he was ready to break something—but there was nothing to break, was there? That attic was empty... and Jessamine had no inkling how she knew that. Nor could Jamie strangle Ada or hammer punches into her... she was a spiritual being, couldn't be touched, couldn't be felt.

No... no, that's not true. I felt her. Frigid, emotionless, determined—

They couldn't express their pain until they got out of the house... if they were allowed to?

"She came too close. Ventured too close to the house." Ada was so unbothered by what she was saying, it was like she was reciting from habit, bored. "We cannot alter memories, as much as I wish we could... so we had to capture her."

Jessamine covered her mouth again to conceal a whimper.

Amy running from the house, deeper into the forest, escaping something she'd seen. Amy hurrying to save the video and send it off to Avery before something got to her. Amy's footage being cut off as something arrived and likely chucked the device aside to grab her—

"She didn't survive." Ada was mechanical, robotic. She didn't care, and she had no clue that Amy was the main reason Avery was there, right there, confronting her. Or if she did know, she had no intention of giving a crap.

A human had died in her captivity, yet she spared no emotion, and didn't even apologize?

You call her ancient and wise, but what the fuck, Faz? Why would she let Amy die? Why would she detain her in the first place?

She'd predicted Faz would keep quiet again, to leave her drowning in her miserable questions, to fear for Avery's life as he was locked in there with this evidently malicious Guide leader.

To her awe, Faz made a sound like clearing one's throat... and spoke. "She protects spirits. Any human coming near is a threat. She reacted... accordingly."

Jessamine didn't have time to address Faz's equally mechanical voice as Avery's emotion-riddled tone whooshed out of the speakers. Sadness, fear, and a pinch of rage spewed from his every comment, and Jessamine felt every word from the tingling in her toes to the burning in her fingertips.

"You let her die, then? What the fuck did you do to her to make her... to..." A thud indicated a possible stomp, something being thrown, hit. "All to preserve... what? A secret house in the woods where you hold ghosts hostage? Oh," Avery's breaths were rapid and uneven, "and humans too, apparently? Of course you wouldn't want that on TV."

Whether unaffected by Avery's attempt at a menacing tone or finding it amusing, Ada's timbre didn't change, remaining unfazed. "Ghosts aren't hostages. They converge here on instinct, soon after their death. They're drawn here; we don't keep them captive."

"A-all of them?" Jamie sounded stuffy, like he'd been crying. "The entire worlds' worth of ghosts in one place? Sounds cramped." He sniffled.

"No, you fool," said Ada, sharp as a serrated knife. "One house per state. And there are other houses like this around the world, placed strategically for souls to find. One portal cannot take in billions of dead humans. And," Jessamine had a sudden vision of Ada flashing a nasty look at Avery, as if she'd been on the receiving end of it before, "we most certainly do not want to be on TV, you're correct."

An oddly and poorly timed laugh erupted from Avery; not one of real joy or entertainment, but one of mockery, of exaggeration. One someone would let loose before divulging a terrible truth that might not please those they were laughing at.

"Too late for that," he said, any ounce of pain erased from his timbre. He'd mourn later; for now, he was going to stand up to Ada and figure out why she'd allowed a human to die in her portal-house. "Because Amy recorded a bunch of stuff before you got to her. She was able to save that footage, and sent it to me before you caught her and did," Avery groaned, "did whatever it is you did to her, you assholes. So guess what? This house has been seen all over national news. Might have gone international, too. You'll be exposed for the evil creatures you are. Protecting ghosts? Ha! I call bullshit. You're making ghosts by murdering humans!"

Jessamine shook her head in the darkness, wishing she could tell Avery to pipe the hell down, to calm down. The being he was addressing was powerful; couldn't he feel it? Couldn't he sense her energy radiating around him, about to swallow him whole? Jessamine now remembered those sensations, the sinister air that swarmed around her when Ada had spoken to her on one, maybe two, even three occasions. Was he not afraid?

If she's able to snatch people from forests and drag them into her house... who knows what she can do to Avery and Jamie now?

Avery was too proud; Ada would destroy that pride in a heartbeat, Jessamine knew, from experience. Or she might have known from the way Faz was rattling inside her core and growls were reverberating inside her skull.

And there was nothing she could do to stop it. She was in Avery's car, shaking so much the vehicle shook with her, locked in place by a being possessing her mind, her body. Avery was in an attic with an ancient being who was likely hungry for his demise and he was taunting it.

This isn't for your YouTube channel, Avery. This is serious shit and you need to back off and get out of there!

They had their answer—Amy was dead. Which meant likely Landon and Angela were, too. Jessamine only needed to find a means to release Faz from his confinement and then—

"That's enough of this," said Ada, her voice striking Jessamine like lightning.

Something dropped, something cracked, and Jessamine heard the distinct dial tone of when one was hung up on.

"Shit!"

On instinct, and somehow evading Faz's usual internal techniques of barring her doing what he didn't want her to, Jessamine craned her neck and stared straight at the house, zoning in on its front door.

She instantly became woozy, swaying drunkenly in her spot, and a vibration of heat swam up her extremities and lodged into her gut.

"What have you done?"

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