Chapter 2 #3
The actual door to access this room blended so well with the bland walls that I nearly overlooked it.
Why would Scorpio have created a magical door if he couldn't use it?
I knew it wouldn't be long before I was discovered, so I used all of my strength to slide one of the shelves in front of the door.
It wouldn't keep them out for long, but hopefully, it would buy me enough time to get the trapdoor open.
A drop of sweat trickled down the side of my face, and I hastily wiped it away and turned back to my task. I stifled a shriek when I took in a familiar, shimmering form standing directly on the trapdoor.
"Jasper?" I rasped and threw myself at the spirit. I'd never been so happy to see a ghost in my life, let alone the spirit of a demon.
He opened his arms and caught me. The coolness of his form, the airiness, instantly turned into the warmth and security of a man that, for the first time in my life, I needed.
"You can't seem to stay out of trouble, can you?" he said, an undertone of humor in his very accurate question.
I hadn't seen him since moments before my explosive interaction with Rhodes.
"How did you know where I was?" I released him and looked up into his deep pine green eyes.
He ran a hand through his mahogany hair, pushing it off his forehead. "I followed you." He lowered his hand and stared at it in wonder. "That will never get old..."
Of course he'd been following my movements. "Thanks for leaving me hanging while Rhodes threatened to murder me."
Jasper opened his mouth to say something, but the sound of the door handle being twisted saved him from having to explain himself.
He bent down, grabbed the trapdoor handle, and pulled it open as though he wasn’t a ghost and it were any other regular door. Not one that had been sealed by time, rust, and secrets.
"In you go, darling," he said, gesturing for me to go first.
"Ready or not, babe, here I come," Scorpio sang through the crack in the door, loud enough for me to hear over the scraping of the metal shelf being shoved across the floor.
I glanced down into the darkness of the hatch. There was no ladder. No light. No indication of the depth.
Suddenly, I was pressed firmly against Jasper’s chest. He winked and jumped, sending both of us into the darkness. I closed my eyes and hoped I wasn't falling to my death.
We hit solid ground much faster than I anticipated, and both of us grunted from the impact, collapsing into a pile. Shattering glass and the clanging of heavy metal exploded above us. They were inside the room.
Hysteria began to rise within my body, an invisible force that couldn't be contained. "Jasper."
He slipped his hand into mine. "I know. Be right back."
"Be right ba—?"
He was gone, and within the blink of an eye, I was submerged into pitch blackness as the hatch was shut, sealing us within.
"Right here," he whispered, so close that I could feel the breeze of his words upon my cheek. Heat enveloped my body in a relentless wave. "We're trapped. He's going to catch me."
"No, he's not. Palmer, breathe," Jasper said, taking my face in his palms.
I couldn't see anything. Blackness covered every surface of the room we were huddled in, and I flinched with every boom and bang that came from overhead. The devil was coming for me.
"Listen to me."
I hunched over, my breath ragged and sharp. Each one was a painful stab to my heart.
"Palmer, you need to focus."
"I can't. I can't. I won't let him take me. I'll die first. Oh gods, oh gods," I rambled as terror overtook me with no mercy.
Suddenly, a sharp pain exploded through my cheek, and I sucked in the first deep breath in what felt like hours. In a normal situation, I would’ve murdered him for slapping me like that, ghost or not.
"Oh fuck, I'm so sorry." Jasper grabbed my shoulders. "That was harder than I meant it to be. Are you okay? I don't know my own strength in this form."
"Thank you," I said, feeling like myself again. "I needed that."
Muffled voices drifted down through the floorboards. I could hear him up there, furious.
"I have an idea, Palmer. It might not work... but if it does, we'll be out of here fast."
"What is it?"
"Your powers allow you to send spirits to the beyond. They are also somehow able to make me solid again. What if you could somehow turn yourself into a spirit form?"
I reeled from the very thought of it. I'd never once tried to do such a thing, let alone even think about it.
"I don't think that's how it works..."
"But it could. Why couldn't it? Before me, did you think turning a spirit back into a living, breathing person was possible?"
I shook my head. "Of course not. I mean, I've done necromancy, like with Snake... but he's not whole. Not like he was in life..."
"Well, no time like the present to try. We need to hurry."
Would it work? In theory, it didn't sound as preposterous as I would've once thought. Before Jasper, I wouldn't have even bothered with attempting it.
"Okay, okay. Umm, I think I'll need both of your hands. If I'm able to turn you through touch, maybe if we both focus on reversing that, then I can absorb your ethereal form."
Jasper's warm hands immediately clasped mine. "Just tell me what I need to do."
"Close your eyes. Think about your spirit form and how it's overtaking you."
I focused on absorbing his energy. My hands began tingling, and I gasped as excitement built in my veins.
"Push your form into me, Jasper. Envision it in your mind. It's flowing from your hands into mine."
The heat of our palms cooled drastically, and my eyes flew open. "Holy shit..."
Jasper's eyes opened, and his mouth dropped as he took in what I was seeing. We were both glowing, a soft blue. I couldn't hold in the small laugh when we both floated off the ground.
"It worked!" I launched myself at him and wrapped my arms around him in a tight embrace, and the faint scent of cedar surrounded me. Ghosts didn’t have a scent, ever.
It was just one more strange thing to add to the list about this particular one…
nothing about him was normal. My thoughts were interrupted because the creaking hinges on the door above us abruptly gave way.
Jasper's grip on my body tightened. "Hold on tight. Don't let go."
Light flooded the room as the guards above finally broke through.
"GO, JASPER! GO!" I yelled as adrenaline flooded me once more.
Scorpio dropped through the ceiling and tossed a small canister at us just as Jasper lunged for the solid concrete wall.
I clenched my eyes shut, preparing for the skull fracture and brain swelling that were sure to follow, but no pain came.
The last thing I heard was Scorpio screaming, and then the soft, pressurized hiss of aerosol gas being released.
I clung to Jasper like a lifeline. He'd saved me. We were moving so fast that I couldn't make out any of our surroundings. I didn't care where we were going, only that it was far, far away from Scorpio.