Chapter 12 #4
“Behind me.” Rae’s hand pressed against my waist, positioning me behind her as the darkness overwhelmed my room.
“We should—” I glanced downstairs to see a wall of black curling up there, too. And on the other side of the hall, more nothing, ready to trap us between.
“Rae.” Everything from my voice to my hands was shaking. Meanwhile, her face was devoid of fear, brow raised for a second with intrigue.
This thing was a puzzle to her. Rae was curious. If shock hadn’t bloated me, I would have room for admiration.
“Don’t move.” She pulled a small vial from her belt—the belt she’d only taken off to place next to her while we slept.
The darkness was slow enough for her to pour a small circle of salt around us.
Once it was complete, she wrapped her arm around my waist, pinning me against her.
We were face to face as she said, “Whatever you do, don’t step out of this circle.
And don’t respond to it. Whatever you see or hear, don’t engage.
Try to keep your eyes on mine and don’t look at it. ”
“It’s…” Real. Here. Set on murdering me.
“I know,” she whispered, squeezing me gently for comfort. “But you’re going to be okay.”
“Wilson?” My heart hammered in horror. “And December?”
“They’re fine. December knows exactly what to do in a situation like this.
” Rae’s grip tightened when I tried to turn.
“Octavia, listen to me. If you step out of this circle, I don’t know what will happen to you.
I can’t promise you’ll be okay. I will do whatever it takes to make sure you will be, but the odds of either of us making it out of this unharmed get low if that line breaks. ”
We were nearly surrounded now. The dark wall closed in from every angle. I looked up to see how it’d even coated the ceiling. Deafening silence greeted us once the house’s final bit of light snuffed out.
Rae and I stood chest to chest in the middle of a black box of nothingness. I couldn’t see her in front of me. Her steady breath fanned across my cheek. Even after being surrounded, her breath didn’t hitch once. Rae’s heart was at a calm, stable pace.
I clutched her arms, pressing my face into her shoulder for a second. Breathing in her sweet scent made this almost bearable. Almost.
What would have happened if I had been alone? If that dark wall engulfed me, would that thing drag me back into the mirror where it’d come from?
“Is this Arnold?” I whispered.
Rae didn’t answer immediately. Her head moved around. I continued to follow her order, not glancing at what surrounded us. But she seemed to assess it all.
“Maybe,” she whispered.
“Maybe?” I trembled. With the darkness came a biting cold.
“Ninety percent chance.” Rae rubbed my lower back, an attempt to warm me up when I shivered.
My ability to self-soothe never evolved to the point of actual peace. My parents weren’t one for hugs and preferred the phrase “it could be worse” instead of comfort.
Rae’s embrace was unwavering. For a second, I didn’t have to figure it all out on my own. The bad day would be weathered with someone capable. In the middle of the (second) worst nightmare of my life, Rae was a glimpse of solace. A line of connection coiled around me, linking me to her.
“I don’t like absolutes.” Rae stopped looking around. I could tell from her breath on my nose that her gaze landed on me. “But I can say I believe it’s him.”
“This is real,” I whispered. There would be no rationalizing my reflection crawling out of the mirror. No overlooking how the darkness stopped right where the salt lay, holding it at bay.
“So real,” the voice within the dark taunted.
I didn’t know it was possible to press closer into Rae. But my chin nestled against her shoulder, her long hair shielding me from reality. She smelled of dish soap, a grounding piece of normalcy, when everything else around us stank of sulfur.
“She’s good at that, isn’t she?” the voice said.
“Octavia,” Rae whispered in my ear. She placed a hand on the back of my head, cradling me against her. “It’s going to try and get you to step out—”
“Oh, I’m much smarter than that.” The voice chuckled.
“It’ll try to feed on your fear,” she continued.
“Well, damn,” I said. “It’s not that hard.”
My knees were weak, barely able to keep me upright. I sweated bullets despite the chill in the air. I knew Rae had to feel the dampness through my top and my heart nearly bursting from my chest.
“I’ll say,” the voice agreed. It was going in and out, sometimes far away, other times right up against the salt circle, like it’d pressed its lips to glass, communicating to the defenseless animals trapped inside.
“You don’t let it by thinking of someone or something on this side of the Veil,” Rae continued, unfaltering and unfazed. “Focus on the land of the living. Your horses, your brother, your dreams, your K-pop.”
“It won’t be today, Octavia,” the voice drowned her out. “Or tomorrow. But I’m working on finding a way. Getting stronger. I’ll give you a quick death. Nearly painless.”
It laughed. Heavy footsteps pounded against the floor, the sound starting from my room. The step came straight toward us. Sprinting through the darkness to pierce through the salt circle. I buried my face into Rae’s collarbone, squeezing my eyes shut and bracing for impact.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered to her. “I’m so, so sorry.”
She squeezed me tightly. “You haven’t done anything wrong.”
Right as the footsteps reached the edge, the dark veil dropped. I flinched, preparing to be met with something monstrous. Prepared for some creature ready to claw me away from Rae.
Instead, I was met with the warm orange glow of the lamp on my bedside table. The sound of the sink going in the kitchen.
I scanned the hall on the hunt for a hint of the dark cloud that’d poisoned the air.
“Hold on.” Rae let me go but didn’t move from the safety of the circle. She flipped on the EMF, held it out, and waited a minute. There wasn’t even a hint of beeping. The green light barely flickered on.
“Okay.” She nodded, clipping the still-on EMF back onto her waist.
“Okay?” I reached for her sleeve, ready to pull her back against me as she stepped over the salt.
“We’re in the clear,” she promised, her eyes matching the softness of her voice. Rae offered me a hand. When I hesitated, she added, “I won’t ever let anything happen to you. I know believing in something is very hard for you, but please, try to believe that.”
I swallowed, my gaze toggling between her hand and my empty room.
Ghosts were real. And if they existed, then what else could happen in this world?
“I have to know,” I told her. “Understand.”
“When we free him, it’ll feel like understanding.”
“No. Not just Arnold, Rae. Everything.”
Her smile was sad. “I can tell you all I know, but it’s not everything. It won’t be enough.”
I took a deep breath and took her hand. “It’s a start.”