I DO MY BEST to help Fiona and Divya prepare to hunt the demon I saw last night. Thanks to the news coverage on the town, I don’t have to retrace my steps on how to get there, but I have to do my best to remember where the beast led me after that. I can’t accurately say where we went by looking at a map. We can’t find any information about some huge cave in some obscure forest either. That means I’m going on my first mission.
I’ve been through training. I’ve been waiting for this, so I should be happy. But, now that it’s happening, I’m scared and I don’t feel ready at all.
After Gold Team and a handful of other teams Fiona has assembled have all their gear in place, we meet in the garage.
“How are you doing?” Rynne asks me.
“I’m okay,” I reply, though I’m not sure if I’m saying that because I’m trying to convince him I’m okay or if I’m trying to convince myself.
He sits beside me in one of the EEA’s armored vans. We’re taking a couple of them and four different teams because Fiona doesn’t want to take any chances with this demon. Rynne doesn’t know anything about this particular demon either, so we’re left with the general information he’s learned while hunting Arsen and other demons. The fact that this demon we’re hunting can level a town and draw monsters to him to massacre everyone living in it is enough reason to worry—and no one else even saw what I saw. Those words carry a different weight when you’ve seen it.
I shudder, and then I start shaking. I force my hands into my lap as I try to will my body to stop shivering.
Rynne places his hand on top of mine. I look up at him and he meets my gaze. His blue eyes are always soft and caring, but there’s a defiance in them now, like he’s trying to reassure me that we will be able to stop this demon.
“We have a long drive ahead of us,” Fiona announces. “Unfortunately, that means we aren’t going to arrive at our location until late at night. We usually try to avoid this kind of situation, but we have no idea how long this demon will sleep, or how long it will stay in this location.” She regards me. “Tasia, keep trying to astral project. Divya will continue to work with you the whole time we’re driving.”
“Okay,” I say meekly.
Divya’s been giving me a crash course on astral projection while we’ve been getting ready for this mission. She said I’m relatively safe from losing myself to the spirit plane as long as I keep sight of my body in my mind’s eye and don’t stay away for more than a few hours at a time. She also told me the reason I was able to reach astral projection without any guidance is because of my powerful psychic energy, and because I had found a place of complete peace between my mind and spirit. I would disagree, but she’s right. Arsen wasn’t plaguing my mind, and I was at peace. For once, I was okay with everything going on. I accepted everything. I sank into true meditation with my black and white diamonds guarding me against spirits vying for my attention. Nothing was there to distract me. But I can’t find that peace again. I can’t find my way back to the spirit plane. It was a complete accident that I even managed astral projection in the first place. That’s the real reason Fiona’s bringing me along. She’s not bringing me because she thinks I’m ready for something like this. She’s bringing me because she has no other option.
Divya sits in the other seat next to me. “We’ll try again,” she says. “Just clear your mind. Try to relax. That’s all. Let yourself slip away.”
I nod. I remember the feeling. I’m just having a hard time finding it again. I’ve been feeling too anxious. I’m still feeling anxious. Thoughts of Arsen are flooding into my mind, mixed with this other demon I discovered. I’m worried. I don’t know how we’re going to stop something so powerful. Something so evil.
I take a deep breath and close my eyes. Rynne’s hand starts to move away from mine, but I grab it before his warmth recedes with it. Having his hand in mine makes me feel a little better—just like being close to him always does. I don’t open my eyes, so I’m not sure how he feels about my sudden aggressiveness, but he relaxes his hand; he must not mind too much.
Okay. Concentrate. Focus only on my breathing.
I do well at first, but then the van starts up and I listen to the sound of its engine instead. I feel its motion. I let those sensations pass over me before returning my attention back to my breath.
Divya’s probably already done it. She’s probably outside of her body watching me and waiting for me to get my act together.
Focus.
I take the deepest breath I’ve taken all day. I try to focus on my breathing, but my mind wanders to Rynne’s hand resting in mine. I think about his warmth. It stems from where our skin is touching, but it’s a sensation that travels all the way through my body. This feeling is true and pure. It’s how loving someone is supposed to feel. It isn’t contradictory, and it isn’t a fabrication.
Then I center myself. I’m at peace. I accept everything around me. I’m safe.
The world starts to feel like its slowing down. The sounds of the van are like the distant waves of the ocean or the low rumble of energy beneath the earth’s surface. Rynne’s hand, his warmth, and comfort are still there, but they’re slipping. I’m becoming detached from all of that because my awareness is expanding into the world of the unseen.
That’s when I see my body disappearing below me as I drift up and through the van’s roof.
“I knew you could do it,” Divya tells me. She’s sitting, cross-legged in the lotus position on the top of the van, like she’s continuing to meditate despite being disconnected from her body. “I was projecting feelings of warmth, protection, and peace your way.”
“You can do that when you astral project?” I ask.
“With a lot of practice. Since we’re essentially ghosts when we do this, we can manage a lot of the same tricks and manipulations they can. The only difference is we have a living body to return to. We aren’t dead.”
“That’s why when we return to our bodies we won’t turn into zombies like spirits who are attempting to return to their dead bodies?”
“Exactly. As long as our bodies are alive, we can return to the living.”
She stands on the roof and then floats above it, joining me as we both follow behind the van, like balloons on a string.
“I’m ready,” I tell her as I will my body to fly forward.
“I’ll follow you.”
I didn’t realize last night how much faster we can travel when we astral project. Within moments, the other hunters are out of sight. Our surroundings look familiar. I don’t have much trouble navigating us back to the destroyed town now crawling with police officers. What guides me there is almost more like muscle memory, because I don’t have to think about it. I’m just sort of taken there. Unlike last night, the town looks cold; it’s blanketed with a new sheet of snow. It’s more than that though. Something else is giving off that cold aura. It’s almost like the rubble is veiled in a ghostly mist… Wait, that’s not mist.
Divya lets out a startled gasp from behind me.
“It’s even worse in person,” she says, her voice barely audible. “I’m sorry you had to see this, Tasia.”
She has no idea. Neither do I, really. I feel kind of numb somehow, like I’m looking through someone else’s eyes, but the memory is so clear. I remember the screaming, the fire—that red-skinned monster. I don’t have my body with me, so I don’t feel the sensations of the heat or cold, but I’m overcome with a feeling of dread that produces a chill all its own.
“I don’t want to go any farther,” I say the words before I realize I’m saying them.
We haven’t even made it into the town yet, but the closer we get to the ghost cloud, the more reluctant I feel.
“That isn’t mist or fog, is it?” I ask quietly.
“No,” Divya states, “it’s not. Let’s go around it. There’s no telling what would happen to us if we got caught up in that mess of spirits. Do you think you can find your way to the cave if we take a detour?”
I shrug. I don’t know if I can or not, but I’m going to have to try because there’s no way I’m going to fly through a tornado of vengeful spirits.
Willing my astral body to sink lower to the ground, I start leading Divya through the forest. This area isn’t familiar, which isn’t surprising. I didn’t go here last night, but before I dropped lower to the ground, I did see the direction we need to go, so I go north for a while and then west. It doesn’t take long after that to find familiar darkness. This new demon. Arsen. The energy they exude makes my skin crawl.
“From here, the monster kept heading north,” I tell Divya. Then I feel the need to ask, “Do you think he can… sense spirits?”
“Did he sense you last night?”
I shake my head. He didn’t even look at me, so I’m guessing that means he had no idea I was there.
Divya nods. “There’s your answer.”
Soon the trees thin, and the large cave comes into sight. Even in broad daylight, the inside of the cave is dark except for the icicles and ice sheets reflecting the light. It’s impossible to see what’s inside just by standing at the mouth of the cave. I tell myself we just need to make sure the monster’s there and that he’s still sleeping. Then we can leave, but that all-too-familiar feeling of anxiety creeps inside of my soul. It’s something I can’t escape even when I leave my body.
I enter the cave first. My eyes automatically adjust like they did last night. I see the large, threatening creature exactly where I left him. He hasn’t moved an inch. He’s breathing deep and undisturbed. His eyes are closed. It’s like he doesn’t have a care in the world.
I look over at Divya, hoping she’ll tell me we can leave now. Being this close to this demon, even in my astral body, is very uncomfortable. I’m afraid. Very afraid.
Divya passes by me and takes a closer look. I want to scream at her to stay away from him, but that would only make things worse—especially if he somehow heard me. I focus on trying not to fall apart as I wait for Divya to finish her inspection.
I plead with my eyes when she looks over in my direction. She gives me a subtle nod and then floats back toward me. I follow her out of the cave as we rise high into the sky.
“I’ve never seen anything like that,” she confesses. “It’s… I’ve never felt such power.”
“I have,” I say. “Arsen feels the same way.”