The Eighth Gate

29 | Lighthouse Point

He refused to panic. Panic made a mess out of you, turned you into a wild thing that acted on impulse and irrationality, not brains and carefulness. And right now he needed the latter two more than ever. Where could Mary and Tam have gone? Perhaps they went to hang out somewhere—perhaps talk things through over a plate of food or on a park bench. Or maybe they went for a walk.

But none of that seemed very likely. It was pretty late to be out anywhere, especially since the pair was well aware of a demon’s tendency to strike at night. Not to mention that Mary would have left a note for him somewhere, full aware of his tendency to worry. Just as Noah was about to leave Tam’s house and begin his search, he spotted something that caused a strange sensation to manifest in his chest, as if his heart had suddenly—and fleetingly—become solid enough to weigh like a rock in him, pulsating.

It was Mary’s bag of demon hunting things.

At that point Noah was done being rational. Mary would never go anywhere without that bag, not if Noah wasn’t with her, even if Tam was. And Tam had left her equipment behind, too, as Noah had assessed after a quick inspection of her room.

Something was wrong.

Noah thought of the cross Tam had yanked from her neck and thrown across the study. He went to it now, lifting it off the ground from where it still lay in a dusty, shadowy corner beside a fake bamboo plant.

Could it be possible that Tam had gotten… possessed?

Fear gripped Noah. If that was the case then Mary was in bigger trouble than he had initially thought.

“Come on, Avery,” he said as he made his way out of Tam’s house, flinching as he passed through the wall because human instinct didn’t go away once you died. “Let’s go find Mary. Quick.”

Noah conducted his search with as much order and common sense as he could conjure up in his distressed state. What he really wanted to do was fly around the city like a madman, calling out for Mary in every street and home and building. Instead he went to the places he thought perhaps Tam and Mary would be, starting with Mary’s house and working his way northwestwards until he got to Marina Harbor. There was no sign of either of them anywhere. From Marina Harbor he decided to trail the beach since he was already by the water. He passed by Mermaid Cove and Mason’s house and Lock-and-Key bay. He made it to Whitecap Beach and even checked Seaside High—now closed for winter break, but he didn’t doubt it as a possibility considering a demon might very well be behind all of this. Still, nothing. Noah had begun to panic when he reached Lighthouse Point.

And that was when he saw them.

Demons.

From a typical living human’s perspective, the pair of still, stoic-looking individuals standing on either side of the lighthouse’s entrance would have been quickly written off as just some more typical living humans. But Noah knew better. He could see it, could see the puppeteer pulling the strings, the ugly face behind the mask. This was one of the rare instances in which being a ghost had its advantages—only the dead could see through a demonic possession. There were definitely two possessed individuals looking like a pair of London guards, clearing keeping watch at the lighthouse’s dingy entrance for a reason—perhaps to keep whatever was going on within its walls a protected secret.

Noah instantly knew this was a sign of trouble. He had no idea what was going on inside the lighthouse. Perhaps there was a group meeting being conducted. Lighthouse Point may very well be the headquarters for all these demons that come out from the gate, the place where they convene and plan their next attacks and targets. It all seemed very dramatic and movie-ish, though, and Noah knew it was because he liked to think of everything as if they resembled some epic film. What was it that Mary had told him? Life isn’t a movie, Noah.