A/N: I don't own AATC.
Chapter Twelve: The Calm Before the Storm
Simon persuaded Jeanette to join the others in the living room.
He felt a little awkward. He knew he had a girlfriend, but Jillian hadn't been acting like a girlfriend lately. And besides, it wasn't like he and Jeanette had gone to third base or anything. It had only been a few minutes of almost silently making out… nothing really…
The doorbell rang. Simon let his team in and Harry jumped straight to the point.
"We've decided, Simon. If it's really this bad, the demon has to be got rid of. Right now. We need to stop her before everything gets too out of hand. If this thing is throwing stuff at you, I think we have to rid that house of it. We've got everything we need."
"Okay," Simon agreed slowly. "Yeah. Sure."
"There's one other thing," Charlene added. "The thing has already made a connection with Jeanette. She has to do it."
Simon almost panicked. "What'll happen?"
"If she doesn't, it could kill her. The demon wanted a body, so it got Nathan to bring her to it. That's what we think happened. That's why it went after its old body… to get rid of her. But we think that if she can get rid of it, there's about a sixty percent chance she'll be alright."
"Only sixty?" Alvin, Simon and Brittany asked.
"I'm afraid so," Jillian said. "But nobody's ever done this before. So we can't tell."
Simon breathed in deeply and turned to Jeanette, who nodded quietly.
The house seemed so still; so quiet. But it wouldn't be soon enough.
Jeanette walked up to the door; Simon followed her. "You won't be alone, you know," he muttered. "We'll be right behind you."
"Okay," Jeanette whispered back. She kissed him on the cheek and pushed on the front door, which creaked slowly open.
Everything was quiet. The team ran into the house, spreading out in the neatly-furnished living room.
Footsteps upstairs. A little girl on the stairs, normal but bleeding a bit from one ear. She walked slowly up to Jeanette.
"You know what has to happen," she said, and disappeared into thin air. Nothing happened.
"What was that?" Dave asked. "Is it gone?"
"No," Jeanette said, almost inaudibly. "This is just the calm before the storm."
Her bedroom door started slamming rhythmically. She knew where to go.
A/N: Oh, no! The story's nearly over! Ooh, I can't wait to see what'll happen…