Chapter 70: Second Thoughts

"Ali? What is it?" Zak asked again, worry evident in his voice.

"Emily…" I said quietly.

She looked different this time, she looked more solid.

I stepped out of the ATV, ignoring the fact we were in the middle of a forest, and also ignoring the fact that the camera was still recording.

"Woah, woah, Ali, hang on!" Zak exclaimed, quickly climbing out of the ATV.

I ignored Zak and walked toward where Emily was standing.

She was watching me with a look of worry on her face.

"Go back," Emily said.

I glanced back slightly in Zak's direction.

"Did you hear that…?" I asked.

Zak shook his head as he stepped closer to me.

I frowned.

"You have to go back," Emily said.

I looked at her.

Her form was so clear, and barely transparent at all.

It's like she's really here…

"Why…?" I asked quietly, barely noticing that Zak was taking the camera from me.

Then I heard him walking back toward the ATV, and then unzipping a bag.

Emily's only response to my question was pointing at Zak.

I felt confused.

"Zak?" I asked.

"What?" Zak asked, thinking I was speaking to him as he walked back up near me.

"No…I mean…she's saying we have to go back, and when I asked her why, she pointed at you…" I said quietly.

I noticed that Zak now had a Mel-Meter in his other hand, while still recording with the camera.

The Mel-Meter is used to detect rapid changes in the Electromagnetic Fields in the air, which spirits are said to give off. It also has the ability to detect changes in temperature.

"Why do we have to go back Emily?" Zak asked, in full on investigative mode as he held the Mel-Meter out to me.

I took the Mel-Meter and held it so the antenna was almost "touching" Emily.

As soon as I did, the alarm started sounding, and the numbers on the screen indicating the temperature, started dropping.

"Woah," Zak said, holding the camera to film the Mel-Meter as it continued to sound.

"Safety," Emily replied, answering Zak's question.

I flinched when I saw him jump slightly.

"Did you hear her?" I asked, looking startled, but also excited at the idea of Zak finally being able to acknowledge her spiritual existence without the use of gear, like he had on the "Queen Mary".

"She said 'safety'?" Zak asked.

I could only nod in response, happy that he heard her as well, but also concerned about what she meant.

Safety from what?

"Go back," Emily said again, and I noticed her form started to become transparent.

The Mel-Meter's alarm became inconsistent, and the temperature was slowly starting to climb.

"Why?" I asked, figuring Zak hadn't heard her this time, since he didn't react.

Emily didn't respond, and almost as quickly as I had seen her appear, she disappeared.

The Mel-Meter went silent.

"Wait!" I cried, desperate to know what she as trying to warn us about.

"Holy shit!" Zak exclaimed, suddenly spinning 180 degrees with the camera.

"What?" I questioned, looking in the direction he was filming, but didn't see anything.

"I saw an orb shoot toward me, and felt something go through me," Zak said. "Is she gone?" Zak added, looking at me with a questioning look on his face.

I nodded slightly, stunned by what he had told me.

"Yes…she disappeared just before you spun around," I said softly, looking into the trees where Zak was still aiming the camera. "But she never explained why she said we had to go back…" I added, worriedly.

I felt Zak's hand gently rub my back.

"Hey, we'll be fine. We always are, right?" Zak said, trying to sound optimistic.

I sighed inwardly as I took the camera from him, turning the Mel-Meter off and putting it into a pocket of my jacket..

No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't feel his optimism.

Emily had never been wrong with her warnings.

And this time, she had clearly implied we should go back for Zak's safety, and we were out in the middle of a dense forest.

Alone.

"Come on," Zak said, climbing into the driver's side of the ATV.

I was tempted to argue with him, to say this was crazy.

But I knew crazy was what he lived for.

I walked back to the ATV and climbed back into my seat, checking my phone was still holding it's signal.

As Zak put the ATV into drive again, I glanced back in the direction Emily had presumably gone.

I was certain I had seen a brief glimpse of her form again, but it was gone before I could be sure if I had really seen her.

I looked straight ahead again as Zak continued on along the trail, feeling dread tightening my stomach muscles more and more with each passing second.

Roughly fifteen minutes later…

As Zak continued driving along the trail, we were both silent.

I think we were both trying to determine what Emily was trying to warn us about.

I felt like a hundred different thoughts were running through my mind.

Was he going to get bitten by some poisonous insect?

Or attacked by an animal?

What if he became possessed again?

I knew I had handled his possession on Poveglia Island mainly by myself, but at the same time, Aaron had to physically restrain Zak from choking me to death…

If that happened again, there was no way I would be able to fight him off by myself.

But then again, Emily had said we had to go back for Zak's safety.

If Zak became possessed and attacked me, that would be affecting my safety, not his.

I couldn't keep my thoughts to myself anymore.

"Zak…I think we should go back," I said.

"Why?" Zak asked, keeping his eyes on the road.

Oh my god, seriously?

"Because, my sister just appeared and warned us that we should? For your safety!" I retorted.

"Ali, you know I live for this stuff. It's one of the best ways to get evidence sometimes," Zak replied.

His answer ticked me off.

"So getting evidence is more important than our safety now?" I replied.

I knew that was harsh, but I was upset he wasn't taking the warning seriously.

"'Our' safety? Did she say something about you?" Zak asked worriedly, looking at me briefly.

I was momentarily tempted to lie to him, but knew better.

"No, she didn't. But your safety matters," I replied.

"Ali, I know Emily's warnings have been true before, but what's the worst that could happen our here, that hasn't already happened before?" Zak asked.

"Oh, I don't know. An animal could attack you, you could get bitten by something poisonous-" I started, but Zak interrupted.

"In that case, you'll just have to suck the venom out," Zak teased, smiling slightly at me.

I didn't laugh.

"Or you could become possessed and try to strangle me again," I threw back at him, and immediately regretted it.

He stopped the ATV and put it into park.

"That's not fair…" Zak said quietly, not looking at me.

"I know…I'm sorry, I didn't mean it…" I said quietly, but I could tell I had hit a nerve.

"If you don't trust me, I'll take you back," Zak said, still not looking at me.

I frowned, feeling horrible.

"Of course I trust you," I started. "I'm just worried, and I'm upset that you're not taking this seriously. If Emily had given some warning about my safety, you'd of picked me up, forced me back into the ATV, and driven back like we were being chased by the devil," I said.

Zak sighed.

"That's different…" Zak said.

My eyebrows narrowed slightly.

"If you're about to use the 'you're a female, I'm a male' argument…" I started, but Zak cut me off.

"No, no. I'm not," Zak said. "I just…I don't know what I mean…" Zak said, glancing at me briefly before glancing back at the road.

I saw some pain in his eyes, despite the darkness.

"You do know what you mean, or you wouldn't of said what you did," I replied.

Zak kept silent for a moment, before resting his hand on the gearshift again.

"Are you doing this investigation with me, or not?" Zak asked.

I frowned to myself.

I must have really hit a nerve to cause him to feel like he couldn't be honest with me…

I sighed inwardly, wanting to resolve this before we continued, but I could tell by his body language he was done discussing it.

"With you…" I replied softly, answering his question.

I saw him nod briefly before he put the ATV into drive again, and started off down the trail again.

I kept my eyes down, watching the marker that indicated our position on the GPS blinking repeatedly, as it slowly moved closer to the circle.

Why did I have to open my big mouth?

About ten minutes of awkward silence past as Zak continued following the trail deeper and deeper into the forest.

I kept mentally berating myself for bringing up the choking incident on Poveglia Island.

I knew Zak had felt horrible about it, and I had thrown it in his face.

You screwed up big, again…I thought.

How was I ever going to fix this?

My thoughts were distracted when, suddenly, I noticed there were no trees along the sides of the trail we were on.

I glanced down at my phone, and saw the marker indicating our position was just past the edge of the "dead zone" of the forest.

"I think this is it…" I said softly, looking up again, as Zak brought the ATV to a stop.

"Oh my god…" Zak replied, the both of us staring into an empty, black void.

"We're here…" I said quietly.