Chapter 27

Amy's sense of uncertainty only grew as they walked around the ground floor of the school. They had walked through three classrooms and had just stumbled upon the kitchen. Unwashed cutlery was littered around, still in sinks from the last time the children had their meals here. Dani was walking by the stove when Katherine's voice turned her around. 'What do you think happened here?' Katherine asked.

'Nothing good.' Dani said. 'Have you had any visions?'

'I'm trying not to touch anything if I'm being honest.' Katherine said.

'It's alright Kath, we're here to find out about Abaddon, not what happened to a school.' Amy smiled at her, feeling her fear.

'Still, I touched the gate and saw Jack. I could try.' Katherine said.

'Only if you want to Kath, we can find another way.' Dani assured her. Just as a giant rat ran across the isle in front of her. 'Holy cow!' She said, jumping backwards, flinging her arm at the same time and sending several pots and pans cascading towards the creature.

'Dani!' Amy said. 'Could you make any more noise!'

'There was a rat!' Dani shivered. 'I hate rates.' She added.

'Come on, there's nothing in here.' Katherine said. 'Let's move on to another room.'

Xxxxxx

Meanwhile upstairs, Christina, Lisa and Lauren were walking along the third-floor hallway. There were closed doors on both sides, stretching all the way to a window at the end of the hall. 'Where do we start?' Lisa asked.

'Go to the end and work our way back?' Lauren suggested. They nodded and headed for the window. Once there, they went into the room on the right first. As they walked in, the saw several hospital beds lined up against the wall. They looked newer than everything else in the building, and some were covered in a dark brown substance.

'Is that dried blood?' Lisa asked, stepping slightly closer.

'Looks like we found Abaddon's new lab.' Christina said, walking to the far side of the room. She opened a cupboard and saw the boxes from Katherine's vision.

'They were here pretty recently then.' Lauren said, moving over to the window. She looked outside and saw their car. Christina had walked over to Lisa and they were both studying the equipment.

'We really need Amy for this.' Lisa said.

'I can project down there, tell them to come up?' Lauren suggested as she joined them by the bed.

'That would be great Laur.' Christina smiled. Lauren nodded and focused, thinking of Amy and locating her on the ground floor before leaving her body. Her head fell and Lisa and Christina were alone.

'I thought there would be more ghosts here.' Lisa said.

'Maybe there are, and they just don't want to be disturbed.' Christina said.

'Maybe.' Lisa said, but then a small noise caught her attention. 'Did you hear that?' She whispered.

'No, what was it?' Christina asked. They soon found out when the door crashed shut behind them. Jumping and spinning around they were met with a demon, about seven feet tall and built like a boxer. He had scars over his face and arms, and he was balling his hands into fists. His eyes were glowing blue.

'Oh dear.' Lisa said. Christina gently nudged Lisa behind her next to Lauren who was still not back.

'I thought only my eyes glowed like that.' Christina said.

'Apparently not.' Lisa said, nudging Lauren to try and get her attention.

Xxxxxx

'Hey.' Lauren said as soon as she appeared in front of Amy.

'Oh my God, Lauren!' Amy reeled backwards with her hand over her heart. 'Don't do that!'

'Sorry.' Lauren said as Katherine and Dani came over to them.

'What's going on? Where are Lisa and Chris?' Dani asked.

'We found some medical stuff we need Amy to look at.' Lauren told them. She lifted her hand to her side as she felt Lisa nudge her.

'What's wrong?' Amy asked.

'I don't know. I need to get back.' Lauren said. 'Third floor, right at the end of the hall.' She told them before she faded away in a red mist. Suddenly there was a loud bang from upstairs.

Xxxxxx

Lauren made it back to her body just in time to see Lisa throw a potion at the huge demon. It hit his chest and exploded but did little damage. 'Okay, your turn.' Lisa said to Christina.

'What the hell!' Lauren exclaimed, looking at the demon.

'Oh good, you're back.' Christina said. 'Stay behind me.' She shot energy from her hands towards the demon, but he raised his own hands and sent the same energy at her. They hit in the middle and the light was almost blinding. Lauren and Lisa covered their eyes.

'How does he have Christina's power?' Lisa asked over the noise. They saw Christina take a step backwards and put their hands on her shoulders to reassure her.

'Chris?' Lauren said. 'What's happening?' She asked.

'He's….' She winced. 'Using the power of the amulet.' She said, stepping back once more but Lisa and Lauren stood firm behind her. The energy between them had started swirling until a black hole formed in the middle.

'That doesn't look good.' Lisa said as they felt a strong pull towards the hole. 'Grab onto something!' She yelled. Lauren wrapped her arm around a pipe on the wall, Lisa doing the same, but Christina was still standing in the open. The demon took an involuntary step closer to the hole.

'It's sucking things in.' Lauren said, watching as cushions from the beds disappeared into the darkness. Lisa reached out and grabbed the back of Christina's shirt, trying to keep her from ending up in the same place. The demon had no such support system and was getting ever closer. Lisa struggled to hold on as the pull intensified.

'Ahh, Chris!' She yelled. 'You need to stop! I can't hold on!' Christina heard her sister and dropped her power, the energy release sending her down. She fell backwards and Lisa was able to grab her more securely, sliding to the floor with an arm around Christina's stomach. The sudden lack of opposing power had thrown the demon off balance and he stumbled forwards into the black hole. After a few moments it closed, and everything was silent. They were breathing heavily, Christina almost passed out in Lisa's arms, as Dani, Katherine and Amy turned up at the door.

'What was that!' Dani yelled. 'There was like a bright twister of light in here a second ago and then nothing!'

'Is everyone okay?' Amy asked, leading them into the room.

'I think so.' Lauren said, stepping away from the wall. Lisa felt most of Christina's weight in her arms, Christina's head lying heavily on her chest.

'Amy, can you check on her please?' Lisa asked, not wanting to move her. Amy knelt in front of them and moved the hair from Christina's face.

'Chris, can you hear me?' She asked.

'Mmmm.' Christina mumbled. Amy checked her pulse and lifted her eyelid. Her eyes were still blue.

'She's okay.' Amy assured them. 'She's powering down, so she'll probably be asleep in a minute.'

'What happened?' Katherine asked as Lisa moved from behind Christina, folded up her hoodie as a pillow and set her down gently on it.

'Big scary demon.' Lisa told them. 'With glowing blue eyes.'

'But only Chris has those?' Dani asked, confused.

'We know.' Lauren said. 'And the demon had her power. When they connected it opened some sort of black hole.' Katherine was thinking to herself.

'Kath, what are you thinking?' Amy asked.

'Amy, what does that equipment look like to you?' Katherine asked, pointing to the machine at the end of the beds. Amy went over and took a quick look before responding. Lauren and Dani had sat on the floor with Christina.

'I'm not sure, some kind of modified transfusion device?' She thought.

'I think he's found a way to get the power of the amulet into his demons.' Katherine said. 'It's the only way a demon would have that power.'

'Shit.' Dani said from the floor. 'That's bad.'

'That's very bad.' Lisa said. 'Chris fought one of them and it's wiped her out. Who knows how many more demons he's been able to create with the power he took?'

'We should get out of here before any more show up.' Lauren said. They agreed, Katherine and Lisa getting Christina to the car whilst Dani led the way.