Chapter 31 "The Only Way"
KELLY
Kelly sat in the church library at three in the morning, surrounded by books that smelled like decay and ancient paper.
He'd barely slept since they'd brought Ember here two weeks ago. How could he sleep when his best friend was chained in a room downstairs, slowly losing herself to a spirit that was consuming her from the inside out?
His father's attempts at exorcism had failed. Every single one.
The first time, Ember had convulsed so violently they'd thought her spine would snap. The second time, she'd stopped breathing for almost two minutes. The third time, Rosanna had fought back so hard that Father David himself had been thrown across the room, cracking three ribs against the stone wall.
After that, they'd stopped trying. Because it was clear you couldn't separate Rosanna from Ember. Not without killing them both.
Kelly rubbed his tired eyes and turned another page in the leather bound journal he'd been reading. It was written in cramped, old-fashioned handwriting, dated 1847, by a priest named Father Michael O'Connor who'd dealt with what he called "spiritual entanglement."
When a human spirit possesses a living host, Father O'Connor had written, the two souls become intertwined like roots of trees growing together. To tear them apart kills both. But perhaps, perhaps there is another way.
Kelly leaned forward, his heart rate picking up.
If the possession stems from unfinished business, from a wrong done in life, then perhaps the answer is not to remove the spirit but to resolve the wrong. To change what made the spirit vengeful in the first place.
Kelly flipped ahead, scanning pages frantically.
I have heard tales from the indigenous healers of this land, of rituals that allow a person to visit the past. Not in body, but in spirit. The technique requires specific conditions extreme cold to slow the body's processes to near death, and a psychic connection between the traveler and their anchor in the present time...
Kelly's hands were shaking. This was it. This might actually be
"Still up?"
Kelly jumped, his heart nearly stopping. Maya stood in the doorway, wrapped in a blanket, her eyes red from crying and lack of sleep.
"Jesus, Maya. You scared me."
"Sorry." She came in and sat across from him, pulling the blanket tighter. "Couldn't sleep. Every time I close my eyes, I see her. The chains." Her voice cracked. "We're losing her, Kelly. Day by day, we're watching her disappear."
"I know." Kelly pushed the journal toward her. "But I think I found something. Maybe. It sounds insane, but everything about this situation is insane, so"
Maya picked up the journal, squinting at the old handwriting. "Spiritual time travel?"
"Basically, yeah. The theory is that if we can go back to 1906 to when the curse was first cast we might be able to change what happened. Prevent the curse from ever existing."
"That's" Maya looked up at him. "That's actually insane."
"I know."
"Like, genuinely crazy. Time travel isn't real, Kelly."
"Neither are vengeful spirits from 1906 possessing college students. And yet." Kelly gestured downward, toward where Ember was chained. "Here we are."
Maya was quiet for a long moment, reading the passages Kelly had marked. "It says here you need extreme cold. To slow the heart rate to near death. And a psychic connection between people."
"The cold induces a state similar to suspended animation. Your body is technically alive but not processing normally. In that state, your consciousness can be sent back to a specific time and place." Kelly tapped the page. "But you need an anchor. Someone in the present who you're deeply connected to, who holds you here so you can come back."
"So we need what? A bathtub full of ice water?"
"More than that. We need to bring their core body temperature down to dangerous levels. Like hypothermia, but controlled. My dad knows a doctor who specializes in this kind of thing therapeutic hypothermia for cardiac arrest patients. He might be willing to help if we explain"
"Explain that we're trying to send people's souls back in time to prevent a century-old curse?" Maya raised an eyebrow. "That'll go over well."
"Do you have a better idea?"
Maya looked down at the journal again, her finger tracing the faded words. "Who would go? If this actually works, who goes back?"
"Ember, obviously. She's the one possessed. She needs to experience what Rosanna experienced, understand what really happened." Kelly paused. "And Adrian."
"Adrian?" Maya's face hardened. "The guy who betrayed us? Who brought Ember to his psycho grandmother to be sacrificed?"
"He has Ashcroft blood. He's connected to the original curse. And" Kelly forced himself to say it. "And Ember loves him. That creates a connection. A link that might be strong enough to ground her in the past."
"I can't believe you're defending him"
"I'm not defending what he did. But if we're going to save Ember, we need him." Kelly met Maya's eyes. "We need someone from the Ashcroft line to go back and change their family's history. And Adrian is the only one who would actually do it."
Maya was silent, clearly fighting with herself.
"There's more," Kelly said quietly. "The ritual requires two pairs. Two people connected to the possessed, who can anchor them in the present while their consciousness travels. The person possessed holds the hands of two people they care about deeply. Those people ground them, keep them from getting lost in the past."
"So Ember holds Adrian's hand and" Maya stopped. "And mine?"
"Or mine. Whoever she's more connected to."
"It should be both of us," Maya said. "Kelly, we're her best friends. We've known her longer. We"
"But there's a risk," Kelly interrupted. "The consciousness of the people anchoring can get pulled back too. Not as deeply. Not as fully. But enough that they'll experience fragments of the past. Enough that they might see things they don't want to see."
"I don't care. If it saves Ember"
"And there's a time limit. One hour maximum. If you stay in the past longer than that, your body in the present starts shutting down permanently. You could die. Or fall into a coma you never wake up from."
Maya absorbed this, her face pale but determined. "So we have one hour to go back to 1906, figure out what really happened with Rosanna and the curse, and somehow change it?"
"Basically, yes."
"That's impossible."
"Probably."
"We're going to do it anyway, aren't we?"
Kelly managed a weak smile. "Do we have a choice?"
Maya looked down at the journal again, then back up at Kelly. "When?"
"As soon as we can arrange it. Every day we wait, Rosanna gets stronger and Ember gets weaker." Kelly stood, gathering the books and journals he'd been working from. "I need to talk to my dad. Get him to contact his medical friend. Set up the equipment we'll need."
"What about Adrian? Have you told him any of this?"
"Not yet. But I will. Tomorrow. Or later today, technically." Kelly checked his phone. 3:47 AM. "We should try to get some sleep. We're going to need our strength."
Maya stood too, but she didn't move toward the door. "Kelly? Do you really think this will work? Be honest."
Kelly thought about lying. About giving her false hope. But Maya deserved the truth.
"I don't know. Maybe. It's the only option we have left. So I guess we have to believe it'll work. Because if it doesn't"
"We lose her," Maya finished. "Forever."
They stood in the dim library, surrounded by ancient texts about curses and spirits and impossible rituals, and tried to find hope in the darkness.