Chapter 8: Inside Out

The long drive back to the rental company was quiet, save for the classical music playing on the radio. Jenny would hum along sometimes, which was a bit unnerving because it came out of the car speakers. Once Ingrid turned the vehicle back in, she crossed the street to a local hotel and let out a sigh of relief when the cool air of the lobby kissed her skin. It was now dark outside, and the air had felt like it was trying to smother her with heat and humidity.

The hotel had a bistro off the lobby. Ingrid briefly contemplated dropping Jenny off in the room and coming back down for a bite to eat, or perhaps to sit around in the hopes that a hot stranger might chat her up. However, she caught her reflection in the polished chrome of the elevator doors and immediately ditched that plan. Her hair was a sweaty mess, and she had pit stains on her shirt.

That, and nobody wants to fuck you, Jenny added.

“Don’t be a cunt about it,” Ingrid replied out loud, causing an older woman with cotton-white hair standing nearby to let out an indignant squeak.

Now there’s someone who needs to get laid. Jenny cackled maniacally. It would be like fucking a sandy Q-tip.

“Shush,” Ingrid whispered, then jammed her finger against the Up button. “And stop being rude to strangers.”

No. The door of the elevator opened and Ingrid got on. Just as the doors began to close, a young woman with a stroller rushed to get on, but all the lights started flashing as if the elevator had malfunctioned.

“Um, we’ll wait,” the woman said, backing away from the door. Once it shut, Ingrid opened her bag and pulled Jenny out.

“That wasn’t nice, either,” Ingrid said. “And why be mean to her? I thought you liked kids.”

Kids, yes. Babies, no. They drool on me.

“You’ve got psychokinetic powers and can’t just push it away?” Ingrid stared the doll in the eyes. “I don’t believe you.”

The lights in the elevator flickered menacingly, but Ingrid maintained eye contact. Eventually, the doors opened, revealing the long hallway that would take her to the small, shitty room at the back. It wasn’t until they were inside again that Jenny spoke.

It scares them, she said.

“Scares who? Babies?” Ingrid set Jenny down on the chair by the bed and did a quick sweep of the room to make sure it hadn’t been disturbed in her absence. It’s not that she expected an ambush. Ingrid was relying heavily on her former training. Someone had sent a demon for her after all.

Babies are very sensitive to everything, Jenny said. They can sense that my powers are ... unnatural.

“And? If you don’t like them, then why do you care that they’re sensitive to your powers?” Satisfied that the room was clean of interference, Ingrid sat on the bed and looked at the doll. “You don’t strike me as someone who gives a shit about anything.”

The phone attached to the wall ripped itself free and was thrown across the room. Ingrid shifted back about a foot so that it whizzed past her face.

“See? This is a perfect example. We’re having a conversation and you just shut down.”

I do care. Jenny’s voice was quiet, but sounded angry. I have never once hurt a child.

“So you do have a line.” Ingrid leaned forward with interest. “Is it because you’re trapped in a child’s toy?”

“I’m not technically trapped anymore.

“So why stay? Why not wander off and do ... well, whatever the hell you want?”

The doll was quiet for a moment, and Ingrid wondered if the conversation had ended. She stood to pick Jenny up, then flinched when the spirit spoke just as they touched.

I want my own body, she said. I want to live again, and die like I should have. In the moment, Jenny no longer sounded like the barely restrained psychopath she usually did. This was Janey, the version Ingrid had met on the oil rig.

“I guess you want to be an official Radley.”

Yessssss. Jenny stretched the word out like a snake might.

“Is that why you’re nice to babies, then? Because you’re trying to show them you can behave?”

“I love children.” The temperature in the room dropped, and Janey appeared, hugging herself in the corner of the room. “They remind me of my sisters and brothers.”

“You had siblings?”

Janey nodded. “I don’t remember their names anymore. They died a long time ago.”

“I know what that’s like.” Ingrid thought back to her own sibling, Ricky. “My family died in a plane crash. I had a brother.”

Janey flickered. It’s not a competition.

“I know that. I’m not trying to compete, I just ... identify with what you’re going through. You know, empathy and all that shit.” Ingrid sighed as the mattress beneath her shook. “Look, I’m trying to be better, okay?”

The mattress stopped bouncing, and the spirit stared at her. Well, maybe she did. Janey’s hair covered her face. If not for the ghost’s knees, Ingrid would have no idea what direction she was even facing. But this definitely wasn’t the typical Jenny she usually saw or heard from.

I miss Grace,” was what Janey finally said.

“What’s she like?” Ingrid asked. In response, the door rattled as if someone was trying to force their way in. “Hey, you brought her up. I retract my question.”

The spirit flickered like an old television. That’s not me, she said, then disappeared. Ingrid leapt to her feet and snapped a wand out just as the door ripped free of the lock to reveal a figure in black. From head to toe, every inch of the creature’s body was covered.

Ingrid sent out a wave of force intended to push the intruder back. The figure froze in place, straining against the spell. Ingrid grunted as she poured more of her willpower into the wand, then let out a gasp when the doorframe itself buckled outward.

Demon, Jenny declared.

“Help me, then!”

Can’t against demons.

“Fuck me.” Ingrid grabbed Jenny and moved back toward the closet while the figure in black pursued, its limbs stretching like taffy as it reached for her.

The closet could only hold a robe and a few suit jackets. However, it was big enough for a portal, which Ingrid stepped through. She lashed out with her foot and snapped the structural support just as the arms reached through and seized her by the neck. Supernatural strength surged through those hands as she was strangled, but the portal finally collapsed with a loud bang, which severed the demon’s arms.

Down by her feet, a trio of rats scurried about in a panic as Ingrid fought the arms and eventually burned them with some holy water from her pocket. Gasping, she looked around and saw that Jenny was on the floor.

“Sorry I dropped you,” she rasped, then picked up the doll and stepped through the next portal. The rats ran ahead of her as she kicked out the emergency closure device and looked back to see the limbs flopping on the floor as they slowly grew back into a pale, white torso. The demon was transporting its severed mass across the world to rebuild itself.

“What in the actual Hell?” Ingrid took a step back as the portal collapsed, causing her ears to pop. Frowning, she looked down at the rats. “Did you see that thing around my room?”

Two of the rodents ignored her, but the third stood and shook its head side to side.

“How did that thing find me?” she wondered out loud. Ingrid looked down at the doll in her hand. “And how come you can’t fight demons?”

Don’t want their attention, Jenny replied.

“Good to know.” Ingrid saw that the rats were motioning to her from the corner of the room. An additional portal awaited. Ingrid and Jenny stepped through and found themselves in the Library.

Letting out a long sigh, she scanned the lobby. Platforms zoomed up above and a squad of rats were busy running around the main entryway. Tink was sitting behind the information desk and wearing a top hat.

“Tink help check in books!” she shouted, then picked up a stamp and slammed it against the inside cover of a book in front of her. “Make good time, get pretty island girl caught up!” She shoved the book off the counter where a pair of rats caught it and scurried off. The goblin looked up at Ingrid and grinded. “Pretty mage has late fees. Rub Tink’s feet.”

“She’s not rubbing your feet.” Kisa, who had been sitting nearby on the desk, appeared as she dropped her natural invisibility. “Quit trying to get people and rats to rub your feet.”

“Tink miss husband.” The goblin pouted. “Husband rub Tink’s feet.”

“I rubbed your feet an hour ago, you pest.” Kisa swatted the hat off of Tink’s head, then turned her attention to Ingrid. “Don’t mind us. She’s just trying to keep busy.”

“I just got attacked by a demon,” Ingrid said. “In Texas.”

“YES!” Tink picked up her crossbow and tried to slide out of her chair. “Tink shoot demon in stupid fucking face!”

“Nope!” Kisa snatched the crossbow away from her. “Did the demon follow you here?”

Ingrid shook her head. “No, the portal airlocks did their job. But Eulalie needs to know that we were compromised somehow.”

“Fuck.” Tink slumped in her chair. “Tink bored.”

“Then go read a book. You don’t have to be physically doing something all the damned time.” Kisa slid off the desk and set the crossbow out of reach. “Are you hurt?”

Ingrid shook her head and held up Jenny. “We’re both fine. I didn’t get a good enough look at the demon, though. It was wearing all black. The demon tried to grab me through a portal and lost its arms.”

“Demons are demons.” Kisa shrugged. “I’m guessing the person who sent the Glutton sent this one as well.”

“But how did they find us so fast?”

“Bad magic,” Tink said, her voice muffled. The goblin was reclined in her chair and had covered her face with the top hat. Ingrid heard her blow a raspberry inside of it. “Pretty mage being tracked.”

Kisa frowned. “That means that whoever sent the first demon knows that it failed. The second one ambushed you in your room?”

“Yeah. At the hotel.” Ingrid moved toward the hallway that went to the rooms. “If you can let Eulalie know, I need to go take a shower and get a bite to eat.”

“This is the place for it.” Kisa looked at a pair of empty platters on the information desk. “Though we’re more like a restaurant than a Library these days.”

Tink belched inside of her top hat and quickly moved it onto the desk, trapping the fumes inside. “Tink make trap,” she declared.

Kisa gave the goblin a dirty look. “That’s nasty.”

“Yep.” Tink looked at the hat, then up at Ingrid. “Pretty mage want hat?”

“No thanks.” Ingrid snorted as she walked away. It wasn’t until she was in her room that she realized that Jenny was still in her arms. Or Janey. Whoever.

Ingrid set the doll on the table by the bed and shed her shirt and pants. “So do you think a witch sent that demon after me?”

Probably. Jenny giggled. I can take apart a witch like a rotisserie chicken.

“If we come across this bitch, you don’t just have my permission, but also my blessing.” Ingrid was down to her underwear now as she walked into the bathroom and turned on the shower.

I don’t need your permission! When Jenny shouted, the steam coming out of the shower briefly disappeared.

“Stop being the grouch, you’ll use up all the hot water.” In truth, Ingrid wondered if the hot water was also stolen. Was there some poor bastard in the world wondering why their shower was no longer hot?

Or maybe the correct word was borrowed, she pondered. After all, you borrowed things from the Library. Maybe it was just borrowing things from everywhere else.

The shower helped her mood immensely. She laid down in bed to stretch out and relax for a bit, but exhaustion claimed her instead, and she sank into a blissful slumber.

The first hour alone in the witch’s office felt like an entire lifetime to Dana. Unable to move, she wasn’t sure if it would be better to look around and try to find something to watch, or if closing her eyes and limiting input would make the time go faster.

At some point, she realized that she could hear a ticking clock somewhere in the house. If her head had been attached to her body, she would have sighed with relief. The most important thing for long nights spent all by herself was to find something to keep her brain occupied. Left alone with her own thoughts was always a bad idea, and time would stretch like a piece of taffy in one of those fancy machines inside the candy store.

She had seen nine of those since dying. Replaying her memories, all of them had been spotted out of the corner of her eye, most of them while hunting down SoS members. Traveling across the globe took them to more than a few tourist destinations, and salt water taffy was sold almost everywhere, especially near the ocean.

Dana started counting the distant ticks of the clock, picturing the numbers in her head. Between ticks, she tried to fill in the blanks in her memory, and was rewarded with intense visuals of electrodes being jammed into her head. The witch had made her laugh, cry hysterically, and even made her climax by accident while adjusting a probe. Having a massive orgasm without a body was sort of like having a sneeze disappear right before doing it.

With each tick of the clock, Dana was no closer to figuring out a way to get out of this mess. At 5000 ticks, she felt the inkling of hunger, but it was a strange, muted sensation. She wanted to eat, but had no stomach.

Around 8000 ticks, she experienced a phantom itch where her left breast would have been. The itch moved across her torso in slow motion like a crawling insect, then disappeared around 8400 ticks.

At 13000 ticks, she was openly salivating, hungry from her body’s failed attempts to regenerate. Where was her body, anyway? Was it behind her? Stored in jars somewhere else? If she was left this way for too long, would she just become a head?

Maybe Suly would wear her around as a spare.

At tick 13763, she felt that phantom itch again. Her eyelid twitched as she willed the itch to vanish, then tried to scratch it with hands that were no longer attached.

Somewhere else in the house, she actually felt her fingertips move. Curious, she focused on that sensation, closing her eyes and trying to move her hands. Whether this was a delusion or some innate ability she was experiencing for the first time, it was at least something to do.

Even chasing delusions was better than slowly going mad in a witch’s study. Dana gritted her teeth and flexed her hands, trying to move one finger at a time. After a while, she was able to feel her feet, too. They were kept in a similar location to her hands. If the weird itch on her tit was any indication, her whole body was in a semi-circle one floor down from where her head was.

While stretching her fingers, she was able to twist her left hand about and discover the clamps holding it in place. That made sense if she was being studied. You just didn’t toss zombie body parts on a table somewhere if you wanted to study them.