Quinn Harris took another step toward the woman with tears streaming down her face, every warning Darius had given her buried beneath memories she’d spent years trying to suppress.
Before their mother’s death, she and Jordan had been much closer, but one reckless night had changed their family forever.
Quinn had secretly gone to a party and asked Jordan to cover for her, telling their mother that she’d only stepped out somewhere harmless if anyone asked.
Jordan did what her older sister requested, but their mother eventually realized something was wrong and went looking for Quinn herself.
On the way, she was struck and killed by a drunk driver, leaving both sisters trapped with a tragedy neither of them knew how to process.
Quinn blamed herself for going to the party, for making Jordan lie, and for setting into motion the chain of events that ended with their mother never coming home.
For years, Quinn had wished she could see her mother just one more time and apologize face-to-face.
She wanted to tell her how sorry she was, how much she missed her, and how badly she regretted allowing guilt to poison her relationship with Jordan afterward.
She had accepted that none of those wishes could ever come true, yet now her mother was sitting only a few feet away with the same face, voice, and loving expression Quinn remembered from childhood.
“Come here, baby,” the woman said softly, spreading her arms wider.
“Mommy missed you so much.” Quinn choked back another sob and whispered, “Mom…
I missed you too,” before slowly opening her own arms and stepping closer.
A sudden burning pain stabbed through Quinn’s left palm.
“Hiss—!” She stopped immediately and looked down.
The hand gripping the crucifix had reddened around the metal, and the unexpected pain sliced through the emotional haze clouding her judgment.
Quinn stared at the cross for several seconds before realization struck her hard enough to send a chill through her entire body.
Her mother had been dead for years.
No matter how desperately Quinn wanted this moment to be real, there was no possible reason she should be sitting inside the house tonight.
Cold sweat broke across Quinn’s forehead as she backed away.
“No,” she whispered, shaking her head.
“You’re not my mother.” The woman’s warm expression remained in place, though something behind her eyes suddenly felt wrong.
“What are you talking about, sweetheart?
Of course I’m your mother.
Come here.” Quinn raised the crucifix between them and retreated another step.
“No.
You’re Ozhin.
Stay away from me.” The woman’s face changed instantly.
The tenderness disappeared, replaced by a dark expression as a sickly yellow glow flashed through her eyes.
Her body stretched upward and collapsed into a towering black shape more than eight feet tall, wrapped in what resembled a dark robe and hood.
Large horns curved backward from its head, while something thick and blood-like glistened around its mouth beneath the shadowed face.
Quinn still couldn’t make out every detail, but at this distance she finally understood why the demon’s presence alone had felt so oppressive.
Before she could react further, Ozhin dissolved like black smoke, and the entire childhood home vanished with it.
Quinn’s vision dropped into total darkness.
For several seconds, she didn’t dare move.
The living room, the glow sticks, Darius, Jordan, and even the faint moonlight seemed to have disappeared, leaving her standing inside an empty black space with no sense of direction.
Her hands trembled as she tightened her grip around the crucifix and tried to decide whether she had actually escaped the hallucination or simply entered another one.
Just as she opened her mouth to call for Darius, a deep familiar voice whispered from behind her, “Shh.
Don’t yell.
We need to get out of here.” Relief rushed through Quinn so quickly that she almost laughed.
“Darius?” She turned toward the voice and began moving through the darkness without thinking.
“What happened?
Did Ozhin get inside?” The voice stayed several feet ahead of her and replied, “No.
Everything you saw was an illusion, but we can’t stay here.
Come on.” Quinn followed, yet something about the distance felt strange; no matter how many steps she took, the voice never seemed any closer.
Her knee suddenly struck something hard.
“Damn it.” Quinn stopped and rubbed the painful spot, unable to tell whether she’d hit a table, wall, or piece of furniture.
“Darius, come help me.
I can’t see anything.” The voice immediately answered, “I can’t.
I’m carrying Jordan.
Just keep coming.” Quinn hesitated only briefly before reaching forward and taking another cautious step.
An ice-cold hand suddenly seized her left wrist from behind.
“Quinn!
Wake up!” She nearly screamed.
Dim moonlight flooded back into her vision all at once, revealing the familiar living room around her.
Quinn spun around and found the real Darius standing directly behind her, one hand gripping her wrist while the glow sticks still cast faint blue light across the floor.
Jordan remained asleep on the sofa exactly where they’d left her, the blanket still covering her and the cross still resting around her neck.
Darius stared into Quinn’s face and asked, “You with me now?” Quinn’s mind went completely blank.
“What…?” She looked from Darius to Jordan, then toward the hallway she’d apparently never entered.
“You were just telling me to follow you.
You said you were carrying Jordan.” Darius immediately shook his head.
“That wasn’t me.
Listen carefully—everything after your mother appeared was part of Ozhin’s hallucination.
It couldn’t cross the ward, so it tried to make you walk out on your own.” Quinn stared at him in horror as the pieces slowly connected.
The fake Darius had sounded convincing, but his voice always seemed too far away, and she hadn’t heard his footsteps even once.
Worse, he’d claimed to be carrying Jordan despite the girl still sleeping peacefully on the sofa.
The first illusion had used Quinn’s mother to break her emotionally; when that failed, Ozhin had immediately built another illusion around the person she currently trusted most.
It wasn’t merely showing her frightening images anymore—it was creating entire layers of false reality designed to make her act without thinking.
Quinn leaned back against the wall, breathing hard.
“Then how do I know this isn’t another one?” Her palms were slick with sweat, and after being fooled twice in succession, she genuinely no longer trusted her own senses.
Maybe this was the third layer.
Maybe the real Darius was somewhere else entirely, while Ozhin was standing in front of her wearing his face.
Quinn tightened her hold on the crucifix again and watched him with open fear.
Darius immediately understood.
“Good.
Don’t trust me just because I look right.” Instead of stepping closer, he pointed toward the window.
“Feel the plastic wrap we put there earlier, then look at the salt-and-glue ward on the floor.
Those were part of our preparations before Ozhin ever started messing with your head.” He then pointed down at himself standing fully inside the protected boundary and added, “If I were Ozhin, do you really think I’d be standing comfortably inside the same ward that’s been burning it all night?” Quinn still hesitated.
Darius reached slowly into his pocket and removed a tiny transparent resealable bag containing the unused salt he’d kept as an emergency backup.
“And I still have this.
You’ve seen me carrying it since we finished setting up the house.” Quinn stared at the bag, then at the ward beneath his feet, before reaching toward the nearby window and touching the plastic wrap exactly where they’d placed it together earlier.
Every small detail matched memories created before the hallucinations began.
Her shoulders finally sagged.
The fear didn’t disappear, but at least she knew who was standing in front of her.
“This time…” Quinn whispered, wiping cold sweat from her forehead, “you’re really Darius.” He nodded.
“For now, trust the things we prepared before Ozhin started lying to you.” Quinn looked toward the dark window again and tightened her grip around the crucifix.
The demon still couldn’t enter.
So it was trying to make her leave.
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