Mezzanine

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My mouth dropped open, but I didn't know what to say. Across the table, Lola's grandmother sat silently watching us, her expression and emotions unreadable.

The room grew colder and the air denser, like we were plummeting underwater. It was the same feeling I got in the factory when we tried to contact Maria's spirit with the Ouija board...the sensation I experienced when we reached something else instead.

A dark presence was descending upon us, something watching from beyond an invisible veil.

As Lola's grandmother stared into my eyes, her face shifted. Her mouth curled into a frown, and then like tossing a rock into a pond, a wave of ghostly pale blue expanded across her features. As the ripple calmed, her face softened into that of a much younger woman, but there was something unnatural about it. A ghostly shine glimmered and hovered like a halo around her.

I clawed at the fabric of my jeans, and a bead of sweat slithered down my neck. I felt Lola's hand clench around my wrist, but I couldn't move. I couldn't even turn to look at her. My whole body froze as a chill rushed through me, paralyzing me in place.

Lola's breathing was shallow and quick, like she was struggling to get air in. Was she experiencing the same strange vision I was?

Help me, a voice whispered. Even though her mouth didn't move, it felt like it was coming from Lola's grandmother, like Maria's spirit was somehow channeling through her.

Suddenly, her face contorted into a scowl. Her lips curved down, deep wrinkles forming in the creases of her chin. Her eyes narrowed, the deep red of smoldering coals glowing within them. A shriek of agony bellowed out through her thoughts, like knives slicing into my mind.

I tried to breathe, but I couldn't pull air in. The world became a vacuum. My heart raced, trying to pump oxygen to my body, but I was suffocating. My vision went dark around the edges. Lola's grip on my wrist tightened.

I blinked, the darkness finally clearing from my eyes enough to make out Lola's grandmother. She sat unmoving in the seat across from us, both palms pressed to the table. Her eyes and features had returned to normal, but all the color had drained from her face, and her expression had shifted. Her emotions and thoughts hit me like a whirlwind.

Fear.

"I'm sorry," she finally whispered, breaking the tense silence. "I...I think I need to lie down. I'm not feeling so well." She started to push herself up from her chair.

"Let me take you to the living room." Lola shot up from her seat, rushing around the table and helping her grandma to her feet.

"Thank you, dear," she said. Then, her eyes met mine for a second. Even though I couldn't understand the thought that rushed at me, I could tell it was something significant, and it was something about me.

I pushed myself up from my chair, unsure if I should be helping too.

Lola met my gaze, shaking her head at me as she led her grandmother out of the room.

"Stay," she mouthed. "I'll be right back."

I nodded. The entire room spun around me as I returned to my seat, like I was riding in some horrible tea cup at a boardwalk theme park. I rested my elbows on the table and held my head in my hands. What had just happened? Had Maria's spirit possessed Lola's grandmother? Was she trying to send us a message?

And what had happened after that? Her eyes started glowing red. A warning? Something else?

I remembered how Carter's eyes flashed to red in the hallway today, like a demonic possession had overcome him.