What Hides Inside: Bay City Paranormal Investigations, Book 2

the fuck?”
“It’s the portal,” Sam replied, his voice sounding faint and dreamy in his own ears. “It wants to open. The energy it takes to keep it closed generates the heat.”
Five pairs of eyes locked onto Sam’s face, all wide with surprise. Sam didn’t blame them. He was pretty stunned himself.
“How do you know that?” The light from the video camera washed Andre’s face in blue, giving his skin a sickly hue that matched the shock in his voice.
“I have no idea. But it’s true.” Pacing toward the pit, Sam searched for the source of the energy he felt building in his skull. “It’s changing.”
He shouldn’t have been surprised at the reaction his calm declaration caused, but he was. Blinking, he watched as his friends huddled together with their backs against the wall opposite the pit.
Grabbing Sam’s wrist in an iron grip, Bo yanked him backward. “Hey!” Sam protested as he stumbled against Bo, jarring his connection with the gateway.
“What do you mean, it’s changing?” Bo growled. His fingers dug painfully into Sam’s wrist. “Is it opening?”
Sam frowned, letting his vision lose focus as he grasped at the psychic cord leading him to the other side. “I’m not sure. I think…”
Something niggled at Sam’s mind. A disturbingly familiar feeling. Squeezing his eyes shut, he tried to think where he’d felt that before. When it came to him, his eyes flew open and he clutched at Bo’s arm.
Bo’s arm went around his waist, steadying him. “Sam? What is it?”
“It’s them,” Sam whispered. “Whatever they are, on the other side. They’re in my head. They’re showing me things, Bo, they’re talking to me.”
“What kind of things?” Dean asked, appearing on Sam’s other side. He laid a hand on Sam’s shoulder. “Maybe we should—”
If Dean finished the sentence, Sam never heard him. A sudden jolt of electricity slammed through Sam’s body, driving him to his knees. This isn’t like before, he thought as he fell forward, catching himself on his hands. It didn’t hit me like this. The pressure in his chest, though, wringing the air from his lungs… that was familiar. Hands stroked his back and face, voices edged with panic asked him if he was all right, but he couldn’t respond. Every ounce of his energy was focused on drawing the next breath.
“Sam! Can you hear me?” Bo’s braid brushed Sam’s temple, but his voice sounded muffled and far away. “Say something. Please.”
The terror behind Bo’s outward calm galvanized Sam into action. With a huge effort, he lifted his head and stared into Bo’s eyes. “The portal,” he gasped. “It’s opening. Have to close it.”
Bo and Dean were already hauling him to his feet before he finished speaking. A rasping, hissing sound filled the air. Sam homed his attention onto it, trying to grasp the shades of meaning flitting through it.
“No, Sam.” Clamping his hands around Sam’s arms in an iron grip, Bo tugged him away from the pit. “We’re going. Now.”
Sam didn’t even have time to protest. As he watched, the air around the pit twisted and shimmered. The hissing grew louder, the temperature plummeted and space ripped open, spitting out not one but two reality-defying creatures that were all too familiar.
“Fuck!” Dean stumbled backward, pushing Sam and Bo behind him. His teeth chattered in the sudden frigid cold. “Is…is that…”
No one answered. There was no need.
A high-pitched wail broke from the smaller of the two beings, the sound piercing Sam’s eardrums like a knife. From the corner of his eye, he saw his friends cover their ears and grimace. Images flashed through Sam’s mind, images he didn’t understand, and he realized with a shock he was picking up on a communication between the two creatures.
Amidst the chaotic pictures in Sam’s head, the meaning behind the noises came through loud and clear, and he knew he was out of time.
Gathering all his strength, Sam shoved Bo and Dean out of the way and staggered forward. Leave them alone! he screamed silently at the things. Go away! Go back!
For a heart-thumping moment, Sam felt as if the fate of his world balanced on the head of a pin. Drawing a deep breath, he centered himself and prepared to send the creatures back where they’d come from.
As if in reaction to his intent, the smaller thing—a juvenile, Sam realized in a burst of insight—shot forward. It moved faster than anything Sam had ever seen. He whirled, grasped at it