Ivory really couldn't afford to have poor grades this semester. She wasn't doing badly by any means, but with her goals set on getting into an upstanding college, she knew she had to improve her studies. Following her last semester at Spooksville High school, her graduation ceremony would happen in May of next year. There wasn't a lot of time left, but she was determined to keep her eyes cast on the sweet prize.

Closing the book she held in her hands, Ivory decided she had enough. She'd been reading in her father's study for more than five hours now and wasn't any closer to finding the truth, no matter how carefully she went through the pages. Her time would be better spent taking a shower and mentally preparing herself for classes tomorrow.

With a defeated sigh, she lifted herself from the chair and went to return the book to the immaculately filled bookshelf. This book had just been another biography. She'd read countless at this point, stories about professionals who experienced and researched paranormal activity. From the names she read, only two stuck to her memory.

The first name was Doctor Miranda Richardson, a female scientist and witch practitioner who was a leading expert in the field of studying ghosts before the witch trials. It seemed she had a well respected reputation and many acknowledged her work, despite the controversy that backfired on her after publicly revealing her research. Doctor Miranda Richardson had apparently gone to the other side of the veil and kept in contact with many lost spirits to help humans who were grieving. She described many things in detail that Ivory recognized as she had also gone over there and experienced what that world was like for herself. That biography was the first book to talk about the veil that separated the living from the dead.

As expected, witches appeared to have a connection with the supernatural. A unique circumstance solely to their kind for being mortals who could wield magic. Ivory reconsidered the possibility that somewhere in her family tree there might have been a witch. The idea seemed so far-fetched at first that she had denied any room for speculation, but now she wasn't so certain after reading how ordinary a life could be for a witch.

The second name that stuck in her memory was Doctor Lawrence Wright, a male scientist of paranormal activity who proclaimed he kept in contact with lost spirits. Normally one might think this guy was a quack, talking about theories for publicity or found ruminating over a ouija board since he never actually saw the spirits for himself, however, that was not the case. To Ivory's surprise, his findings got very interesting.

In a series of murder cases where the culprits were never found, Doctor Lawrence Wright had discovered this was actually the work of poltergeists, ghosts with unresolved emotions who could manipulate their surroundings and harm humans. Each case was very bizarre and truly left nothing for the law enforcement to find, but during Doctor Lawrence Wright's extensive research and interviews with the victims' families, he discovered similarities between them. How each victim knew of someone who passed away and how they never had the best relationship with said person, even after death it would seem.

Ivory was familiar with the concept that ghosts, who were also known as lost spirits, haunted people and hurt for pleasure, but not all of them sought out to commit evil acts. The ghosts who had not become poltergeists were tame like Seth and simply remained in the land of the living unable to move past their regrets, however, upon discovery, that concept was much more complicated.

Doctor Lawrence Wright found that ghosts were highly emotional, temperamental, and easily angered. They felt things much stronger and on a deeper level than humans and other supernatural creatures. If a ghost's lingering regret suddenly becomes vengeful then they are compelled to act upon their impulse and pursue revenge, ultimately losing themselves in the process. In simple terms, any ghost could become a poltergeist, no matter their pure intentions.

Ivory had no idea just how much inner conflict ghosts went through. She worried that Seth had bottled up his emotions regarding his brother or anything else that he had not spoken about. She had been slightly naïve to think that she'd got the better end of the deal instead of a vampire for example, who seeks human blood. They could be equally dangerous given the situation.

Learning how to deal with a ghost was not her priority, but the information was useful regardless. This was only the second day she'd gone through her father's study and she already learned many things. Tomorrow would be more bountiful perhaps.

Upon opening the door to leave, she'd been slightly lost in her thoughts and didn't consider second guessing where she was going. The idea of a relaxing bath was so entrancing to her that she'd blindly walked into that special place again. The wind blew against her face as if to greet her as she stood alone in the same alley as before.

"Goddammit." She said under her breath. Could the door not warn her before deciding when to make an appearance? How about a bell to at least keep her cognitive of what she was walking into? When did a little common courtesy ever hurt anyone?

Looking behind her, sure enough, the door was already gone as if carrying the same unreliable behavior as this place. Not wanting to withstand the smell of trash any longer than necessary, Ivory held the bridge of her nose and carefully walked further into the unknown.

She was finally standing at the divergence of two paths and stared at them dumbfoundedly. Just what kind of philosophical journey was this? Can she not leave through the emergency exit? She wanted out of this amusement park sooner rather than later.

Not certain which path she took last time, she decided to test her luck with the right path. They looked virtually the same, neither particularly friendlier then the other, so there wasn't a point in wasting time to choose one.

The temperature suddenly dropped to the point of freezing. She knew something was wrong before the incident happened.

A creature bolted past her ear, screaming as if to get her attention and then disappeared, seemingly never there.

How unpleasant.

She scratched her ringing ear with faint annoyance before continuing down her chosen path. As she walked, she knew other creatures were present without actually looking. The feeling was not just a sense of foreboding, but rather she could feel their emotions. Everything from their sadness and pain to the love they once carried for someone and the regret that followed upon loss, all of their feelings passed through her in this moment.

Tears ran down her face before she could stop them.

How really, very unpleasant.

She wiped her eyes with her sleeve and wondered if anyone actually lived here. The buildings were connected to one another and bordered up with missing windows or tiles flown off from the roofs, however, there were a few exceptions.

She knocked on the next door she passed by but no one answered. The door was also locked after she checked. Giving up the idea, she continued on her journey to get back home. If someone did live here, she doubted they'd be pleasant enough to give her directions, much less know how to get back to the other side. After all, if they did, they wouldn't be pestering her right now.

Something was different about this trip compared to her last visit. She realized she felt more connected to this place like she was becoming emotionally closer to the lost spirits. We're they trying to possess her body? Ivory studied her hands closely as she walked.

Nothing unusual happened, not even so much as a wrong twitch.

A part of her did feel sorry for the creatures trying to torment her. She could sympathize with their longing and understood their loneliness. They seemed no better than children who acted upon their emotions. It didn't matter how much they wanted to return though, Ivory could not release them back into the real world.

A soft voice spoke nearby, one that she recognized which made her heart clench painfully.

She stumbled backwards and landed into a broken railing. Warmth spread throughout her body at the metal bar protruding from the side of her stomach, followed by the flow of blood that spilled towards the ground. She looked down towards the wound with peculiar interest. Adrenaline began to course through her veins at the unusual sight, yet she wasn't in any discomfort.

Her vision grew weak until everything went completely dark. She wasn't afraid of the darkness though because for some reason, she felt like she was placed in good hands.

"Ivory." The soft familiar voice called again.

Her calm resolve faded immediately. "I must be dead or losing my mind. How about you pick which of the two?" Ivory mused fondly. Upon opening her eyes, she stared directly at the host of the voice, unsurprised at who she saw standing before her.

"Dear child, can you not tell when it's your own father?" He had gentle brown eyes that were filled with warmth as he looked at her. The image of her father was exactly how she remembered. He looked youthful and handsome like he hadn't aged a day past thirty.

Suddenly finding her nails very interesting, she ignored him. "Nope. My father died." She stated. The memory was firmly engraved into her mind about someone who she was grieving for ten years. Someone who had left this world without so much as a goodbye. He wasn't standing before her right now. No, Ivory was certain she was seeing a hallucination. Maybe she had gone delirious from all the events happening lately.

"It's me, Ivory..." He tried to convince her again. His expression grew heavy. "Did I leave you for too long that you don't remember?"

"Rest in peace to his dear soul. It's like I can still hear him talking." She looked firmly towards the sky as if she could see straight to heaven. Hearing him grow quiet, her gaze snapped to him coldly. "What have you done?" She demanded.

He smiled faintly in thought, however, the reaction seemed forlorn. "You're assertive just like your mother. I'm glad to see you're doing well."

"Is that what I look like??" She asked incredulously, brimming with anger. "I was just stabbed, although I don't appear to be now, but my life has been thrown into constant chaos because of your past mistakes."

"Ivory, I loved you and your mother very much. If I wasn't trapped here, I'd have come to visit you both everyday." He seemed deeply grieved by the thought. "You should leave before you become bound to this place. A flaw in my design, unfortunately, but no matter, you shouldn't be coming here anyway. This is not a place for mortals."

"So, I am human after all?" She spoke her thoughts aloud, having unexpectedly voiced them until her mind locked onto something that he said. Her breath caught in her throat at an uncomfortable feeling that washed over her. "Wait. What do you mean by design?" She asked him wearily. "Are you saying that you made me different... that you changed me?"

No, no, no... why does he look ready to explain his reasons and confirm what she asked?

Her mind wandered to those books she read in his study, particularly his journal logs about dissecting werewolves. Her heart nearly stopped. Was she another one of his experiments?

Signs of age showed within her father's gaze for the first time. "The veil was always unstable but scientists didn't understand just how much until the door between our worlds actually shattered. There was a time when supernatural beings roamed the world, much like now but the chaos they brought at that time was more brutal than any war in humanity."

Such events were never written in the history books Ivory studied. Just how long ago was this war?

"The war between humans and the supernatural... I still remember the ceaseless fighting." He continued as if recalling a burdensome memory and eventually shook his head from those loose thoughts. "To put things simply, the world you see today wouldn't be as peaceful without my actions. For the veil to survive, a pure blooded human was needed. They had to become a tether."

Her world was changing before her eyes at the information he revealed. Her heart hammered in her chest, fearing his next choice of words.

"Your blood is different because you are my daughter. I tried to find another way, but you were the perfect match and I was out of time." He seemed unable to look at her any further. "I'm truly sorry you were given this responsibility. I only wanted a better world for you... Ivory, you're not saying anything." He finally said, observing with a frown.

"Please just stop talking." She recollected her nerves, hands clenched at her sides. "I can't listen to any more of this sanctimonious attitude. You had no right to change me for your own purpose. I don't care about your reasons! I was never your tool to be used. What gave you the right to ruin my life?" She bit back her tears and looked away.

She had enough.

She wanted to leave for now.

This was really her limit of what she could handle given everything she was just told. "Does my mom know?" She asked quietly, having considered her mom's strange behavior regarding the research.

"The memory alteration I used on her probably wore off by now." He replied regretfully. "She most likely does."

Taking a deep breath, Ivory could feel that door she tried to keep shut, slowly bleed out before her in this moment.

Creatures began to stir, clawing and scraping inside the bordered up houses around them. She supposed they had grown bored of watching and decided to come out and play.

"Ivory, hurry!" Her father shouted in warning. "I'll hold them off while you get out of here."

"If I could leave, I would have long ago. Do you think I like staying here?" She asked him incredulously.

"You're thinking too hard about it." He reprimanded her gently. "Just follow your desires and you can open a door. This place can be your paradise as much as your doom. Don't let it control you."

The creatures burst through the doors at this moment, leaving her out of time and options.

She calmly focused on where she wanted to return, who she wanted to see, however, the door she tried to summon did not appear.