Chris followed Joey and Lance into the living room where JC and Justin were sitting on the couch. As they entered Justin looked up from where his chin was resting on JC’s shoulder.

“What’s up?” Justin asked.

“We need to talk,” Joey said as he sat on the loveseat.

“OK…” Justin exchanged a concerned glance with JC and sat up straighter, allowing JC to lean forward and place the laptop on the coffee table in front of them.

“What’s going on?” JC asked, frowning slightly.

“Joey went into my mind,” Lance said from where he sat next to Joey.

Justin’s face wrinkled in confusion. “What? How is that even possible?”

Chris lowered himself into the recliner that he’d been sitting in earlier as he looked expectantly at Lance and Joey. He understood where Justin’s confusion came from because he’d felt that way when he’d first walked into the study. Lance sighed heavily and Chris figured he must not want to explain it again, but it was something that was necessary for Justin and JC to understand what’d happened in the study with Joey.

“I try to remember something and Joey gets access to a memory of whatever it is I’m trying to remember,” Lance explained.

“How do you know?” JC asked.

“This morning was the first time it happened. I was hanging out in the kitchen when I got this flash of Lance leaving his keys in the front door lock,” Joey said.

Lance nodded and added, “I’d been searching all over the place for them and found Joey by the front door with them in his hand.”

“Did you pass out?” Justin asked.

“No.” Joey titled his head. “Why?”

“Well, that’s what happens when I have visions,” Justin said.

“I’m not having visions,” Joey denied.

Justin frowned. “Then what?”

“It’s probably more like Lance and JC’s connection because as I see the memory it’s like I’m actually in his head,” Joey said.

“You’re basing this off one time?” JC asked, his frown deepening.

Joey shook his head. “It’s happened two more times.”

“Today?” Lance and Joey nodded. JC paused briefly before continuing, “Three in one day? Isn’t that kind of fast?”

“Yeah, I mean, we just found out about yours and Chris’s yesterday,” Justin said to Joey.

“Well, what other explanation is there?” Chris asked. “It’s not like we have control over stuff like this.”

“So were your other two like the first one?” Justin asked, leaning forward.

“Pretty much. Lance was trying to come up with an old password and I just got this image of him typing it,” Joey said.

Chris looked over at Joey. “And this last time you saw the cabin, right?”

JC’s eyes widened slightly. “Seriously?”

“That’s what I wanted to talk to you guys about,” Joey said, nodding.

“So it worked then?” Lance asked.

“Exactly like the other two times,” Joey affirmed.

Justin scooted forward so he was sitting on the edge of his seat. “What’d you see?”

“I was in a bedroom from the cabin that we stayed in,” Joey said.

“Really? The exact same cabin?” Chris asked. When Joey nodded he added, “Damn that’s creepy.”

“So I was in the bedroom and Lance and JC were on the floor coloring. Well, JC was coloring. I don’t know what Lance was doing,” Joey said, smiling.

Chris and Justin laughed as Lance’s cheeks tinged pink. Even JC managed a small smile. While Chris hadn’t seen Lance and JC as kids like Joey had, he could easily picture them coloring and it really was a cute image.

“And your mom was there,” Joey said, meeting JC’s eyes after the laughter had died down. “She pulled your Leo necklace out of your shirt. I didn’t know you’d had it for so long.”

JC fingered his pendant, looking down at it before returning his gaze to Joey. “I didn’t either. I just knew that I’d had it for as long as I could remember.”

“But then she walked over to this journal that was sitting on a desk and looked up something. When she left the room I walked over to read it.” Joey paused and looked over at Lance. “I think you were right.”

“About what?” Chris asked, glancing back and forth between the two of them. He had no idea what Joey was talking about. The only thing he could think of was that it somehow related to the research they’d been doing earlier because they were up to speed on everything else.

“Joey and I found out that in addition to her boyfriend dying a week before she did, her younger sister also died a few days before. I had this theory that the demons killed everyone close to her like they’ve been trying to do to us,” Lance explained.

“Did you find anyone else?” Justin asked.

Lance shook his head. “I was going to, but that was before I got the idea to try out remembering the cabin.” He turned his head to the right to look at Joey. “So you said I was right?”

“Everything you said was pretty much confirmed in her journal. She went on about how she couldn’t stand watching them die and that she knew she had to end it.”

“What else did the journal say?” Chris asked.

“It said that while she knew she was going to stop it, she didn’t want to sacrifice her son in the process. So she found this chick, a psychic I think, that helped her with protective spells,” Joey said. “I tried to turn the page to read more, but I couldn’t since I wasn’t really there.

“But almost immediately there was a loud crash from the hall and when I got to the doorway I saw Alison with a demon standing in front of her. She begged for her life and your life,” Joey met JC’s eyes briefly before focusing them on the floor at his feet, “When she saw you in the doorway she told you to run away, but I think you were too scared to move.”

Joey sighed and paused, frowning. After a brief moment he continued, “As soon as she turned around the demon was on her. It wrapped a hand around her throat and she fell to the floor. JC, you ran forward only to run in the other direction when you looked up at the demon.

“The demon disappeared and you ran outside. You tripped and the demon reappeared in front of you. It moved towards you, but it suddenly stopped when it got within a foot of you. It disappeared and you took off.”

The room fell silent as everyone took in what Joey had seen. It was a major step in the right direction towards a solution. They finally knew what’d happened at the cabin. And even though they knew the main outcome with JC’s mom dying, the details of what’d exactly happened were a lot to take in. But it all made sense now with the exception being why the demon hadn’t advanced on JC.

Chris frowned. “It just vanished?”

“Yeah, I don’t really understand it either,” Joey said.

“Maybe it had something to do with those protective spells,” Lance suggested.

Justin’s eyes widened in remembrance. “Hey, yeah. What’s the psychic’s name? Or don’t you know?”

“It was Sydnie,” Joey said after a few seconds.

“I’m sure she would know what’d happened. She might even be able to help us,” Lance said, rising from the loveseat to grab JC’s laptop off the coffee table before returning to his seat.

“You think you can really find her?” Chris asked.

“I don’t see why not. I mean, she has to be somewhere in Florida because I don’t think Alison would go out of state just to meet this person,” Lance said.

Chris couldn’t believe that they were finally getting on track as far as finding a way out for JC. It was a huge relief to finally be able to get their questions answered. He was anxious for Lance to find the name of this psychic chick because there was a good possibility that she could help them. She might even be able to fill in some of the missing pieces.

But Chris’s thoughts were torn away from the psychic when he heard Justin ask, “What’s wrong, C?”

Chris turned his attention to JC and frowned. JC’s eyes were adverted to his lap as he fidgeted with the pencil that Justin had been using to scratch his arm with earlier. Fidgeting was a bad habit of JC’s, especially when he was upset. At that thought Chris rolled his eyes. He should’ve seen this coming. JC hadn’t said much during Joey’s recount of what’d happened at the cabin and now he was letting the past eat him up inside.

“I’m a horrible person,” JC said finally after nearly fifteen seconds of silence passed.

“Yeah, but we love you anyway,” Chris joked.

“Chris!” Justin scolded, glaring over at him. Chris knew that what he’d said was a tad bit inappropriate, but he couldn’t help it. He liked to make jokes.

“I can’t believe I forgot,” JC said quietly, still avoiding eye contact as he twirled the pencil in his hand.

Justin’s face softened as he looked back at JC and asked, “Forgot what?”

“What happened to my mom. I mean, I must not have loved her very much if I can’t even remember her death,” JC said.

“Oh, JC.” Justin sighed. “You were only five. Most people can’t even remember stuff from when they were that age.”

JC shook his head. “I’m not talking about some stupid memory of the first time you ate jelly beans. I saw my mom die.”

“Exactly. That’s a pretty traumatic thing. Watching someone die is hard enough on adults, but you were just a kid. You didn’t know how to handle what you saw,” Chris said, trying to reassure JC through reasoning. It was one of the things he actually remembered with relative clarity from his psych classes in college. Probably because that’d been the kind of thing he wanted to do; help kids get through traumatic events in their lives.

JC scoffed. “Like that really matters.” There was a pause before JC continued, “But it’s not just that.” He finally raised his head to look at Justin and Chris. “I left Lance there.”

“JC, you were five,” Chris said slowly, trying to get that fact to sink into his brain. It was ridiculous that JC felt he always had to protect everyone and if he didn’t he felt compelled to give himself a major guilt trip over it.

“And Lance was only two. He had no way to defend himself,” JC replied.

Justin put a gentle hand on his shoulder. “Neither did you.”

“Apparently I did or else I wouldn’t be here, and Lance wouldn’t be looking up some stupid psychic,” JC said bitterly, but didn’t shake off Justin’s hand like Chris thought he would.

“But Lance is all right. Aren’t you, Poofoo?” Joey said, leaning back a little from where he’d been looking over Lance’s shoulder so that he could bring his arm up and tousle Lance’s hair. Lance batted his hand away annoyed.

“Something could’ve happened,” JC insisted. “I took off with no regard for his safety.”

“You were frightened,” Justin said softly.

“I was selfish.”

“Which makes you human, especially when you’re five. You weren’t the protective freak then that you are now,” Chris said to JC, but he didn’t look convinced.

Chris was about to open his mouth to say more when Lance and Joey interrupted them. “We found her!” Lance announced.

“Where?” Chris asked, all thoughts of what he was going to say to JC gone.

“Off of Highway 17,” Lance said. “It’s just a few hours from here.”

“You driving?” Joey asked Lance and he nodded.

Justin looked at them in surprise. “We’re going now?”

“Yeah. It’s still early, so there’s no point in sitting around here,” Lance said.

Collectively the five of them rose to their feet. Chris saw Justin give JC a one-armed hug before stepping away from him. Following them into the foyer where they all put on their shoes, Chris couldn’t help the frown that appeared on his face despite the fact that they were about to find answers. He just couldn’t stop himself from thinking about JC and how he didn’t seem to care that they’d made a lot of progress, which only solidified his belief that JC would resist any solution they did come up with.

They pulled up a dirt driveway in Lance’s SUV. The vehicle stopped and when Lance killed the ignition, the rhythmic beating of the windshield wipers stopped. It’d been raining ever since they left the house, but as they stepped out of the vehicle JC noticed that it’d tapered off to just a light drizzle.

However, the sky was still dark from the heavy, black rain clouds. The gray sky coupled with the amount of dense trees that surrounded them made JC feel like the darkness was closing in on him. He took a deep breath to try to squelch that feeling only for the uneasiness to resurface when he looked up at the house.

As the five of them started walking towards it, JC could make it out better. It wasn’t a very large house, but it was big enough to make JC feel small as if it were a skyscraper looming over him. The pale blue paint that the house had once surely been covered in was peeling and the shingles on the roof shook as the wind blew. Clearly this psychic hadn’t done anything with her house in a very long time.

They reached her front door, which had a dark wooden one behind a screen door that looked like even the tiniest bit of force would cause it to fall off its hinges. JC stood off to the side, letting the others handle it. After all, they were the ones who wanted to come. All JC wanted to do was leave. It felt unsettling standing on some stranger’s porch that creaked and groaned with each step they took.

Lance was the one who took the initiative and outstretched a hand to rap on the door. After about a minute of standing there, the pine door opened to reveal an old woman that must have been Sydnie. From what JC could see, the gray hair that was pulled into a messy bun served as a good indicator that she was probably at least sixty. However, with the exception of her hair color, she didn’t really look like it. A long black dress that was probably in style nearly thirty years ago covered her thin body, while her face was wrinkled around the eyes and mouth, which were set into a stern expression.

JC was surprised at how normal she looked. He’d expected someone whose hair was a rat’s nest, had a wild look in her eye, and maybe missing a few teeth. However, she was nothing like that. That normalcy didn’t fool JC though because he knew that she was a force to be reckoned with.

“What do you want?” she asked.

“We’re here for some protection. We heard you were the person to see,” Chris said from Lance’s right.

“I don’t do that anymore,” she said after a slight pause.

“But—” Justin started to protest.

“I can’t help you,” she insisted. “Go away.”

The other four shot each other disappointed looks before they turned around. Lance led the way down the stairs, sighing as he did so. JC waited until Chris and Justin followed before he trailed behind Joey. As he passed the doorway he heard the old woman gasp, but he shrugged it off wanting to get out of there.

But a few seconds later when he had just stepped off the porch, he heard the screen door slap against the doorframe before the old woman’s voice asked hesitantly, “Joshua?”

JC immediately stopped before he slowly spun on his heel. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the others do the same. He eyed the woman warily. How the hell did she know his name? It was very unnerving, especially since he’d never seen this woman before.

She was staring at him in a mixture of disbelief and amazement. Then she started walking towards him. JC watched as she came closer and descended the stairs. He backpedaled, wanting to widen the gap between him and her only to abruptly collide into someone.

“Dude, she’s just an old lady,” Joey whispered in his ear.

JC wanted to turn around and glare at him, but he was too focused on watching the woman in front of him. He didn’t have to worry about her coming closer though because she stopped halfway down the stairs.

“Your mother would be so proud to know that you’re still alive,” Sydnie said. There was a pause before she continued, shaking her head, “I thought she was crazy for putting all of her faith in some backwoods magic like that, but I guess I was wrong.”

“That’s why we’re here,” Lance spoke up then as he stepped forward to stand next to JC.

She frowned. “What’s going on?”

“The demons are after Ja—Josh,” Lance said correcting himself mid-word.

“I’m not surprised,” Sydnie said.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Chris demanded.

Sydnie sighed. “Why don’t you come inside? We have a lot to talk about.”

She turned around and they glanced at each other briefly before Lance followed her. JC felt Joey gently nudge him forward. Together the five of them walked back up the porch stairs and into her house. Sydnie led them to the living room and gestured for them to have a seat.

As JC sat down next to Lance on one of the two couches, he looked around the room. It was crowded with two couches and three big arm chairs that had big floral prints that peaked out from the holes in the throws on the furniture. There was no TV, which JC thought was weird. But he reasoned that it must be difficult to get cable all the way out there in the middle of the woods.

The most bizarre thing he could see was the glass jars that sat on shelves around the room. JC wasn’t sure what was in those jars, but figured that he probably didn’t really want to know. His attention was drawn to Sydnie who sat down in a chair that was angled towards the couch that he was sitting on.

“What do you know about what’s going on?” she asked.

“We know that Alison died at the cabin and that she went there to put an end to all of her friends and family dying. And we think that it’s happening all over again,” Lance said.

“We think that you had something to do with why Josh made it out alive and that it probably had a lot to do with the protective spells Alison got from you. And we’re hoping that you can help us so we can put an end to this,” Chris added.

“I don’t know if that’s possible,” Sydnie said.

Justin frowned as he leaned forward in the chair that he was sitting in across the room. “Why not?”

“Demon contracts are binding and cannot be void. Alison made a deal with a devil when she was twenty-one to be a successful musician for ten years. Once that deal was made it bound the devil to that particular place, which in this case is the cabin,” Sydnie explained.

“So how is the devil able to collect when it can’t leave?” Joey asked.

“It tortures the people that are closest to the one who made the deal before they’re supposed to die. Eventually it gets to the point where the person wants to sacrifice themselves by either committing suicide or going back to the place the deal was made,” Sydnie said.

Lance frowned. “The deal is still fulfilled even if the person kills themselves?”

“Yes,” Sydnie confirmed, nodding. “The devil doesn’t care how it happens because it still gets the person’s soul once they die.”

“So there wasn’t any way for her to survive?” JC asked quietly, running a finger down the seam of his jeans. Even though she had made the deal and knew what she was getting herself into, JC felt horrible for her. She must’ve suffered a great deal before she died.

“I’m afraid not. Since she was the person who created the deal she had to die. But there are loopholes for offspring since they weren’t directly involved. It just got passed onto them. Alison knew that and that’s when she came to me for protection for her son,” Sydnie said.

“What did you give her?” Justin asked.

“I performed some protection spells on Josh. His necklace in particular.” She looked over at JC. “Can I see the necklace?”

JC eyed her warily as his right hand instinctively clutched his Leo pendant. “Right now?”

“If you want,” she said.

“I’ve never taken it off,” JC protested weakly.

“JC…” Lance started, but Sydnie interrupted him.

“It’s all right. I can look at it later.” After pausing for a moment, she continued, “I warned Alison that it was risky to put so much faith into something that wouldn’t guarantee his safety. But she wanted to get his three attempts out of the way before she died so he wouldn’t have to deal with it later.”

Chris frowned in confusion. “Three attempts?”

“There are a maximum of three attempts on the offspring’s life. If they happen to survive all three, then the devil and demons can no longer go after them. Their soul is essentially free.

“As far as I know there’s only been one attempt on Josh’s life. Alison had called me hysterical that she killed an innocent girl that drowned in the lake instead of Josh. She blamed me for not properly warning her that the demons would kill anyone who got in the way of their attempts.”

“What exactly qualifies as an attempt?” Lance asked.

“Well, since the first attempt was in the lake all of the other attempts have to be in that exact lake. It’s part of the restrictions that the demons are forced to follow,” Sydnie said.

 “So you’re saying that surviving these…attempts is one of the loopholes?” Joey asked.

Sydnie nodded. “Yes, but the odds of him surviving two more attempts are pretty slim.”

There was a pause before Lance said, “He only has to survive one more.”

Justin glanced over at Lance in confusion before his eyes widened. “That’s right. He almost drowned in the lake over a year ago.”

“You went to the cabin voluntarily?” the psychic asked, frowning.

“Well, we didn’t know anything about what was happening at the time,” Chris defended.

“That tips the odds in your favor a little bit more, but it’ll still be very difficult to survive,” Sydnie said.

“Then how do we make sure the demons aren’t successful the third time?” Lance asked.

“The demons underestimated you and your friendship last time, which is probably the only reason he lived. But they’re not going to again,” Sydnie said.

“Can’t you just put some protection spells on JC’s necklace like last time?” Chris asked.

“Yes, but again there’s no guarantee that it’ll even work. Since the devil has existed for so long, it’s gotten stronger over the years and I’m not confident that any spells I give you can hold up against it,” Sydnie cautioned.

“Can you please just do it anyway?” Justin pleaded.

The psychic sighed but nodded. “Of course.”

“Is there any way that we can protect ourselves?” Joey asked. “We’ve had some bad luck when it comes to demons.”

“I have some special herbs that you can use to purify weapons, which will send them back to hell. I’ll go get the stuff now.”

Once Sydnie was gone Lance turned to JC and said, “OK, Jace. Time to take off the necklace.”

“No,” JC said, shaking his head.

“JC, she’s trying to help us. Take off the damn thing so she can put some protection spells on it,” Lance demanded.

“No,” JC repeated but firmer this time.

“What the hell’s your problem? Why are you so adamant against being protected?” Lance yelled.

“Because he doesn’t want to live,” Chris said, giving JC a knowing look.

JC’s face contorted in anger and abruptly stood up. “You know what? You’re right. I don’t want to live.”

“JC!” Justin objected, rising to his feet also.

“I don’t want to live knowing that you guys are going to die,” JC continued as if he hadn’t heard Justin.

“We’re not gonna die,” Joey objected gently.

“You don’t know that,” JC protested. “Mandy died because the demons were after me and they’ll do the same to you.”

“We’re going to have special weapons,” Justin pointed out.

JC rolled his eyes. “Which is going to do you a lot of good against the devil.”

“Stop being so stubborn and just take off the damn necklace already. I know you don’t want to die, so just let Sydnie give you some protection,” Lance said.

“I wouldn’t count on that,” Chris muttered.

JC’s eyes narrowed and he let out an aggravated sigh. “Fine. You want it?” He quickly reached up and untied the knot before he tossed it at Lance. “Take it, but don’t expect me to wear it.”

With that said JC stormed out of the house in a huff, letting the screen door slam behind him. He stepped down from the porch onto the grass and felt his sneakers sink an inch in the mud beneath his feet. Slowly he drew in a deep breath and held it for a second before letting it out.

JC absentmindedly fingered the collar of his shirt where his Leo necklace usually sat. He felt like he was naked without it. It’d always meant a lot to him, but it meant even more now that he knew his mother had been the one to give it to him. Now it was probably being looked at by Sydnie and encompassed with protective spells.

He’d finally given it to the guys when he’d realized that he was protesting too much, considering he’d sworn to them that he was in it to the end and wanted to survive. JC regretted that he hadn’t agreed sooner because he knew that his resistance put Chris on even higher alert that he wasn’t as compliant as he wanted the guys to believe. And as careful as he’d been with trying not to give Chris any opportunity to catch onto what he was doing, JC knew that he couldn’t be as forceful as he’d been in the future.

But that didn’t mean that he didn’t stick by what he’d said. It wasn’t fair that he got protective spells while the guys were pretty much defenseless. On the small chance that it did work, JC would rather go in vulnerable with the others than have an advantage over them.

Not that they were going to find out if it worked or not because JC was serious when he said that he wasn’t going to wear it. He knew now that the guys finally found solid proof of what they were up against and how to stop it that they were going to be in full preparation mode for ending it. But there was no way that he was going to let them make it to the cabin, especially without any protection.

“JC?” a voice asked from behind him and gently tapped a hand against his shoulder.

JC sighed and turned around to face Justin. He’d wondered how long it would be before one of them came out to talk to him. “What, J?” he asked, wearily.

“You weren’t serious back there, were you? You’re not going to refuse to wear your necklace?” Justin asked with pleading eyes.

“Why should I? You guys aren’t going to be protected,” JC said.

“We’re working on that,” Justin replied. “We’re not going to go after the devil and its demons unprepared.”

JC just nodded, but internally he was thinking that no they weren’t going to go after the devil unprepared because he wasn’t going to let them. And he knew what he had to do now. He’d have to go to the cabin on his own and give himself up. Clearly he’d have to sneak out because the guys wouldn’t let him go if they knew, but he could deal with that.

“C’mon, C. Please say you’ll wear the necklace and let us try to protect you for a change,” Justin begged after nearly a minute passed of them listening to the wind rustle the leaves of the nearby trees.

“All right,” JC sighed after pausing for a few seconds.

Justin’s eyes widened. “You mean it?”

“Yeah.” JC nodded. “I’ll wear it.”