Melissa ducked as the dark cloud exploded with fire. There was a primal scream from the center of it as it began to rotate inward, like a funnel cloud. Wind whipped across our faces.

“Mavis, leave us alone. Leave our neighborhood.” My words seemed to be swept up in the wind, absorbed by the rotating energy. I began to chant the exorcism incantation again, my words growing stronger.

The energy began to pick up steam, and we collectively bent down, covering our faces and heads with our hands. There was a bang and a screech, like a car crash of metal on metal, and then, silence.

The air crackled four times before it went still. I slowly lifted my head from my arms and stood. Melissa’s and Jess’s faces were streaked with dark sludge as they examined their bodies, patting them down for injuries.

“Are you guys . . . you?” I said.

They nodded, and we looked at Liz on the ground. She was in the fetal position, her legs tucked into her chest. Her eyes were open, unblinking. But she looked like herself again.

I took a step toward Liz, crouching down and extending an arm toward her. With a shaking finger, I touched her back. It felt like it was on fire. She recoiled when she felt my hand on her.

Melissa and Jess came closer, and I looked up at them, shrugging my shoulders slightly as I moved my hand away.

“Water,” Melissa said, and moved toward the sink, waving her hand in front of her face at the smell lingering in the kitchen’s air. She filled a glass and held it out to me.

“Liz? Liz, it’s us. You’re safe now. Can you hear me? It’s Amy,” I said in a low tone.

She blinked once but didn’t turn her head.

I extended my hand and put it on her cheek. I whispered her name again.

She slowly turned her head to me and looked up at me with red, bloodshot eyes. For the first time since it all began, her eyes looked like hers. She blinked a few more times and then moved her arms. Her hands shook as she put them on the floor and tried to push herself into a sitting position. She cried out in pain and then fell back to the floor.

“Shhhh, don’t move. You’ve been through a lot. Just blink twice if it’s you,” I said.

Her gaze shifted toward me and she stared, and for a moment, my heartbeat quickened. Then, slowly, she blinked twice.

The three of us sighed deeply, shoulders collapsing down.

“We have to go outside,” Jess said as she took a step toward the back door. We looked at her questioningly. “The pit. It’s still open. We need to seal it off.”

My head reared back. How could we have forgotten that detail?

“Amy, stay with Liz. Jess and I got this,” Melissa said.