Excerpt from Chapter III

“It’s easy,” Chanyeol said, opening his bag. Out from it he pulled three different coloured candles, handing Baekhyun a black one, me a yellow one, and keeping the white one for himself. He also pulled out the purple book, laying it on the floor near him open to a certain page, and did the same for a black journal, one that Chanyeol himself had scribbled in. Both the book and the journal depicted symbols, and paragraphs written near them, assumably explanations and directions. There was also a large Sharpie and a piece of white chalk, which also lay on the floor beside him. He held a matchbox in his hand. “I’ll do all the work. You guys just need to hold the candles out.”

We did as he said, and he leaned forward, striking a match and lighting both our candles. They were tall, yet still burned relatively fast. As we held the candles out, Chanyeol drew a large, star-like shape on the floor between us all with the white chalk, looking back at the journal occasionally before finishing. 

“I don’t want wax dripping on my hand.” I told him.

“We’re summoning a ing demon,” Chanyeol replied. “Don’t be a baby.”

“We’re summoning a demon?” Baekhyun exclaimed, panic rising in his voice.

“Hey, hot wax hurts, man.” I defended myself.

“Not a harmful one,” Chanyeol said casually, taking the Sharpie and drawing symbols in the spaces between him and Baekhyun, Baekhyun and I, and him and I. “Anyways, let’s just all take a minute to breathe.” He closed his eyes, breathing in deeply, and Baekhyun and I followed suit.

Everything was quiet, and it felt weird to be sitting in an abandoned house about to summon a demon, just breathing with my friends. I peeked through my right eye, as Chanyeol was to my left, to see Baekhyun opening both of his eyes. We made eye contact, and both tried to suppress laughter, but when Baekhyun burst out, holding the candle out to his side and doubling over, I couldn’t help but laugh, too.

“What’s so funny?” Chanyeol asked, opening his eyes. He didn’t seem too happy that we were being disruptive.    

“Nothing.” I hurried to explain.

“It feels like we’re meditating.” Baekhyun said quickly after, his voice pressed through laughter, which  made me laugh more, and Baekhyun laughed harder. 

“We’re focusing our energy.” Chanyeol corrected.

“That’s the same thing.” Baekhyun’s comment caused us to burst into laughter again. One of us would start laughing, which would cause the other to laugh, and the other would laugh harder, and it was a chain reaction from there, much to Chanyeol’s dismay. 

“Guys, stop, I can’t focus.” There was a hint of suppressed laughter in Chanyeol’s voice.

“I’m sorry.” Baekhyun whispered. I could still hear the laughter in his voice, and I pressed my lips together to stop myself. We were quiet for a moment again, no laughter, and then Baekhyun spoke up again. “I still feel scared. Are we done now?”

“We’re not done. We need someone to lay in the circle.” Our eyes were open now, and we still kept the candles out in front of us. 

“ that,” I spat. “With a capital F.”