Mike picked up his shot glass, but hesitated as he appeared to be struggling to think of something to say. Chad beat him to it, picking up the last shot glass and holding it aloft as he met Zoey's eyes.
“It is my sincere hope that, as Zoey said, we will put the past in the past, that we will settle whatever bad karma is floating around here, and that Zoey will finally be able to find peace and a sense of closure after losing her brother.”
Zoey smiled and silently mouthed a “thank you” to her boyfriend as he gulped his drink easily. Apparently feeling a bit of bravado, now that he finally had an idea, Mike puffed out his chest with a grin as he held up the fourth and final drink.
“Here's to you, Zoey, and I hope that this ritual does … whatever it is you said you wanted it to do,” he offered somewhat awkwardly. “Oh, and … it is my sincere hope that, ah … everyone here gets laid soon.” Zoey rolled her eyes and Gina punched his shoulder with a giggle. “Oh yeah, and cheers to the spooks and specters in this place. Ooga-booga!”
Mike sloppily downed his whiskey, dribbling a bit past the corner of his mouth and cursing slightly as he wiped it off his cheek. Zoey frowned. He wasn't taking this seriously at all. She should have insisted upon bringing someone else. Why had Gina brought this clown along? And why was she dating him, anyway? What did she see in the jerk? Sure, he was okay looking, but didn't she get sick of the way he acted all of the time? Or did he act differently when he was alone with her? Either way, Zoey's new concern was how Mike's involvement in this ritual might affect its outcome, whether he might lessen its effectiveness or, worse still, if he might twist the effect of the ceremony into something that amplified the negativity rather than neutralizing it.
Her concern must have shown plainly upon her face as Chad gave her a sympathetic look. He gestured with his eyes only toward Mike, smirked awkwardly, and shrugged one shoulder as if to say, “Whatever, don't mind him.” Perhaps Zoey was just spoiled by having a great guy in her life. She had been with Chad for over six months at that point. She could totally see herself spending another six with him, maybe even longer. He didn't seem too deeply interested in her somewhat eccentric beliefs and practices, but he was at least respectful, and whatever views he had on the matter he had always kept to himself. Gina, on the other hand, was a wonderful and very close friend, but she had always expressed a great deal of skepticism and bewilderment as to how Zoey could believe in any of this stuff she incorrectly labeled as “voodoo.” Still, like Chad, Gina was decent enough not to mock her for it. She didn't get it, but she didn't need to, and that was fine.
There was a bit of chatting, joking, and discussion as beers were cracked open and a few more shots were poured. The mood among the four of them became much more relaxed and at ease, surely in no small part due to the alcohol but also due to the fact that nothing immediately appeared to be happening. No ghostly apparitions had appeared, no mysterious or threatening sounds had been heard, no objects had been levitated, and nobody exhibited any signs of demonic possession. Zoey honestly hadn't been entirely sure what to expect, herself, but as far as she was concerned, experiencing nothing at all was preferable to (again) being confronted with a bunch of otherworldly and terrifying events.
By the time she got around to thanking the Powers That Be for their presence and assistance, bidding them farewell as she began to close the circle, the alcohol was already beginning to really take an effect upon her. Having sat for a few minutes after imbibing three shots and a beer, she found herself wobbling a bit as she walked widdershins (counter-clockwise) around the room with what remained of the four sticks of incense that still burned. Although she felt a bit more relaxed, she still didn't feel like this was going as well as it could have. Now, it wasn't a matter of Mike causing problems but rather herself. She was tripping over her own feet and fumbling over her words.
This isn't going to work, she thought to herself. This is only going to make things worse.
She did her best to try to force that thought out of her head, instead focusing upon closing the circle. When she finished her final walk around the room, she practically crumpled to the floor, not just from a bit of intoxication but also from what felt like a sudden wave of fatigue. She felt utterly drained now. For whatever reason, this ritual was taking an awful lot out of her. Perhaps it was because she was so emotionally agitated. Maybe the magick of this ceremony needed to draw a measure of energy directly from her, being that she was the orchestrator of this circle. When she unscrewed the cap of the jug full of saltwater, she shoved the four sticks of incense into the top and slapped her hand over the opening, waiting for a few moments before replacing the cap and leaving the remains of the incense to float around within the jug. The water, she noted with both fascination and a small bit of unease, quickly clouded and darkened to an ugly gunmetal-gray color.
It finally dawned upon her why she likely felt so drained and weary. The cloak! It was absorbing negative energy from all around her, perhaps even from within her. Either the negativity was adding a sort of tangible weight to the cloak, or perhaps having that negatively-charged garment wrapped around herself was having an effect upon her aura. Either way, she immediately felt the need to be free of it, now that the circle was closed. She stripped off the cloak and threw it down into a heap, covering the athame that was still buried to the hilt in the floor. Almost instantly, she felt relieved … and suddenly very, very cold.
“Are you all right?” Chad asked, sensing her unease.
“Yeah. I'm good,” she said. Zoey forced a smile and turned toward the others. “It's over now. You can all relax. We did it.”
“We did? You mean it worked?” Gina asked, looking around the room.
Zoey shrugged. “I can't say for sure that we've fixed this place for good, but we definitely accomplished something. I could feel it.”
“The only thing I feel,” Mike said, reaching into the cooler, “is the need for another beer. Anyone else?”
Chad and Gina both raised their hands, and Mike tossed them each a can before taking another one out for himself. Feeling the worsening cold that was likely drifting in from the October night air outside, Zoey picked up her jacket from the floor and slipped it on. She was wearing a T-shirt, jeans, and knee-high boots, so she wasn't exactly dressed for summer, but she also probably hadn't worn enough to get through the night comfortably. There were sleeping bags in the SUV outside, however. It hadn't been officially decided yet whether they would actually spend the entire night here, or if they would sleep outside while crammed inside the Explorer, or if they would simply head back to Meade and get a motel room. And, of course, there was Chad. She was looking forward to snuggling up with him soon … and probably more. Gina was certainly wasting no time, already starting to make out with Mike as soon as he sat down next to her again.
Zoey dug inside of her jacket pockets and withdrew a pack of cigarettes and a lighter, gesturing out toward the hallway as Chad met her gaze. “Gonna go burn one.”
“Want some company?”
“I'm okay,” she insisted with a smile, this time a genuine one. “I think I'll just walk around the place three more times to be sure the energy's wound down. You know … just for good measure.” He stared at her for a moment or two. “What?”
“You really did feel something?” he asked.
“Yeah.” She smiled and nodded. “Thank you again for coming out here with me and doing this. It really means a lot to me.”
“Anytime.”
“And you too, Gina,” she added. Her friend gave a little wave of her fingers as she kept her lips pressed against her boyfriend's mouth. Mike held up a hand as if to seek recognition. “Yes, and you too, Mike.”
He gave her a thumbs-up and then his hand went to Gina's chest. Zoey rolled her eyes and turned to walk outside, carefully stepping over Gina's equipment. She noticed the red light on the video camera was still blinking, indicating that it was still recording. She wasn't sure if it was Gina's intention to leave it running or not. Was she on
ly interested in hoping to catch a glimpse of ghostly events? Or was she also interested in recording herself getting her freak on with Mike? Whatever. It wasn't her concern, and it wasn't her equipment. She ignored the fluctuating numbers on the EMF meter and the bouncing needle of the Geiger counter on the floor as she clicked on her small flashlight and made her way downstairs and outside.
Strangely, the night air seemed almost bitterly cold when she stepped over the hole in the kitchen floor and out into the dark night. But after she had lit her cigarette, pocketed the pack and lighter, and begun to walk counter-clockwise around the house, she found that the air was now less cool on the other side of the house. It was an odd thing, a very significant change in temperature between one place and the next. She supposed that perhaps there was some sort of draft coming up through the cellar, which likely was a lot cooler than the rest of the interior of the house, and maybe that accounted for part of it. Yet even stranger still was the fact that, as she first rounded the north and then the west sides of the house, the air outside went from being cool to room-temperature and then, as she rounded the southwest corner, it was suddenly very warm, almost hot. And at the same time, she became