In Flames // 9-1-1 Fox (seasons 1-4)

seventy-nine

"Aha!" Chimney exclaimed. "It is a real thing. Okay, so we have to move our hands in this kind of motion and ring the bells...nine times."

"Nine in total? Or nine for each of us?" Buck asked.

"It's unclear. I think maybe we should all do it just to make sure we lift the curse completely."

"I'm going to scream," Mariana muttered.

"Well, is it actually a curse?" Hen pointed out. "I know we called it that but technically, I think it's a jinx."

"What's the difference?"

"Well, I feel like a curse implies that a person put a hex on you and a jinx is more like a general angering of the gods."

"Alright, I got it," Buck announced. "How to appease the gods."

"What happens if I touch the windows? Just...what happens?" Mariana asked her father. He shot her an unamused look and she shrugged innocently.

"Okay wait," Chimney replied. "Is a hex and a curse the same thing?"

"By that you mean totally made up and not real?" Eddie sighed. "Yes."

"What more proof do you need, Eddie? We are trapped in a death box. Thousands of volts of electricity coursing through every nook and cranny. Any one of us could literally get fried like that!"

"Or we just don't touch any doors or windows until help arrives and nobody gets fried. With or without a curse, jinx, whatever." Bobby, ever the mediator, attempted to calm Chimney down.

"All I can find is some kind of human or animal sacrifice. I-I'm not really down with that," Buck stammered out.

"Do you guys not hear yourselves right now?" Eddie exclaimed.

"Oh, don't get started, Edmundo Diaz," his wife snapped.

"It's like the universe is screaming at you and you refuse to listen!" Buck retorted.

"The universe does not scream." Another breaker blew and a screech of firing electricity rippled through the line.

"Clearly, there are forces at work here," Chimney said. "Forces beyond my control and your control-"

"That's it. That's the difference between you and I. I don't worry about things I can't control."

Mariana turned in her seat to send him an incredulous look. "Since, uh, when?"

"Sure, you can say you don't worry about things you can't control, but can you at least acknowledge that something is controlling the things you can't control?" Buck questioned.

"Like what? Gremlins? Boogeyman? Santa Muerte?" He dodged his wife's well aimed flying ponytail holder and grinned. "Look, we've had a crappy day. It happens. But it didn't happen because of a curse or a hex or because someone said the word qu-"

"Hey! Hey! Don't!" Bobby shouted just as Mariana reached behind to clamp a hand down over Eddie's mouth. He licked her hand and she grimaced, wiping it on his neck in retaliation.

"C'mon Bobby," Eddie chuckled. "You really can't believe in all of this."

"You know, Cap, you have been pretty silent today about all this jinx stuff," Hen accused.

"Yeah, suspiciously silent," Chimney added.

"Yeah, Cap! Where do you stand? Jinx or no jinx?" Buck joined in on the fun. Bobby looked to Mariana for support but she merely regarded him with narrowed, inquisitive eyes.

"Aren't we all a little superstitious?" he answered diplomatically. People don't like to walk under ladders, some buildings don't have a thirteenth floor, we bless people when they sneeze. Some of us even wear a good luck charm around our necks."