Now or Never

Chapter 60

Sam walked back in the door at that time, with Kat and Jake behind him. "Corey is on his way. He's not happy about it, and he doesn't wanna do it...but he said he would for Colby." Colby smiled a little, shook his head slightly, and looked down. "Corey's gonna kill me when this is over." He said, quietly. I smiled. "Probably...but it'll be worth it, if this is over soon." He sighed and leaned back on the couch, closing his eyes. "Are you okay?" I asked him, worried that the entity or whatever was fighting him again. "Yeah," He replied. "Just getting a headache." Keera, who had been watching him, spoke up. "We need to do this soon. Do NOT got to sleep Colby. Your body is weak and unguarded when you are sleeping." He opened his eyes and sat up, looking a little freaked out. "How are you doing brother?" Jake asked, walking over to us. Colby stood up and and clasped his hand, hugging him. They patted each other on the back a few times. "Jake...I'm sorry brother." "Yeah, don't worry about it brother. Wasn't you." He shrugged, smiled, and walked around to sit on the other side of the couch. Kat was speaking to Sam away from everyone, in the kitchen. She looked a little worried. I overheard a little of what they said. "Are you sure that this is safe Sam?" He took both of her hands in his bringing them up in between their bodies, and kissed them. "It's the safest method that I could find. It'll be more dangerous to Colby than anyone. You just have to stand there and chant some words." "But--" Sam cut her off. "He would do it for you Kat." She closed her eyes for a moment, looking a little ashamed. "You're right." She breathed out. "I'm just scared of this stuff." He hugged her. "I won't let anything happen to you." They turned in my direction, so I looked away quickly. "When will your colleague be here?" Sam asked Keera, as him and Kat walked up. "She should be here soon. You guys can move this stuff out of the way and get the area ready, if you want." She motioned to the coffee and table and chair that was in the surrounding area. Sam nodded. "Okay." Colby jumped up to help, and they moved everything out of the way, leaving a wide open space. Keera shut the blinds, making it darker. She pulled out her phone, and looked at it. "Okay, Shana is here. I'm going to go downstairs and meet her." We all nodded and watched her go to the door. When she opened it, Corey was standing there with his fist raised, ready to knock. "Um, hi," he said, looking confused. "Hey, go on in. We're about to get started." She replied, then walked by him. Corey came in, shut the door and walked slowly towards us. "Colby...brother." He said, spotting Colby on the couch. He walked over and Colby got up to hug him. "I was worried about you man." "Yeah, sorry about that," Colby replied, releasing him from the hug. "I kind of couldn't control it." Corey's big brown eyes widened. "But you're good now? or for now? What's going on?" "Partial possession, I think is what she called it. It means that there is an entity in me, but that it hasn't fully taken control. I'm still able to be me for now." Corey jumped up and down a couple of times, smiling, but it was a scared smile. "I told you! How many times have I told you guys to protect yourselves, or just don't do it?" He stopped jumping and his smile faded. "Are you okay though? Are you gonna be okay?" Colby nodded, and looked at me, then his gaze went to each of the others in the room, stopping on Sam for a moment, before going back to Corey. "Yeah...I'm gonna be okay. Keera said this should work." "Well that's awesome, if Keera said...wait, who's Keera?" Corey asked. We were still laughing at him, when Keera and Shana entered the apartment. They were both carrying bags that were filled to the top. Corey and Sam went to take the bags from them and carried them to the living room. "Shana, if you could start setting up, I want to smudge everyone. Is it okay to do this in here or should we go outside?" She dug through one of the bags for a moment, then pulled out a white sage smudge stick. "Colby?" Sam asked, looking at him questioningly. He glanced at the smoke detector on the wall. "Maybe just take the battery out of that first. I don't mind the smell. I kind of like it." Jake got up to take care of the smoke detector, Corey helped Shana unload their bags. Keera started the smudging on Sam first, letting the smoke drift over his entire body, front and back. Colby, Kat, and I sat on the couch and looked at all the things that they were taking out. They each hung some sort of talisman around their necks, then set out the candles around the room. Incense was set out on each side, and lit. Odd looking figurines were placed in a large circle in the middle of the floor. Keera finished with Sam, then motioned to one of us. Colby started to stand but she held her hand out to stop him. "You're last." She said, then motioned to Kat. Kat looked nervous but she obliged. I saw Shana take a large bag of rock salt out of one of the bags. "What's that for?" I asked her. "To encircle the afflicted one." Well, that's a weird way to put it, I thought, looking at Colby. He met my gaze, looking just as weirded out by this lady. "The afflicted one?" I mouthed silently, smiling at him. He laughed quietly, then his eyes shaded, like he was thinking. "We forgot." He said so quietly, I almost missed it. "What?" I asked. "We forgot to use the rock salt...in Ireland. We forgot." He said it the second time a little louder, and Sam looked over to him. "We forgot?"