The basement smelled faintly of dust, old cardboard boxes, and the cheap vanilla candle Chloe insisted would "improve the ritual's energy."

It did not.

Six girls sat in a rough circle on the floor, surrounded by hastily drawn symbols, half-melted candles, snacks they forgot to put away, and a growing sense that maybe this had been a terrible idea.

"Okay, nobody panic," Heather said for the third time in ten minutes, which only made everyone feel significantly less calm.

Ashley grinned from across the circle. "For the record, if we accidentally summon a cursed entity, I'm posting it."

"You are not posting it," Maddie replied immediately.

"If I get possessed, post my good angles."

"You don't have good angles."

"Rude."

Kim sat hugging her plush bunny so tightly it looked one stressful thought away from filing for emotional damages.

"We can still stop," she said quietly.

"No," Chloe said, clutching the old ritual book with the intensity of someone defending a doctoral thesis. "We've spent three months researching this."

"Your research source was a forum called ShadowWolf420," Maddie muttered.

"He's respected in the community."

"He's banned from three communities."

Jessie snorted.

The room briefly relaxed.

Then the candle flame suddenly stretched upward.

Nobody laughed.

The basement became silent.

Not normal silent.

The kind of silent where every tiny sound disappears at once.

The kind that feels wrong.

Ashley's grin slowly faded.

Maddie stopped talking.

Kim looked ready to cry.

Even Chloe seemed uncertain for the first time all night.

A cold pressure settled over the room.

The air felt heavier.

The shadows near the walls appeared deeper than they should have been.

Heather swallowed.

"...Chloe."

"Yeah?"

"...Was that supposed to happen?"

"No."

"Cool."

"Very not cool."

The symbols on the floor began to glow faintly.

Nobody moved.

Nobody spoke.

The old house creaked somewhere overhead.

Then came a sound.

A whisper.

Or maybe several.

Or maybe none at all.

Nobody could tell.

The candle abruptly went out.

Darkness swallowed the room.

Several girls screamed.

Jessie screamed the loudest.

"I WOULD LIKE TO FORMALLY LEAVE THE CULT."

A second later, the candle reignited by itself.

The six girls froze.

Someone was standing in the center of the circle.

Every joke died instantly.

Every explanation Maddie had prepared vanished.

Every ghost story Chloe had ever read suddenly felt far less entertaining.

Nobody knew what they were looking at.

Nobody knew who—or what—had appeared.

The ritual had worked.

That much was undeniable.

And now six very unprepared teenagers were staring at the result.

The silence stretched.

Finally, Jessie slowly raised her hand.

"...Before we continue, does anybody else think we may have made a series of absolutely catastrophic decisions tonight?"