"Kiss marry kill out of the three of us," Casey spoke, her head hanging over the back of her chair to look at me in boredom.
"Nope. No way. Not answering that question," I replied and she rolled her eyes.
"Fine. Jim?"
Jim looked up, a smile twitching his lips.
"Kiss Ellie, marry Summer and kill you,"
Ellie, Jim and I all laughed while Casey glared at him.
"Your turn," she sulked and Jim grinned.
"Kiss marry kill out of me, Charles and Summer," he said to Casey and she pulled a face.
"Kiss Summer, marry you, which is way gross, and kill Charles for putting me through these last four days,"
I waggled an eyebrow at her, laughing.
"Don't get any ideas," she shot back and I snorted.
"Yeah, believe me when I say I won't,"
"Ellie? Jim? I believe we're ready for you to begin. It's three o'clock now," Charles called and Ellie and Jim exchanged a nervous glance.
"Okay," Ellie mumbled and the two of them stood, walking over to the Hellmouth's opening, hands shaking.
"Casey and Summer, could you come over here?" Charles asked quietly and we nodded joining the Watchers at the stairs.
Ellie was drawing pentacles with black paint, the both of them muttering words that were inaudible to the four of us.
It was almost mesmerising, watching them work with such elegance and I found myself unable to take my eyes off the spot where they stood.
"Okay," Jim spoke after what must have been hours. "We're ready,"
"This is the uh...the incantation," Ellie said, gesturing that the four of us- the Watchers included- joined them at the opening.
"Do we...do we say it now?" Casey asked, anxiety in her usually overly confident voice.
"Uh, yeah. All together but Summer...you should hold the book. And when it says 'my' say 'our'," Ellie replied and I nodded, taking the book from her shaking hands.
"Count of three?" I asked and Jim nodded.
"Three,"
"Two,"
"One,"
"Goddess Hecate, hear our plea. Hold entrance to darkness and exit to light. Bring only what loves and never what devours. Bring the world peace and show what is right, give end to the passage through the tunnels of Hell. These are our words, so mote it be," we all spoke.
There was a sudden burst of light and we all ducked, cowering together in what I supposed looked like a hug.
"Is it over?" Casey asked after a moment and I stood to inspect the opening.
The materials for the spell were still there and where the painted pentacle once stood, there was now a pentacle etched into the wooden floor.
"I...I think it worked," I whispered and the others slowly joined me, one by one.
"We'll just have to wait and see," Ellie murmured back and I exhaled, not realising I had been holding my breath.
"Do we pack up?" I asked her and she shook her head.
"I think we should wait until we know for sure that it worked,"
"Right. Good idea,"
"What're you gonna do about the pentacle in your floor?" Casey asked Mr. Giles who laughed slightly.
"I'll get a rug. Nobody will know," he replied and she shrugged.
"I will,"
"Well you won't be here,"
"Fair enough,"
Nobody spoke for a moment, our gazes all fixated on the Hellmouth's opening.
"What do we do now? There's almost three hours until midnight," I spoke, breaking the silence.
"We just...talk," Ellie replied, smiling slightly.
"Works for me,"
...
"I don't believe that. No way," I said, laughing and Ellie blushed, laughing too.
"I'm serious! That's why I didn't talk to you for like a month in fifth grade!" she replied.
"What's going on?" Casey asked, apparently rejoining the conversation after being in her own head for the last five minutes.
"Ellie had a crush on Scott Tomlinson!" I squealed and Casey's eyes widened.
"You mean the guy you dated in like fifth grade?"
I nodded, laughing too hard to speak.
"That's so wild!" Casey exclaimed and Ellie flushed a darker shade of red; her cheeks nearly matching the colour of her hair.
"Why do you people care about this?" Jim grumbled and we laughed at his boredom.
"How much longer 'til this guy tries to rise?" Casey asked with a glance over at the Watchers who were quietly conversing, and apparently getting along for once.
"It's just past eleven. But the Watchers don't seem too concerned," Jim replied and Casey nodded, clearly noticing the same thing.
"Do you think the spell worked?" I questioned and Ellie and Jim exchanged a nervous look.
"I...I don't know. It looks like it but I've never cast anything as powerful as this before. I don't know if the six of us were strong enough," Ellie murmured.
"Hello? I'm like...stronger than anyone else alive!" I half-joked and Ellie sighed, barely smiling.
"I mean magically. Jim's experienced and I am too...kind of, but..." she spoke, her voice trailing off.
"What are we gonna do if it didn't?" Casey asked quietly.
"Whatever we can," I responded, an edge to my voice that hadn't been there before.
But despite how fierce I sounded out loud, I was no where near that confident inside of my own head.
I didn't know how powerful the Master was, or what he would do if we couldn't stop him.
If I couldn't stop him.
Because after all, there's only one Slayer. (A/N: Ha!)
"You know...nearly this time last week, we were saying that we could be dead tomorrow. Isn't it accomplishment enough to know that we aren't?" Casey asked, interrupting the silence.
"Not if we die in forty-two minutes," Jim responded with a glance at his watch.
"No...Casey's right. We've been so caught up in everything that we haven't even realised that we've survived almost six days on top of the Hellmouth," Ellie spoke and we all smiled.
"Yeah," I murmured.
"We just have to make it through the night. We have to wake up tomorrow morning, and have all of us be alive," Casey said, her voice cheerier than before.
"Preferably on an Earth that hasn't been taken over by some demon that wants to rule the world," I added and she laughed a little.
"Yeah, cos these shoes are new and I don't want demon slime on them,"
"I love your priorities," Jim teased and Casey glared back, despite the fact she was smiling.
"What do we do? I mean, if the spell didn't work we should be prepared to fight right?" Casey continued and I sighed heavily, bowing my head.
"The Master's stronger than any of us. There'll be no fight if he manages to rise," I replied.
"We don't want to completely count ourselves out. We should at least have weapons on hand," Jim reasoned and I nodded in agreement.
"Right,"
But God, did I hope the spell worked.
It was ironic, really.
A Slayer, afraid of death, when she's responsible for so many others'.
When her own life- and demise- has been prophesised before she's even able to know what she wants.
Death had always been a huge part of my life.
I lost my mom before becoming the Slayer, and when those two things crossed over, I became terrified of what would happen if I wasn't strong enough.
If I couldn't do what I was born to do.
Because how do you keep the rest of the world afloat if you're the one who's drowning?
(A/N: Things are about to get interesting guys. Hope you're as invested as I am lol :) Stay safe and totally tubular and I'll see you in the next one xx)