“Well, the simple answer is that I told you to burn it,” Circe said, holding the doll up to the light so she could get a better look at it. “I didn’t think it was going to be an urgent matter, but apparently it is.”


    “You also didn’t think Andi was going to be possessed by it,” Luke pointed out.


    “We have no evidence that that’s what actually caused the possession,” she said, lifting up a small bit of the yellowed fabric and trying it between her fingers, making sure to stay away from the blood droplet. “Or that it’s at all related. Although if it’s not, it’s an awfully big coincidence.” Her eyes shifted to me as she set the doll down on the counter. “Are you feeling better?”


    I shrugged. “Not a hundred percent, but better than I was a few days ago.”


    “Good,” Circe responded, “because you’ll have to be the one to burn it.”


    “Can’t it be a team effort?” Luke jumped in before I got a chance to say anything, then he caught my eye. “Sorry, I just know you’re still injured. We don’t want your energy to zap while you’re standing by the flames or anything.”


    “The fire itself can be a team effort, so long as she’s the one to throw the doll in,” Circe answered. “The most important part is that Andi is the one who takes the final steps to actually disperse the spirit, as it will weaken the claim that came from this.” She tapped lightly on the now dark brown blood spot. “Without this step, I think she could drink all the rosemary oil she wanted and it still wouldn’t help anything. You did start that, didn’t you?”


    I nodded. “This morning, right after we found the doll again.”


    She sighed. “It’ll have to do. I would have preferred if you would have started last night, but I heard that someone had more important things happening.” Caitlin blushed when I looked in her direction, but she didn’t meet my eyes. Whatever - I had bigger things to worry about than gossip. Circe looked at her watch. “I’ll need to sleep before we go through with the exorcism, as will you, but if we burn the doll first, that will give you at least enough time to get a bit more holy water into your system.” Her eyes flicked down to my half-full water bottle for a moment before flicking back up. “You’d better get to drinking, hun. You sound like you’re a serious case, and you’re probably dehydrated anyway. Luke,” she said, turning toward him, “be a dear and get a fire started, preferably outside in case there are more flames than we might expect.”


    “On it, we can use the fire pit,” Luke said with a slight nod.


    Circe rounded on Liam. “And you need to keep an eye on her. She’s already injured and stressed, and that’s when a demon can really really get its claws into her. So to speak,” she added when I flinched.This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    “Well, I was trying to distract her yesterday, but everyone seems pissed about it,” he answered, flashing me a little smirk. I felt heat rise to my face.


    “Not like that,” Circe replied, emphasizing the first word. “Maybe draw a nice bath for her after you burn that doll. Use your imagination in the most PG-rated way you can.”


    “PG-13,” Liam bartered back.


    “We can work with that,” she agreed. “And then get some beauty sleep!” she reminded me before heading toward what was apparently her assigned room in the house.


    Liam grabbed my hand and squeezed it reassuringly. “It’ll all be fine. Circe is the expert for anything like this.”


    “I’m starting to believe that,” I said with a shrug. “After all, she was the one who called the possession in the first place.”


    “And got it to jump from Luke to you, apparently, which is…” he shrugged, as though he wasn’t sure how to finish that sentence.


    “Probably good, considering how run down Luke was?” I suggested. “We had no way of knowing that I’d crack my head open immediately afterward.”


    Liam gave a half-shrug as if to say that was close enough to what he was thinking. “Want to go outside and see how Luke’s doing with the fire pit? The sooner we chuck this thing into the flames, the sooner we can get you into a nice bubble bath.”


    I laughed and followed Liam toward the backyard. “Do you actually have bubble bath solution in the house?”


    “We do not,” he said pointedly. “But I think Luke still has some Epsom salt left over from when he sprained his leg tripping over some shit during a ghost hunt, so at least that’s something.”


    “You’re still telling that story?” Luke called out from the fire pit. He hadn’t gotten it to the point of a roaring fire yet, but there were small bits of flame and smoke spewing from the pit. “It was dark, and some asshole with the night vision didn’t warn me that I was about to run into our filming chairs!”


    “Some asshole with the night vision didn’t realize that you’d completely forgotten where we’d started filming,” Liam said with a quick smile. “How’s the fire coming?”


    “It’s fire,” Luke answered, shoving a couple of small sticks into the flame. “I think if we douse the doll in some lighter fluid, it’ll be ash in a matter of seconds.”


    “Then let’s do it,” Liam said. He walked toward Luke, who handed him a bottle of lighter fluid, which he then tossed to me. “Spray it all over that doll so we can get it out of here. The sooner we’re done with this, the sooner we can un-possess you.”


    I opened the bottle of sickly sweet-smelling liquid and squirted it on the doll, trying to get it as covered as possible. When it was fairly damp, I walked over to the flames and threw it in. It caught fire immediately, creating a little fireball in the middle of the pit. “Good fucking riddance,” Liam said, grabbing my hand again. Together, we stood in silence, watching the doll burn to ash and crumble to the bottom of the pit.


    “Is it over?” Luke asked, breaking the silence right as the last flake of ash fell from where the doll had originally been sitting. “Please tell me we can get rid of this thing for good.”


    “Circe would be the one to ask about it,” Liam answered him, still staring at the flames that had started roaring since I’d thrown in the doll. “But I don’t think so. Are demons ever really over?”


    “It’s definitely not over,” I said. “I can feel it somehow.” And that was true - since I first found out I’d been possessed, I’d been trying to pinpoint the feeling, and there was definitely something there - as though I had a roommate in the middle of my chest. “But I think it’s definitely weaker. Hopefully Circe will be able to get it to leave for good.”


    “She will,” Liam assured me, squeezing my hand. “I know you haven’t known her for long, but there’s a reason we all have such faith in her. It’ll all work out in the end. Now, let’s get you inside before the fumes from the burning ancient doll cause even more problems.”