Magnetite Tonight (pt 4).

I’ll show you something, Katrina says. She gets up, walking on her toes like she was made of air to retrieve a candle from her dresser. We can astral project.

We just got here, Jay says, pulling at his eyebrows. You said you wouldn’t.

Katrina shushes him, putting her arms around his neck and whispering in his ear. You can’t hear what she says, but the tones make you skin prickle.

She shoos the boys out of the way and arranges you in a circle on the floor, placing the candle in middle; she turns the light off and seats herself across from you, black hair shining like a beetle.

I don’t know what we’re doing, you tell her.

It’s a way of leaving your body, man, Dinesh says. He has his hand on her leg.

Who are you? you say to him, and the other guys laugh.

All you have to do, Katrina says, is concentrate. Like autohypnosis, you know? Putting yourself into a trance.

I wouldn’t expect anything, Dinesh says. It takes a lot of practice.

Your eyes narrow; so do Katrina’s, as if she can read your mind. Jay is pulling the hairs right out of his head; you stop him. Show me, you say to her.

She reaches for your hand and pulls you closer, and then does the same with Dinesh, joining your hands until you form a triangle. The room beyond the candlelight is filled with the yellow eyes of wolves and things even worse. You don’t see Jay anywhere.

When you feel like you’re leaving your body don’t fight it, Katrina says, just let yourself go. It can’t hurt you.

It can, Dinesh drawls. You can get lost if you go too far.

He squeezes your hand; your skin flushes with heat.

Katrina reaches backward into the dark, and hands to you a crude clay cup filled with what smells like cherry cough syrup but tastes like butter; you expect to hate it but have to be stopped from drinking it all down by her. Trust me, she says, kissing you. This is going to change your life.