•𝑶𝑻𝑯𝑬𝑹𝑺𝑰𝑫𝑬•【√】

＾CHAPTER 24＾

My poor little paper scrap has been man-handled, mangled, and passed around between all seven of us. I don't know why it bothers me that it's crumpled. Maybe it's just because this is the first time one of my dreams has been genuinely useful. Everyone came pretty quickly after Taehyung's shout, and at first there was an atmosphere of excitement. Now that it's come down to deciphering what each line meant, what we need to gather for the spell to work, the kitchen has fallen silent. It's too early in the morning for this crap.

"I think the first line's the most straight forward," Jiwon volunteers.

Joon nods, "Heart of a beast. I can get that easy enough. There's a butcher that owes me a favor."

"I beg your pardon?" I raise an eyebrow at the odd statement.

"This weird old guy that runs a deer processing place,"Taehyung scrunches his face disdainfully, "He was haunted by a vegan poltergeist. Joon and me helped him out. Long story." Taehyung looks exasperated by the memory.

"He'd have an animal heart, though,"Jeongguk  shrugs.

"Okay, animal heart," Joon scrawls the words on the back side of the paper. Junsoo sits up a little straighter in his seat to watch Joon's scribbling, and it hits me that Junsoo is actually sitting right between Joon and Jimin. This is a recent development, because Junsoo has spent the last few days either hovering right near me, camped out in the garage near Jimin, or standing quietly on the outskirts of conversations. I'm happy to see him joining in.

"What about 'life from death' anyone got any bright ideas?" That one's got me stumped.

"Oh," Jiwon's eyes go wide, "Goodness, I knew I shouldn't have changed the cleaning schedule."

"Little off topic there, Hun," Joon shakes his head.

"No! I know what it means!" Jiwon leans forward excitedly, "A living thing that depends on something else dying. I just cleaned out the fridge, and there was mold on some hamburger meat that someone," she looks pointedly at Taehyung, "left hidden in the back. Mold. Life from death," Damn. She's got a point.

"Works for me," Joon smiles big at her, "We can leave some meat sittin' out a day or two. It shouldn't take more than that," Joon writes 'mold' in big letters underneath his first line. Again, Junsoo stares.

"What about 'an innocent fear'?" Jeongguk  leans his elbows on the scratched old table.

"Something we're scared of, but... that is inanimate?" It's a wild guess, I know, but I want to feel like I'm contributing.

"Inanimate?" Taehyung quirks an eyebrow, apparently amused.

"I don't know. If it's innocent, then it isn't guilty, right? An inanimate object can't be guilty, 'cause it's not... you know... malicious," I'm not anywhere close to the right track.

"Innocent could be referring to the person that's afraid, not the fear itself," Joon offers.

"I can dig it, so we're going with something little kids are scared of?" Taehyung claps his hands together.

"That makes sense, but I think it'd work best if it's somethin' one of us was scared of as a kid," Joon nods, but doesn't write anything down, "What were y'all scared of?"

"This might be a little... um... difficult if we're using this place as a sample group for childhood fears," Jeongguk looks around at everyone. He's got a point. Jeongguk was seven when he saw his parents die in a car crash. Most of the people here, even as children, probably didn't have any 'innocent' fears. That means this step falls on me, so I start wracking my brain for ideas.