Egon sighed and swiped a bared arm across his forehead, removing his glasses to get at the sweat threatening to enter his eyes. The basement was becoming quickly hot and their work was delicate and tedious.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Ray asked for the fifth time, concern evident in his brown eyes.

"Yes." It was a simple answer, he had already explained himself and felt no need to retread that ground. "Where's Slimer?"

"I gave him a few pizzas and told him if he ate slow I'd tell him where the cookies were...He'll be preoccupied in the kitchen for a little while."

"Good. This hinges on his involvement."

"Yeah, I know." Ray scrubbed a chalky hand against the back of his neck, staring down at the floor. "Are you sure?"

"Raymond." Egon closed his eyes, tapping his own stick of chalk to his temple. "If I was not sure I would have never asked you to come assist."

"Yeah, but...I just don't feel right about this."

Egon just sighed, getting up from his crouch and ignoring the aches that accompanied it. He walked over, careful not to disturb the lines tracing the floor, the candles resting at the Cardinal directions and the smaller candles representative of the elements. "Assist me, please."

He removed his shirt, glancing in the mirror briefly and running a hand through his hair - out of the usual style and draping around his face annoyingly. No hair products today, nothing but plain unscented soap. He carefully wiped away the chalk smudges on his palms and temple; it wouldn't do to have any contaminants.

Ray made a soft sound of protest, but helped anyway; he knew what had to be done.

Egon stood very still as Ray traced the patterns of Chakra across his chest and back. He painted over the pants Egon was wearing - plain cotton, undyed, no synthetics. With nothing left to do, he stepped into the center of the circle while Ray called Slimer down.

Egon made a silent vow never to experiment on the spud again after this. The latent energy from his occult summoning would be integral in this, and for that alone he felt there could be nothing more he would ever be able to really deny the glob of goo.

Slimer hovered over him as told, looking confused.

Ray swallowed and lifted the spell book, holding up a long match. "You were born in Winter?"

"Autumn."

"Alright, face West then, the white candle."

Egon complied, aligning his body exactly with the lines. He placed his hands over his heart, closed his eyes and waited while Ray began a steady chant behind him. It was then he found that having yourself spiritually bound to a location was exceptionally painful.

It was worth it to know that well after their deaths everything would be taken care of.