Jo incanted like this for some time, and I began to hear people breathing deeply around me. After a while, I could hear my own breath deepening. A feeling began to overtake me that I can best describe as a kind of ecstatic wholeness. It seemed to emerge from somewhere deep within my pelvis and expanded infinitely outward into a glowing warmth.

Oh my god, Leslie gasped.

What? Emily asked.

Oh god.

I can feel it, Mia said.

Damian said he could too. Jo encouraged us to keep focused.

Holy shit, Kyle muttered.

It’s happening, Mia said.

Yes, I said.

Welcome it in, Jo said.

We’re tuning.

I don’t feel it, Emily said.

Me neither, said Nora.

Once again, Jo instructed us to focus.

And then—my god—I felt it intensify even further, that ecstatic warm expansion.

It’s surging, Howard said.

Oh momma, Shawn groaned.

Yes, Damian said.

The power of all of us here combined is extraordinary, Howard said.

The Hum was getting louder but not just growing in volume but growing in every possible manner. It seemed to be penetrating every part of the room, my body, filling every available space, between every molecule, every atom. And just when it seemed to have saturated everything, it intensified further, and the space between spaces, between bodies, seemed to collapse.

Ugh my god.

The heat.

Yes.

Oh wow.

Holy shit—I can feel it now.

Good.

I think me too.

Do you feel it?

Yes.

Expanding inside you?

Yes, I think so.

I’m getting hot.

Uh-huh.

Me too.

Yeah.

Like a lot.

Ughhhhhhh, someone moaned.

Yes.

Like—

—burning, like—

Ugggghhhhhhhhhh my god.

Let it fill your stomachs now. Let it fill your lungs. Let it fill your throats and out through your mouths ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh—

And then a low, guttural hum emerged from within us, from within the circle. I wasn’t even conscious of producing the sound, but it produced itself from within me, moved through me, and through various registers, shifting like a murmuration of starlings, like resplendent light, who knew the body—bodies together—could make such a sound. Sounds erupted from us, unleashed and orgasmic sounds, unrecognizable and inhuman sounds until I was moving, we were moving, standing now, moving through space, space moving through us, thrashing our bodies, swaying in ecstatic transport, The Hum expanding infinitely within us until it was a scorching white heat—until there was a smash, and we were ripped from our deep-state back into the room. Everyone fell silent and blinked open. Looking around, I realized that Leslie had knocked a lamp over. It lay in several pieces on the floor.

I am . . . so . . . sorry, she said, not quite fully returned.

Howard waved it away—It’s fine.

Everyone collapsed back into chairs, and onto the floor, exhausted, collecting themselves. I felt momentarily gripped by the most intense embarrassment. I couldn’t look anyone in the eye.