Chapter 12 – The Medium
Josh stood with a sincere expression.
After what happened the night before, he finally understood—
Everything his wife had said was true.
For so long, he had chosen to ignore the signs.
The spirits hadn't just been haunting their home—they had even harmed Dalton.
And yet, he had brushed it off, hiding behind the excuse of "working late" to avoid coming home,
Leaving Renai to bear it all alone.
He felt like a complete failure as a husband.
"Father," Josh said, bowing deeply, "please forgive my rudeness yesterday... and I beg you, save Dalton."
Gideon Black smiled and gently helped him up. This reaction had been part of his plan all along.
As the saying goes:
"You can explain things to someone a thousand times, but one real experience will teach them everything."
Instead of trying to convince Josh, it was better to let him live through it.
That was why Gideon had intentionally left that "flaw" in the barrier the night before.
And now, it had served its purpose perfectly.
---
As the two talked, a car horn blared in the distance.
Josh's mother, Lorraine, had just arrived—bringing three unexpected guests.
Among them was an older woman with a kind face and silver-white hair.
She introduced herself as Elise, a professional spiritual medium. The two young men beside her were her assistants.
It turned out Lorraine had called her friend Elise last night after speaking with Renai.
Fearing her son and daughter-in-law had been duped by some scam artist,
Lorraine had invited Elise to come over first thing in the morning.
The two male assistants wasted no time. Carrying their ghost-hunting equipment, they began scanning the house.
Then one of them noticed Gideon standing on the front lawn.
"Oh! You've already invited a priest. I guess we won't need to offer any emotional support."
In North America, it wasn't unusual for priests to visit neighborhoods and check in on residents.
But those visits were usually spiritual in nature—
Offering guidance, prayers, or blessings.
Actual exorcisms, however, were another matter entirely—
That kind of work was best left to professionals like them.
---
Renai, hearing them mention Gideon, spoke up:
"He's actually been here since yesterday... but he hasn't stepped inside the house once."
She was just about to explain further when one of the assistants cut her off.
"Wait—what?"
Both young men turned to her, wide-eyed, with expressions that said Are you serious?
"Uh… evil spirits are extremely dangerous," one of them said tactfully.
"It takes more than just waving a Bible around to handle them."
"I'd recommend you find a different church next time, Mrs. Lambert."
Their tone was polite, but the message was clear:
They didn't take Gideon seriously.
They had worked with Elise on real exorcisms before—
Gone face-to-face with malevolent spirits, risking their lives.
To them, Gideon looked like just another amateur with a cross and a nice smile.
---
"But last night—" Renai tried again.
"Relax, Renai." Lorraine gently interrupted, pulling her into a reassuring hug.
"I know how scared you must be. But don't worry—Elise is the real deal.
She's been doing this for years. Dalton's going to be just fine."
As Lorraine spoke, Elise stepped forward with a warm smile and said playfully:
"Now, gentlemen—mind your manners."
She had already heard the full story from Lorraine on the drive over.
As a seasoned veteran of the supernatural world, Elise was well aware that plenty of people claimed to do exorcism work…
Most of them were in it for the money.
Although it wasn't entirely ethical, most of them did it just to survive.
As long as no one got hurt, Elise generally turned a blind eye.
That's why she barely glanced at the priest before turning her full attention to the house.
"May I take a look inside?" she asked politely.
"Uh… of course." Renai stepped forward and led the way.
"Looks like everyone's misunderstood the priest. I'll clear things up later…" she thought silently.
---
Outside, Josh noticed the new arrivals and ended his conversation with Gideon.
"You're welcome to come inside and rest," Josh offered.
"No need," Gideon smiled, shaking his head. "There's still some preparation I need to do."
He had already recognized the medium—and had been waiting for her.
Gideon knew that Dalton's soul was currently trapped in another realm, and to enter such a place, one needed the ability to perform an out-of-body experience.
Right now, the only person who met that condition… was Josh himself.
Although Gideon could theoretically use sacred relics to purge every corner of the house with holy light, there was clearly a better solution available.
---
Inside the house—
The moment Elise stepped across the threshold, her expression turned grim.
Ceiling corners, door frames, stairwells…
Everywhere was laced with traces of spiritual energy—
The kind that only vengeful spirits left behind, invisible to ordinary people.
"This is… horrifying," Elise murmured.
"What is it? What's going on?" Renai quickly asked.
The others looked to Elise as well.
But she didn't respond—she simply continued up the stairs.
In her eyes, the house was now a spiritual disaster zone.
For ordinary people to have survived an attack of this scale was almost unthinkable.
Then, a sudden realization hit her.
She stopped in her tracks and turned, examining Josh and Renai closely.
But after checking each of them, she was stunned to discover:
None of them had been possessed.
How was that even possible?
Just as confusion set in, she noticed something—
Renai was wearing a small crucifix necklace, faintly glowing with a calm, comforting energy.
Elise's eyes widened.
She remembered seeing similar objects downstairs—at the time, she had mistaken them for decorative items knocked over during the haunting.
But now she understood—
They'd been deliberately placed.
Though spirits could phase through walls and obstacles,
Elise had heard countless testimonies from victims over the years.
They were always attacked in areas without such protective wards.
And yet, in all her years of experience, she had never made that connection until now.
Something clicked.
She turned to Renai, asking where the objects had come from.
Finally, Renai had the chance to recount everything that happened the night before—
The attack, the strange priest, and how he had protected them.
Elise and her two assistants listened, wide-eyed.
They were shocked.
The danger they had faced was far more severe than expected.
At the same time, Elise felt something else—
Disbelief.
"That level of power… It's something only a licensed Tier One Exorcist would possess."
---
Exorcist Licenses were official certifications issued jointly by the North American Church Council, the Paranormal Oversight Board, and other affiliated organizations.
They were created to combat the rising number of supernatural incidents across the continent.
There were three tiers, and only an extremely small number of people ever reached Tier One.
---
At that moment, Elise arrived in Dalton's bedroom.
Using her spiritual sensitivity, she immediately sensed intense, chaotic energy lingering in the air—especially around the bed.
She slowly stepped forward and lifted the blanket.
Beneath it, the bedsheet was covered in bloody handprints, all clustered around Dalton's body.
Yet not a single print came within half an inch of him.
Her expression grew darker.
Then she glanced up—and froze.
On the ceiling, her sharp eyes caught something that made her tense.
Quietly, she called over one of her assistants—the one wearing glasses.
He brought his sketchpad and began drawing as instructed.
Renai, already shaken by the strange markings on her son's bed, noticed their unusual behavior.
Worried, she asked what was happening—but received no answer.
Panicking, she rushed over and grabbed the sketchpad from the assistant.
On the page was a red-faced demon—its features twisted and monstrous.
She flicked on the bedroom light and looked up, but the ceiling was completely empty.
Elise finally spoke.
"That thing has attacked Dalton multiple times… but it failed every time."
Renai's eyes widened. She quickly pulled the crucifix from her son's chest—it was still glowing with a pure, white light.
Seeing this, Elise knew—there was no more time to wait.
She turned to the couple and explained that Dalton's soul had been separated from his body.
If they didn't retrieve it soon…
he might never return.
Josh and Renai exchanged a glance, visibly shaken.
Renai hesitated for a moment, then said softly, "That's… exactly what the priest told us yesterday."
Elise paused.
She had prepared herself to explain everything, thinking the couple would be skeptical.
But now…
"It's him again… Just who is this priest?" Elise thought, deeply unsettled.
She turned to Renai and said gravely:
"We need to go talk to him—now."