In the living room, Cassian, Elise, Susie, Renai, Josh, and Lorraine gathered around a circle of candles that Specs and Tucker had lit, their flickering light casting shadows that seemed to twist with a life of their own. Dalton lay in his bed down the hallway, his body motionless but charged with an energy that made the air tremble. Cassian held his blessed dagger in one hand and a vial of holy water in the other, his face hardened by tension, while Elise guided Josh, seated in the center of the circle, into a trance that would take him to the astral plane.
Elise knelt in front of Josh, her hands clasping his, her voice soft but firm.
"Josh, listen carefully. You're going to leave your body, like you did as a child. I know you suppressed it, but it's still within you. Dalton is trapped in the astral plane, and you're the only one who can bring him back. Imagine a door, a light that leads you to him. Are you ready?"
Josh took a deep breath, his eyes filled with doubt but determination.
"I don't know how to start, Elise. What if I don't find him? What if I get lost like he is?"
Renai, beside him, squeezed his arm, her voice breaking.
"You have to try, Josh. He's our son. I can't lose him, please."
Cassian interjected, his tone sharp but confident.
"You won't get lost, Josh. Elise will guide you from here, and I'll keep this side safe. I can feel what's lurking, even if I can't see it, and if that demon tries anything, I'll stop it. Trust us."
Lorraine, standing next to Susie, added in a trembling whisper:
"You've done it before, Josh, even if you don't remember. When you were little, you'd come back from those dreams screaming, but you always came back. You can do it again."
Josh nodded slowly, closing his eyes as Elise began to recite softly:
"Josh, breathe deeply. Feel your body relax, let your mind open. Search for Dalton, follow his voice."
The air in the room grew colder, and Cassian felt a chill at the nape of his neck, a heavy presence he recognized instantly. As Josh entered the trance, his breathing slowing to almost a halt, Susie gasped, stepping back.
"Cassian, the Black Woman… do you feel her?"
Cassian turned toward the corner near the window, raising his crucifix, sensing an oppressive weight in that exact spot.
"Yes, Susie, I feel her. She's there, approaching Josh. Tell me what she looks like—I know where she is, but I can't see her."
Susie trembled, her eyes fixed on the figure invisible to the others.
"She's tall, thin, wearing a black dress that drags on the floor. Her face is wrinkled, like old leather, and her eyes are empty—just darkness. She has a horrible smile, Cassian, as if she knows something we don't."
Renai stifled a cry, covering her mouth, while Lorraine paled.
"It's her, the one I saw in Josh's childhood photos. What does she want?"
Cassian stepped forward, confronting the presence he felt like a knot in his chest, his voice resonating with authority:
"In nomine Christi, recede!"
He sprinkled holy water into the air, and a low hiss filled the room, as if something were burning. Susie shivered, her voice rising in pitch.
"She stopped, Cassian, but she's not leaving. She's looking at me now—that smile hasn't changed."
Elise, without breaking her connection with Josh, spoke urgently:
"It's the Black Woman, Cassian. I saw her when Josh was a child, I sealed her then, but she's back. She's tied to this, to the demon holding Dalton. Don't let her get close to him."
Cassian nodded, drawing his dagger and tracing an arc in front of Josh.
"She won't pass, Elise. Susie, what else do you notice about her? Anything that connects her to the demon?"
Before Susie could respond, a deafening crack echoed from Dalton's room. Renai ran toward the hallway, followed by Cassian and the others, and what they saw froze their blood: Dalton's body was levitating above the bed, floating an inch off the mattress, his hands clawing at the air as if fighting invisible chains. His pale, sweaty face contorted in a silent scream of terror.
"Dalton!" Renai cried, trying to reach him, but Cassian stopped her with an arm.
"Don't touch him, Renai," he ordered, his voice sharp. "He's connected to the astral plane now. If you move him, you could break the link with Josh."
Lorraine sobbed, clutching the wall.
"What's happening to him? My grandson, please, get him out of there!"
Cassian approached the bed, feeling an icy pressure around Dalton, and used his dagger to trace a protective circle on the floor, cutting through the air with precision as he recited:
"Sanctus sanguis, claude portas, protege hunc puerum!"
The room trembled, the candles in the living room flickering in unison, and Dalton fell back onto the mattress with a dull thud, his body motionless once more. But the air didn't calm; a guttural whisper filled the space, a strange and twisted language that made Susie cover her ears.
"Cassian, there's something else," she said, her voice trembling with fear. "I don't see it clearly, but I feel it—something big, watching from the astral plane. It's not the Black Woman, or the red-faced demon. It whispers things I don't understand, like a broken chant."
Elise looked up, her face pale as she continued guiding Josh.
"It's in the astral plane, Susie. That 'something' is behind the demon, I know it. Josh, can you hear me? Find Dalton, quickly, before it gets any closer."
In his trance, Josh muttered through gritted teeth:
"I see it… a cage, fire… Dalton is screaming…"
Cassian returned to the living room, facing again the presence of the Black Woman, who still felt like a weight in the air.
"I won't let you touch him, damn it. Domine meus, expelle hanc umbram!"
The holy water sizzled as it hit the air, and a high-pitched shriek rang out, making the windows vibrate. Susie stepped back, her breathing quickened.
"She's gone for now, Cassian, but she's not finished. I saw her in my head—she's not just following Josh. She's with the red-faced demon, as if she works for him. She opens paths, leads him where he wants to go."
Renai looked at Elise, her voice broken with panic.
"What does that mean? What do they want with my family?"
Elise responded, her hands trembling in Josh's.
"The Black Woman is a servant, Renai. She prepares the ground for the demon, and that demon wants Dalton, maybe Josh too. But what Susie feels… that's bigger, older. I don't know what it is, but it's watching us."
Cassian sheathed his dagger, his jaw tight.
"Then we weaken it from here, Elise. While Josh searches for him, I'll perform a full ritual: salt, holy blood, prayers. Susie, stay with me, describe everything you see. I won't let them cross."
Susie nodded, her eyes filled with tears but resolute.
"I'll do it, Cassian. But that whisper… it scared me more than the Black Woman or the demon."
The air in the house grew denser, the shadows twisting in the corners, and an echo of heavy footsteps resounded from the ceiling, as if something were walking above them, waiting for the moment to descend.