Exorcist of the American Nightmares

As the first person to arrive here for the inspection, Kris knew the condition of the house better than anyone else.

It was also appropriate for him to report to everyone, including the Josh family and the Warren couple.

Thus, Kris stepped forward, facing everyone's gaze, and began to speak.

"We've checked the electromagnetic fields throughout the entire house—every wire, alarm clock, radio, oven, television, record player, and fuse box. Everything appears to be normal."

As he spoke, Kris did not forget the house where Josh's family had previously lived.

"Including their previous residence, there was nothing unusual, um, so..."

Kris paused for a moment, then continued.

"It's only in this house that we've started to detect some changes in the magnetic fields and saw some grimy stuff, which is unusual under normal circumstances."

The normalcy yet emergence of grimy stuff began to confirm that there was a problem with this house.

This was something everyone already knew, so their expressions didn't change much.

Only Riley seemed a bit shaken, covering her mouth and leaning into Morena's embrace.

"So, how do we resolve this?" Josh asked gravely.

Iris glanced at Rowan. What these people without mediumistic abilities couldn't see was that the house was filled with a dark, gloomy mist.

For someone like her, a medium, this kind of cold mist was all too familiar.

Because these visible manifestations were typical of the environments found in the world of the dead.

This indicated that the house had a certain connection to the world of the dead.

Rowan noticed Iris's glance, and her gaze shifted to the second floor.

Seeing this, Iris, during her inspection, followed Rowan's direction with her eyes.

Sure enough, the source was on the second floor, where the mist was denser and continuously spreading.

Thus, without answering Josh's question, Iris simply asked.

"Is Dalton upstairs?"

At this, the Josh family members looked at each other.

"Yes," Josh took a deep breath, his tone very calm.

"So, is this related to Dalton?"

"Probably."

Iris looked deeply at Josh, remembering past memories.

"May I take a look at the house first?"

Josh replied, "Yes."

Iris smiled kindly, nodded, and after also nodding to the Warren couple, started heading towards the kitchen.

"Tucker, did you bring the sketchbook? I need you to draw the scenes I describe."

"Yes, I have it," Tucker replied, pulling out a sketchbook and a pen from his bag.

It was surprising that a burly, bearded man could draw.

This left Drew, also an assistant, somewhat astonished, glancing inadvertently at the always calm Ed.

Ed, walking behind his wife Rowan, softly said.

"Every medium has their own style. Miss Iris's approach is to let the victims know that something is lurking beneath the darkness, eyeing their souls."

With that, Ed added.

"We have our own style, no need to learn theirs, especially since you can't draw."

Drew felt a blow to his pride, his cheek twitching slightly as he looked ahead and chose to keep quiet.

But inwardly, he couldn't help but complain about his boss: "If only you spoke more."

Then, he suddenly saw Rowan turn and give him a warm, reassuring smile.

"Rowan is truly kind!" Drew thought, continuing to survey the environment, still not seeing anything obvious.

At that moment, the group in front paused.

"Here."

Drew instinctively looked toward the sound.

Miss Iris had stopped in the kitchen, staring at the sink, and began speaking.

"Swollen face, hands, feet, wearing tattered pajamas"

Under Iris's narration, Tucker quickly began to draw, his pace swift.

The synergy between the two was evident.

Seeing this, Drew directly looked at Rowan.

Sure enough, Rowan was about to explain to the two ordinary people who couldn't see anything.

"There's a person here," Rowan whispered to Ed and Drew.

"Emits a homeless aura, searching for a way back home."

At this, Rowan paused and sighed.

"Most likely, something attracted it here."

Drew and Ed exchanged glances.

This confirmed their previous discussion and what Miss Iris had mentioned.

The house itself had no issues; the problem was with Dalton, who was unconscious.

The dirty things this family had been seeing were attracted by Dalton's physical presence.

So, no matter where they moved, as long as Dalton was there, these occurrences wouldn't cease; they'd keep seeing dirty things and continue to be tormented.

And this was indeed a disaster, as evil spirits are not benevolent; if they desired, they could also possess ordinary people like Josh.

This ties back to the previous theory.

Evil spirits need to go through three stages to fully possess a human and take control of their body and consciousness.

Summarizing these stages would be:

1. The human enters

 its territory, triggering a specific fuse or medium, heralding the appearance of the evil spirit.

2. Once the evil spirit appears, initially, it might make slight noises, like voices or footsteps, even physically tugging at the victim, causing mental distress and pressure.

The harassment by the evil spirit would gradually intensify, further breaking down the target's will.

At this point, the evil spirit would progress to the next stage, possession.

Looking at the situation now...

Ed glanced at Riley, extremely frail.

"The lady of the house is already in the second stage, and when her will collapses, that will be the moment for the evil spirit to possess her."

Thinking this, Ed sighed internally, his expression unchanged, just watching Tucker hand over the rapidly completed drawing to Josh's family.

Tucker's drawing skills were excellent; based on just a few words from Iris, he could depict very specific details.

It looked like a person who had drowned.

This caused a great stir among Josh's family, their complexions turning pale.

But Iris was undeterred; she was engrossed in her work, continuing to lead everyone forward.

After the kitchen, they reached the ceiling above the stairs.

According to Iris's description, someone was hanging there, a more horrifying sight than before.

Ascending the stairs, they stopped in the hallway on the second floor.

In the depths of the hallway stood two pale-faced women, their eyes and mouths pitch black, appearing to have been burned to death.

Then, in other rooms, there were signs of an evil spirit's presence.

All this left Drew feeling terrified, especially after receiving confirmation from Rowan.

He followed the group, starting to suspect every shadow might conceal an unseen evil spirit.

Drew wasn't the only one; Josh's family was already teetering on the edge.

They couldn't believe their home had turned into a true haunted house.

Evil spirits were everywhere.

Seemingly calm mother Morena was incessantly muttering in shock.

Josh's face, too, turned pale.

As for Riley, she appeared calm; compared to the others, she had experienced and seen more disturbances.

Now, these strange and eerie noises had been explained.

Watching Iris head towards Dalton's room, her fear was gone, replaced by concern and unease.

It seemed these issues were somehow related to her son, Dalton.

One drawing after another was made by Tucker, until they reached Dalton's room door, seven drawings in total.

This meant there were currently seven evil spirits in the house.

The group's expressions became somber at this point.

Iris's expression had already turned extremely grave; she looked back at Rowan.

"I see the previous presence here; this place feels oppressive."

Rowan looked at the door, frowning; through her eyes, wisps of dark mist were seeping through the door crack.

Clearly, the source was inside.

Even without this, everything about the house felt oppressive to her.

Now, only the traces left by seven evil spirits were known, but who could say whether there were more evil spirits still hidden, lurking around?

Her feeling was that the house was like a lone boat in the vast ocean, with no land to dock, only the rolling waves.

"Let's go." Iris calmly broke the silence, opening the door and walking in.

However, as soon as the door opened, she slightly tilted her head back as if struck by a huge wave.

At this, the usually composed Iris's face darkened even further.

Iris reacted this way, and Rowan's pupils also contracted.

Since both showed such expressions, and with Iris leading without turning on the lights, the atmosphere quickly darkened, causing everyone to freeze in place for a moment.

"What did you see?" Ed frowned and asked Rowan.

Rowan's expression indicated the situation was tricky.

Rowan didn't respond, but Iris answered Ed's question.

"Tucker!"

"I'm here," Tucker said nervously.

"Tell me."

"The face is," Iris grabbed Tucker's shirt.

"Uh!" Tucker's breathing became heavy.

"What does it look like?"

"A bloody red face, black hands, black feet, a black body, pitch-black eyes, a pair of cloven hooves, and long nails."

Iris said all this in one breath, her body going limp.

At this, Rowan turned on the light to break the dreadful atmosphere.

The light turned on, and the previously dark space instantly filled with light, giving everyone a sense of safety again.

Ed quickly scanned the surroundings.

Unfortunately, he couldn't see anything.

He lacked the mediumistic abilities to sense what ordinary people couldn't see.

"What is this?" Josh had already taken the drawing from Tucker, speaking gravely.

Iris sighed, walking to the foot of Dalton's bed, looking at the child before her.

"Indeed, all this is a cycle; escaping is only temporary. This is an evil spirit peering at Dalton."

At this, Riley became anxious.

"Dalton? What's wrong with Dalton?"

Iris

 sighed and shook her head: "Let's talk outside."

Josh's family could only nod.

But just then, Rowan, who had been quiet, spoke up.

"Miss Iris, I'd like to stay here a bit longer."

Iris was taken aback, but nodded.

"Is that alright, Mr. Josh?" Rowan turned to ask for the homeowner's permission.

After all, no one would trust a stranger to be alone in a room with their continuously unconscious child.

So, Rowan added softly.

"If you're not comfortable, you can leave someone to watch."

Saying this, Rowan gave a significant look to a perplexed Riley.

Rowan's gesture was somewhat obvious, and everyone looked at Riley.

Riley was silent for a while, then nodded to Josh.

"I'll stay here."

Josh exhaled lightly, having no other choice: "Okay, wait for me to come back."

Riley nodded.

Iris and Rowan exchanged glances, seeing Rowan nod, they tacitly led Kris and Tucker out of the room.

Josh glanced at Riley, then at the Warren couple and others, and could only follow Iris's lead with his mother Morena.

For a moment, only the Warren couple, Drew, and Riley were left in the room.

"You asked me to stay, is there something you want to say?" Rowan looked at Ed, who understood with just a glance and began speaking.

"The evil spirit is watching not only your son Dalton but also you, Mrs. Riley."

Riley was stunned.

"Me?"

"Yes, that's how the evil spirit operates; it might not be attracted by you, but its instincts will lead it to act this way." Ed began explaining his theory of the three stages of possession by an evil spirit.

Riley listened, covering her mouth.

At this, Rowan made a move, scanning the room before walking over to the bedridden Dalton.

"Hello, Dalton." Rowan's face showed a hint of gentleness; she had children too.

"You'll be okay."

As she spoke, under Riley's watchful eyes, Rowan took out a cross from her pocket and hung it around Dalton's neck.

It might have been an illusion, but Riley felt the atmosphere begin to shift, Dalton's previously serene face relaxing even more.

"What is this?" she asked.

"A cross given to us for protection by a respected bishop," Rowan smiled.

"As long as this cross is here, no one can enter Dalton's body."

Riley's eyes widened, her gaze incredulous, but she indeed felt a change in the atmosphere, like the persistent chill that had been hovering around seemed to be gone.

"Rest assured," Ed added at this moment, firming Riley's belief.

"It has protected us for a long time, I can guarantee this cross is effective.

If you're still not convinced, you can look up Bishop York John."

Being straightforward can make people more likely to believe, and Bishop York John's credibility was definitely reassuring, but Ed saw Riley pause, then ask again.

"Wait, who did you say? Bishop York John?"

Seeing Riley's surprised expression, Ed puzzledly glanced at Rowan before speaking.

"Yes, Mrs. Riley, do you know Bishop York John?"

Riley pursed her lips, looking at Ed, Rowan, and Drew, uncertainly saying.

"I've posted many pleas for help online, and just today, someone responded to my request. His name seemed to be York John."

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