When Arden woke up, they felt tight restraints around their wrists so they at least knew two things: they had been taken by the killer, and Benny wasn’t controlling their body anymore. Arden pulled at the restraints that had them tied to what felt like a wood chair. At least they weren’t strung up on a cross, and their hands didn’t hurt so they hadn’t been staked. Arden couldn’t see any souls around them. For now, they were alone.

“Benny? Benny, you awake?” Arden asked quietly. Despite the hushed tone, they felt like their voice was echoing loudly. They felt Benny stir a little, but he felt weak. Based on all of that and how sweaty Arden felt, they were in the church. Whether it was the one in the Center or a different one, they weren’t sure.

So much for keeping us both alive, Benny grumbled. Any idea where we are?

“Definitely a church. Or at least some big place on holy ground,” Arden whispered, still tugging at the roped that were digging into their wrists. “How long do you think we were out?”

Can you reach our watch?

Arden wiggled a little more, inching the face of their watch out from under the ropes. The metal edge dug painfully into their skin and they struggled to brush their middle finger against it. They could barely feel the top of it, but they were pretty sure that it read something close to 9:00.

AM or PM? Benny asked. Arden knew what he was thinking. If it was AM, then it had been nearly ten hours since they were in the bathroom. Misty would definitely notice that they were missing, and the guards would have put the Center on lock-down until they found them.

If it was still PM, however, it had barely been half an hour. There were people in the Center that stayed in the bathroom longer than that. No one, probably not even Misty, would blink twice that Arden was absent.

“No idea,” Arden muttered. They pulled at the ropes again, cursing under their breath.

“Can you get these untied?” they asked through gritted teeth. They felt Benny pushing with their mind, willing the ropes to untie. But they stayed where they were, cutting off Arden’s circulation.

No. Something’s blocking me. I can’t use my powers right now.

“Could be all the holy stuff. Can’t see it but I can sure as hell feel it,” Arden muttered. They tried kicking their legs, but they were tied to the chair’s legs too. Arden ran their finger over the edge of the chair arm. It felt like wood, and there was something carved into the wood. When their skin touched the carvings, they felt hot. Arden tried to jerk away, and Benny let out an angry growl.

“Those are holy symbolsthat are keeping the demon at bay.”

Arden’s head shot up and they saw a soul light way off in the corner of the room. The voice had echoed loudly, commanding the whole space with a kind yet forceful voice that made you want to stop and listen, even if you thought what he was saying was crap.

Arden knew that voice.

“Father Gabriel?” they asked, wanting confirmation. The priest’s soul light stepped closer, walking down aisle between the pews and up the steps. Arden must have been near the front, right by the …

Arden leaned their head backwards, a little hesitantly. The top of their head touched something wooden and their skin seared on contact. They jerked their head forward, both of them cursing and trying to get away from the giant crucifix.

“I know it hurts, my child,” Father Gabriel said, “I promise, it won’t hurt for much longer. We are going to get that demon out of you.”

I really never like this priest, Benny said, his voice in the back of their head a low growl. Arden definitely agreed with him.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Father,” Arden said, “Is this some very hard-core kind of lesson about repenting, or is this the kind of thing where I need a lawyer? Maybe a safe word?”

The priest stepped closer and reached for Arden’s face. They pulled back as his fingers brushed their cheeks, but he just unhooked their sunglasses from behind their ears and pulled them off Arden’s face. They shook their head as he pulled away, but Father Gabriel grabbed them by the chin and made Arden face him. There was no point in trying to keep the priest from seeing their black eyes, so they glared at the priest’s soul light. Father Gabriel sighed sadly, the sunglasses metal arms clicking together as he folded them.

“Your parents told me about the demon inside you, Arden. After that poor boy was slaughtered, I knew it was him. Benetraeth, right?” Gabriel asked, “I’d like to speak to him, if he’s willing.”

“Yeah, I think he might have a few words for you,” Arden admitted. Rage – theirs and Benny’s – filled their chest. They weren’t sure what made them angrier; that their parents had told the priest about Benny, or that they honestly thought Benny would kill someone.

“Let Arden out of the chair or I’m going to rip your arms off,” Benny snarled, both he and Arden jerking at the chair again. It wiggled a bit, but did nothing.

“You have no power here, Benetraeth,” the father said calmly, “You won’t get away with murdering that boy. You’re going back to hell where you belong.”

Something liquid and burning hot sprayed against Arden’s skin. Their flesh sizzled and Benny let out an inhumane scream of pain.

“Damn you, Gabriel!” Arden and Benny both shouted.

“We didn’t kill that kid,” Benny snapped, “We’re trying to stop the one that did.”

“Why would I believe anything a demon would have to say?” Gabriel said, a cold edge in his voice. Arden shook their head.

“Jesus Christ, Gabriel, Benny didn’t do it!” they snapped, “Don’t you think I’d know if he did? Do you think I’d defend him if he had?”

“Devils can fool anyone if they try. And the thing inside you has had years to learn how to fool you,” Gabriel said, “But God can save you –”

“No, God can’t! My parents know that, and they would have told you – an exorcism will kill me and Benny. Maybe even you too!” Arden said. They had no idea if the last part was true or not, but it made the priest hesitate.

“Doesn’t matter. I have their permission to banish the demon. If your soul is strong, you’ll survive,” Gabriel said. He started splashing the holy water again, making Arden hiss again.

“You are the worst priest ever,” Arden snapped, “I get out of this chair, Benny’s gonna have to wait in line to kick your holy –”

“Arden, hold on a sec,” Benny said out loud before switching to speaking quietly. Arden held up one finger, telling the priest to wait a moment. To their surprise, Father Gabriel seemed to respect their request.

Your parents would have mentioned that an exorcism would kill both of us. Why wouldn’t they mention that to him? He pointed out. Arden leaned back in the chair, furrowing their brow. Their rage towards their parents faded, realizing it made no sense.

“Did you talk to my mom or my dad when they gave you permission for this?” Arden demanded. Father Gabriel didn’t reply. Benny gripped the arms of the chair tightly, hands sizzling against the symbols.

“Fucking answer them!” Benny roared, making the priest take a step back.

“Your father! I got his permission!” he finally answered, “He told me to do whatever it took to fix his son.”

Arden furrowed their brow. Their dad always respected Arden’s pronouns, their lack of a traditional binary gender. Hell, Adam was the one that suggested Arden use the singular ‘they’ instead of ‘xe’ or ‘zir.’ He would never call Arden his son.

“He didn’t talk to my dad,” Arden said to Benny before directing their attention back to the priest, “You didn’t talk to my dad. He didn’t sign off on this. Someone’s screwing with you.”

“Who would screw with a priest?” Gabriel said, incredulous. Under different circumstances, Arden and Benny probably would have snickered, had some kind of inappropriate joke ready to go.

“When did you talk to my dad?” Arden asked.

“This afternoon. He called my cell phone, but I didn’t recognize the number.”

“587-7089?” Arden asked. The priest didn’t reply. Benny rolled Arden’s eyes.

“He either nodded or shook his head, I’m guessing,” he pointed out, “Just because Arden’s possessed, it doesn’t mean they aren’t blind.

“S-sorry. I shook my head. It was a different number. Same area code, but it was …” He trailed off and Arden could hear the beeping of cell phone buttons, “6966.”

Benny smirked at the irony of the numbers, but Arden was wracking their brain. They didn’t recognize the number off the top of their head.

“Okay, why would Benny and I kill Bruce when we are so close to getting out of here? Even if we were planning some ritual killing, we’d wait until we were released, when we didn’t have to constantly be going into a church,” Arden pointed out, “It doesn’t make sense for us to just now start killing people.”

“Whoever called had to be the killer,” Benny pointed out, “They would have seen the scars at some point today. Why didn’t they try to take us for the ritual?”

“Because they know who you are,” Arden said, the pieces falling together, “If they’re trying to raise Crantraeth, they wouldn’t want you anywhere near the ritual. They’d do whatever they could to keep us out of their way. Like get an over-eager priest to try to do an unsanctioned and totally shady exorcism.”

“Hey, now – ” Gabriel started to protest.

“Oh no, I’m sure you got permission from the Vatican for this. Come on, religion’s my weakness, you think I don’t know your rules?” Benny snapped.

“Let us go. If the killer wanted us out of the way than they’re going to kill someone else soon,” Arden insisted.

“No. No, I can’t let a demon walk free!” Father Gabriel said sternly.

“But you’re fine letting a killer walk free?” Arden pointed out, “Damn, Benny, you’re right. Religious guys are hypocrites.”

“The demon is weakened on holy ground,” Gabriel said, his voice angry now, “You aren’t getting out of that chair unless I allow it. I know the rules of possession just as you know the rules of the exorcism.”

You know, I’ve never really be one for following rules, Benny said quietly. Arden smirked.

How about you go have a rest? I’ll wake you when we’re out of here, Arden thought. Benny didn’t need to be told twice. Soon, he slipped into Arden’s subconscious and they were alone in their head. The symbols on the wood faded from burning to slightly warm. Arden leaned forward in the chair, chest going down against their thighs. They tensed up before throwing themselves backwards, tipping over the wood chair and slamming it down against the ground. The wood shattered under their weight and suddenly their arms were free despite still being tied to the armrests. They rolled off their back and got up on their feet, grabbing a piece of wood in each hand and staring down the priest’s soul with their pitch black eyes. They had no idea if the priest was prepared to throw down, but Arden definitely was.

“No! I’m just trying to save your soul, Arden!” Father Gabriel shrieked, dropping to the ground and crawling away from Arden. Guess he wasn’t that prepared to fight.

“My soul’s pretty tough. I’ll be fine,” Arden retorted. They dropped the wood pieces to the ground, untying the ropes around their wrists. They were still pissed, but they weren’t about to beat an unarmed priest.

“Look, Father, whoever is killing people is trying to summon a demon that’s ten times worse than the one stuck in my head,” they explained, “You can hide in your church and pray, pretend nothing bad is happening to the kids outside of here. Or you can come give me a hand. Benny and I can’t use holy water, but you could.”

Arden held out their hand towards the priest. Honestly, they fully expected him to get up and run away, hide in the back room of the church with his head planted firmly inside his bible. To their surprise, the priest took Arden’s hand, letting them pull him to his feet.

“How does … he feel about me helping you?” Father Gabriel asked. Arden tapped the back of his head a couple of times.

“He’ll be fine with it. Benny, wake up.”

What happened? Did we kill the priest? Benny asked hopefully.

“No, he’s going to help us. We just need to find out –”

Arden was cut off by a stabbing pain running through their head. They grabbed the side of their head and dropped to their knees, screaming in pain. It felt like a hot poker was being jammed through their brain. Arden was dimly aware that the priest was asking if they were alright, more focused on the fact that Benny was screaming in pain too. The stabbing pain turned into an odd but painful pulling sensation, like someone was trying to rip something through their skin.

As quickly as the pain came, it was instantly gone. Arden was left panting on all fours on the floor, clutching the old chapel carpet in their fists.

“What the hell was that,” Arden gasped. Their whole body felt numb, a relief from the agony they had just felt.

“Are you alright, Arden?” Father Gabriel asked, helping Arden to their feet. They leaned against the priest for support, ignoring the burning feeling that came with touching him. That was nothing compared to whatever that had been.

“Benny? Are you okay?” Arden asked, more concerned with his demon than Father Gabriel’s concern.

Misty’s in trouble.

Arden froze. “How do you know?”

“Misty tried to summon me to her location. That was her trying to get me to manifest wherever she was, but because I’m trapped in you, it just hurt. A lot,” Benny explained. He was definitely out of breath and weak. However painful that had been for Arden, it had been ten times worse for Benny.

“Why would the killer go after Misty?” Father Gabriel asked.

“She’s a witch,” Arden and Benny said together. Arden could see the soul light that led out into Gabriel’s limbs move quickly as he did the sign of the cross. Arden flinched and shook his head.

“If you even think of burning her at the stake, I’ll tie you up and leave you here,” Arden said angrily.

“I won’t, I won’t,” Gabriel said quickly, “Misty’s a good girl. How do we find her?”

“Benny? Did you get anything when she tried to summon you?”

Benny didn’t say anything. Was he thinking or did that take more out of him that Arden expected?

“She was in a big space. That’s all I really got. And …”

“And?” the priest prompted.

“She was terrified.”

Arden’s heart dropped to their stomach. They needed to find her before Misty got hurt.

“Where’s a space that’s big enough to summon a demon?” Arden asked.

“The gymnasium?” Gabriel suggested. Arden shook their head.

“The movie night’s happening in there right now. It’ll be packed. This killer needs privacy,” they replied, “Does the Center have a basement?”

Father Gabriel sucked in a breath. He was realizing something.

“Yes. We’ve been cleaning out the basement the last few weeks to make room for a new recreational space. Ted has been very excited about the high ceilings down there,” he explained, “He’s been working harder on the space than anyone else.”

“Oh good. High ceilings. That’s super great and important right now,” Benny said sarcastically, “Where the hell is the way to the basement?”