Page 85 of The Haunting of Lockton

He beamed.

“I’m pleased that you like the shop,” Callum told him, then glanced at the books. “Great selections. I hope you find them useful.”

I skimmed the title of one of them:Awakening Your Inner Eye. Another was calledAn Introduction to Mediumship.

“Mediumship?” I asked.

“Well, a medium is someone who can sense, hear, and communicate with spirits,” Callum explained. “Mediumship is the broad term for the types of mediums and their practices.”

“There are different kinds?” Julian asked.

“Yes. There’s mental mediumship and physical. Clairsentience is the ability to perceive a spirit in the way of emotions. So, sensing and empathizing with them. Clairvoyance is seeing with the mind’s eye, such as visions or dreams. There’s also physical mediumship, where someone obtains information from a spirit, well, in a physical form. Using a Ouija board is an example of this.”

All of that went right over my head. Julian, however, stared in what I could only describe as awed wonder.

Throughout the years, Julian had researched his gift, trying to learn more about it, but hadn’t found definite answers. The internet had a ton of information on a million different possibilities, and it had been overwhelming for him. He had been too nervous to seek out experts in the field for answers, not sure if they’d believe him. It was a sensitive topic for him.

“Some are born with the gift,” Callum further explained. “Some have this ability manifest over time, usually around early adulthood. And others…” His blue eyes lingered on Julian. “Are granted their gift through other means.”

“Other means?” Julian frowned. “Like how?”

“I’ve heard stories where people who had near-death experiences begin to develop these sorts of gifts. As though their brush with death unlocked a door that allowed them passage to and from the spirit world. Once that door is open, there’s no closing it again. Regardless of how one finds themselves amongthe gifted, they become part of a community that specializes in helping those who can’t always help themselves.”

“How so?” Julian asked.

“Some spirits aren’t strong enough to manifest on their own,” Callum said. “They scream into the void with no one to hear them. Others have moments of clarity and can appear to the living, though they remain trapped within the confines of whatever land they haunt. Mediums provide the gateway to ensure their stories are told. They help give a voice to those who don’t have one.”

Julian’s eyes sparked with interest. “Can mediums help spirits move on?”

Callum nodded. “Among other things. Some spirits don’t wish to move on to the afterlife. They may have someone still among the living they want to watch over. But a medium can still give peace to the spirits who need it.”

Julian lowered his gaze to the books, his face a myriad of emotions. “Even if it’s just listening and letting them share their story.”

“Precisely,” Callum said. “Some mediums act as a sort of… therapist for the dead, I suppose you could say.”

After Julian paid for his items, we left the shop. He was silent. I gave him time to process everything, zipping my big mouth instead of asking a billion questions or making dumbass remarks. But I walked closer than normal, just to let him know I was there. That he could lean on me.

“Is it weird to think we were meant to find that shop?” He hugged the bag of books to his chest.

“Like fate?” I asked, and he nodded. “I don’t know. Not sure I believe in that sort of thing.”

“Callum seemed to not only know about my gift but also how I got it. I’ve never spoken about that incident, Sky. So how did he know?”

I shrugged. “Maybe he saw those books and just made a calculated guess.”

“Callum said mediums can help ghosts who are suffering. I’m not even sure if Iama medium, but my ability to sense ghosts and feel their emotions… that seems to be a form of clairsentience, right? And I’ve communicated with ghosts in the past during other investigations. It’s how we learned about some of the places. They spoke to me. Some led me to clues.”

“So what are you saying?”

“What if I can do more than just find answers? What if I’m able to help Roy? What if I can help the others too? All the voices who said their names on that EVP. Alison, Penelope, Luke, and Roy.”

He’d remembered their names.

“This really means a lot to you, doesn’t it?” I asked.

“Yeah. It does.” He looked at me. We were identical right down to the small freckle on the right side of our jaw. But his eyes had always been much softer. Kinder. “For a while now, I’ve felt like something was missing.”

“Missing?”