Josephine Young

Josephine Young was a professor of colonial studies and a "witch" who escaped persecution during the Hartford witch trials. In colonial times, she summoned many entities from beyond the rift to grant herself powers and curse her enemies. She made a pact with the entity named Nephilos to gain immortality, and later sealed him away to use his powers for herself.

In the present day, Josephine teaches at a college in Hartford, Connecticut. She becomes an ally of Shaun Sanford and Tom Johnson when an entity known as Mirror Face begins stalking them on campus. She orders Nephilos to kill it and save the boys, thinking (mistakenly) that Mirror Face is dead.

Later, Mirror Face recovers and is able to steal Nephilos from under Josephine's control. Trapped in the dataspace, Nephilos is eventually able to send a message to Josephine warning her that her life is in danger and suggesting a plan to take down Mirror Face once and for all. This backfires, and Josephine is just barely able to escape.

Josephine heads across the country to Lyonsville, Washington, where she hopes to travel north to Pacific Glade and recruit the help of a powerful entity to confront Mirror Face. However, she is killed by Mirror Face before she can reach the town, and Nephilos is unable to keep himself from taking her soul.

She appears in the "gallows hill" series.