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She crouched near a tree, curling in on herself as she cradled the earring close.

Evan stared at her, unblinking.

How could someone love another so deeply that they lost their mind, their heart, and themselves in the wake of their death, Evan couldn’t understand. Love was supposed to be beautiful. It was supposed to be comforting. When love became painful, wasn’t it better to give it up?

Crouching beside Mila, Evan watched the oak at a distance. He was silent for a moment but his limited patience ran out and he cut to the point. “Do you know why a tree was dropped on your house?”

Mila’s shoulders trembled.

“Because someone wanted to protect the Old Oak,” Evan continued then turned to her. “Do you know anything about it?”

Mila peeked at the oak through teary, hollow eyes. Her hazy, aged gaze squinted as though seeing through the vast tree and into its dark secrets.

Her dry, cracked lips parted to croaked out, “They said…if I brought him, they will give me back…my husband.”

Evan gauged her carefully. “Brought whom?”

Suddenly, Mila jolted upright. The air of sorrow vanished from her person, replaced by unbearable thrill and joy. Evan could sense it, which meant she wasn’t faking it.

Her face cracked into a grin, bloodshot eyes wide as she stared at the oak. “Victor!”

Evan followed her gaze to the tree, but there was no one. She was hallucinating. Before Evan could confirm, Mila broke into a run.

“Wait!” Tripping and stumbling from the momentary surprise, Evan chased after her. “Stop running. It’s not safe!”

The woman, although frail-looking, ran unnaturally fast. Her shrill cries echoed in the woods as she wailed her husband’s name. Evan could barely keep up.

As he neared the outstretched twisted branches that coiled like a huge serpent around the trunk, Mila suddenly vanished.

Evan lurched to a stop, eyes darting around, but the silhouette of the woman was nowhere in sight.

He called for her. No response.

That wasn’t a surprise.

She had been wandering this area for God knew how long and was familiar with every nook and corner of the woods. If she wanted to hide, it would take Evan a solid while to find her.

Damn it. I could have asked her a few more questions.

As he was busy looking around the twisted branches and overgrown bushes, without his notice, a translucent veil slowly descended over the expanse of the ancient tree, stretching taut over it before turning transparent.

Its energy was faint, nearly imperceptible. If Evan wasn’t so agitated, his sharp senses would have caught it.

He frowned, then scratched his temple.

Where the hell did she go?

It was useless. Mila wouldn’t come out now. And with the earring in his grasp, Evan couldn’t tempt her into answering any questions either.

The only way to draw her out was through Victor. Summoning his spirit wouldn’t be a huge deal for a seasoned exorcist like Evan. With a sigh he turned to leave, only to pause as something caught his eye.

Evan paused, before approaching the enormous trunk of the oak.

Torn paper talismans and spell-woven threads lay scattered, likely by the workers who’d ripped them off the tree for fun. But Evan’s attention was drawn to something else.

A jagged branch jutted from the trunk like the tree had sprouted a nose—but when Evan drew closer, he realized it wasn’t a branch at all.

It was a nail. A huge iron nail, almost as big and thick as his forearm. It was embedded deep into the trunk of the oak, flakes of iron peeling off of the old iron shaft. Pulling it out with his bare hands would be impossible for someone like Evan whose only strong muscle was his tongue.