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Had Aaron’s presence always carried such warmth? If it did, this was the first time Evan had noticed it.

Clasping the spoon again with a determination to take a sip, Evan brought it up to his lips when his eyes landed on the faint red mark circling his empty index finger.

Clank!

The spoon clattered back into the bowl as his grip loosened.

Right. That thing had destroyed Crimson Eye that night, right in front of Evan’s eyes.

Evan’s jaws clenched, fingers curling into a fist. More than the fact that he wouldn’t be able to perform any exorcisms without the ring, anger blazed and licked his insides because Crimson Eye had belonged to his mother. The last string tying him to her.

If only he’d been more careful. If only he hadn’t been so stubborn about doing everything on his own.

If only he’d run that day when she’d asked him to…

Dropping his head against the table with athud, Evan grunted.

He wasn’t even strong enough to confront that thing that’d escaped the mirror. Some great exorcist he was. Hell, he should’ve been glad that he made it out in one piece. The sight of Bruce and his men’s fleshless corpses still haunted a dark portion of his mind.

But how had Evan ended up in the hallway? The last thing he remembered was passing out in the mirror room that was at the very end of that hallway. Had he perhaps dragged himself out when the fire started? How did that fire even start?

Thud. Thud. Thud.

Evan bumped his head on the table, trying to recall the faded bits of his memory. With every thud, the bowl of soup and glassjumped on the table until finally the glass of chocolate milk decided to take a tumble.

Evan jumped at the startling crash as the glass shattered on the floor, chocolate milk splashing everywhere on the carpet and his shorts.

Seriously?

Dishes found on extra discount at wholesale markets were always a scam in quality. The table wasn’t even that high that the glass fell to its demise.

Evan’s brows furrowed as he glanced down, but the frown quickly dropped from his face, replaced by a feeling he couldn’t name. He blinked furiously, then opened his eyes wide, trying to make sense of what the fuck he was seeing.

Four pointy shards of glass hovered a few inches off the floor, suspended in air, unmoving. They were frozen right beside his foot, an inch away from piercing his skin. If they hadn’t stopped like they had, Evan would have had some pretty nasty wounds on his foot right now.

But what the hell happened to gravity?

“Evan? What was that noise?” Aaron’s voice screeched from outside the front door.

And just like that, not following the law of gravity by any extent, the glass pieces silently dropped to the floor.

A dry gulp and two long inhales later, Evan replied in a strained voice, “Nothing.”

Earlier, when Aaron had suddenly opened the door, it should’ve slammed right into Evan’s face. But it hadn’t. And now, the shards of glass should’ve pierced his foot. They hadn’t.

Both times, something had interfered with the natural course of those actions. Was it…protecting him?

No. It was making its presence known. Trying to warn him, perhaps.

For the first time in a long while, Evan felt his core of spiritual energy flickering like a dancing flame, fueled by his anxiousness. He didn’t remember the last time an exorcism had left him in such a dire state. The cherry on top was that this exorcism hadn’t even been successful; a dark blob on his perfect record.

Evan Blackwood had failed to carry out an exorcism.

If the word spread, his reputation would be dragged through dogshit.

And as if that wasn’t enough, something had followed him into his house, which was extremely funny considering the talisman hanging above his main door would’ve restricted anything nonhuman.

Evan dropped his gaze, senses perked. If he concentrated hard enough, he could feel the sudden temperature shifts, the mysterious breeze making his bangs flutter. And a foreign presence in the room that didn’t belong there.