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All spiritual entities, human and inhuman, were attracted to strong spiritual cores. The more spiritual energy they gathered, the longer they could retain a conscience without turning into a Shadow Ghost, formless and beyond recognition.

Lucky for Evan, he was born with an abundant supply of spiritual energy in his body, which—according to Rhea—would only grow as time passed. Potentially the second ability he inherited from his mother.

Exposing his spiritual core was the fastest and deadliest way to force the being to reveal itself.

Emphasis onfastest.

A distant rumble vibrated across the floor as Evan concentrated on his core of spiritual energy. A small orb of blue flame danced in his vision, the light barrier around it burning brighter and brighter as he focused on it. The barrier protected the core from external manipulation, only heeding the command of the core’s master.

In special cases, if the mind of the owner was too disoriented or desperate to survive, sometimes the core would take it upon itself to protect the master by casting a barrier over him.

Evan had suffered something similar at the mirror mansion, where his core had exposed itself to shield him but had been drained of energy before it could function.

A soft blue glow set his skin alight as Evan’s focus deepened, a warm blanket of air caressing the surface of his body.

“Open.”

As soon as the command left his lips, the light barrier around his core dimmed before fading away.

Evan opened his eyes, his brown irises now glowing bright blue. Combining that with his now radiant skin, he looked ethereal.

It’s open.

Evan’s throat bobbed with a gulp. With his spiritual core exposed, he sat poised within the salt circle, awaiting something he was yet to see or understand. Something that was probably hideous to look at.

Come on out, asshole. Show yourself.

As if in response to his internal challenge, the table lamp started flickering, casting uneven shadows across the dim walls and floor. The rumbling in the sky stirred throughout the floor, crawling up Evan’s legs. An elongated beat of complete silence passed when—

A warm breath fanned down his exposed nape.

Evan jumped in place, almost falling out of the salt circle.

Creepy fucker.

His lips thinned. He’d never actually lingered around a spirit long enough to experience such haunting techniques. It was always a quick touch,poof, exorcised.

But this…this was trickier than he’d assumed. Trickier and nastier.

The tiny bottle shifted in his pocket as Evan sat up straight again.

“Who is it?” he asked, eyes trained on the flickering lamp ahead, the emptiness on his index finger stirring uncomfortably inside him. “Show yourself.”

The same gust of wind ripped past his side, swirling around the salt circle and blowing some of it away. A hum carried through the air, haunting Evan’s skin as goosebumps spiked across his arms.

Longing and anger clouded the air around him, so strong that his mind momentarily turned numb. It was the same feeling he’d had in the mirror room at Greene Mansion, standing in front of that mirror. The pain muffled under that anger was so intense that day that he had even shed tears unknowingly.

Something softened inside Evan.

In the mirror room, after sufferingseveremild trauma because of the corpses, Evan had somehow concluded the thing was evil. He couldn’t see it—at least not without its will—and its ability to hide its energy traces was disturbingly impressive.

But now that he thought about it with a calm mind, maybe that wasn’t all.

Maybe it was just another spirit that was longing to pass over to the other side but was unable to due to some reason.

Why else would it kill four people in the mirror room and leave one—without argument, the one with the most spiritual energy—alive? It had been trapped inside that mirror for who knew how long.

Maybe what this spirit deserved was not anger but aid.