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Instead, he took a seat behind the group of old men, taking small sips from his chocolate milk. Something about their conversation was drawing his focus, and he needed to hear where it was heading.

“Poor old Mila keeps cursin’ those workers. Sayin’ they’ll die if they cut down the oak.”

“Folks used to worship that tree years ago. Some still do.”

Evan’s head tilted to the side, eyes out the window but ears strained towards the table behind him. The Old Oak was an ancient tree situated right at the heart of the woods. Evan had only passed by it a couple of times while wandering through the safe areas of the forest. But every time he had, it unusually stood out in its surroundings. Almost as if it was the first tree planted there and the rest of the forest had just grown around it.

It was not unusual to worship oak trees, though. Especially in Emberlyn. Many tools used in exorcisms were filled or dipped in oak wood ash. It could contain the evil.

But unlike the sacred water of Del, oak trees couldn’t banish spirits. If bound to an oak, it served more like a vessel, a shell that would capture spirits. A prison with no escape.

Well, unless some shithead decided to cut the tree down.

“Can’t blame old Mila. Those bastards dropped a tree on her house. What else can she do but curse them?”

Someone sighed. “Must have been hard.”

Their conversation quickly lost Evan’s interest after that as the topic drifted towards the renovation of the town’s old library, and he stood up after finishing a can of chocolate milk. As he stepped out of the bakery, his phone buzzed in his jeans pocket.

Evan answered the call. “Aaron,”

“Hey, how…how are you doing?” Aaron panted, breathing heavily right into his ear.

Evan jerked the phone away, chills creeping down his neck as he gritted out, “Why thefuckare you heaving like that?”

“I’m working out,” Aaron strained out a breath before sighing out loud. “Ah, that felt good.”

Evan’s face scrunched tight. “I have no interest in hearing about your orgasmic workout routine.”

“Mywhat?” Aaron chuckled before calming his breathing. “Have you ever tried working out? Some muscles might suit you.”

“I possess all the muscles necessary for survival. I don’t want mine inflated like yours.”

“Why, you little—”

“Did you have something important to say?” Evan clutched the book against his chest, the bag of takeout hanging from the crook of his arm. “If not, I’m hanging up.”

“Hold on. Thereissomething important,” Aaron grumbled. “You have a new case request.”

Evan’s steps faltered momentarily before he picked up the pace again. “Oh, well…I can’t.”

“Are you still drained from the Greene's case?”

“That’s not it. I…” Evan’s grip tightened on the phone. “I lost my ring.”

Silence descended. A few uncomfortably long moments passed before something clattered loudly.

“Yourring? As in yourmother’s ring?”

Evan shifted the phone away from his ear. “Uh huh.”

And Aaron exploded.

“What do you mean uh huh?! Do you hear yourself? Do you understand what you just said?! You just declared the end of your career as an exorcist! How could you lose something so precious—”

“I didn’t exactly lose it.”

“Then?”