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Aaron jumped in his seat. “What? What—What is it?”

“My left eye is twitching.”

The car jerked as Aaron’s control faltered. “Isn’t that…bad luck?”

Oh yeah, I never run out of those.

In fact, Evan had been bestowed with abundant misfortune since birth.

Evan leaned his head back against the headrest, pressing his fingers against the twitching eye with a sigh. “I’ll probably lose money.”

Aaron whimpered like a kicked puppy. “Oh, you’resogonna blow up this deal.”

When they stopped at the bakery to get breakfast, Aaron jumped out of the car, more agitated than usual under his grey suit. Maybe he was wondering about the suspicious bruises on Evan’s face from yesterday that he’d been too reluctant to talk about. Or perhaps his restlessness had something to do with the fact that Evan had told him about his lack of a proper meal.

No. It probably had to do with the Greene’s case.

It'd been years, yet the reason behind Aaron's eagerness in playing manager was still a mystery to Evan.

According to his limited knowledge, Aaron Brooke already had everything a man in his prime would want out of life. A wealthy family, decent looks—well, maybe better than justdecent—a city apartment,andmultiple businesses to his name. Even if he decided he didn’t want to work another day in his life, he had enough to spare for his next three generations.

There wasn’t a sensible reason why someone like him would want to go around ghost-hunting with Evan.

Evan would have questioned his friend’s intentions if he weren’t the most resourceful and helpful friend in his life.

Actually, he was theonlyfriend in Evan’s life. Then there was Rhea, who was more like a fairy godmother with a broom instead of a wand.

Blinking at Aaron’s figure as it disappeared into the bakery, Evan turned around, his eyes accidentally landing on a teenage girl standing at the bus stop…and a dark shadow looming over her.

Evan’s eyes narrowed.

Elongated translucent claws crept around the girl, idly floating through her personal space. A pair of white dots glowed in place of eyes in its distorted face, its lower body dissolving into smoke. As if sensing Evan’s stare, the Shadow Ghost’s head snapped in his direction.

Reflexively, Evan averted his eyes.

The Doctrine of Blackwood Exorcists. Rule 9: “Spirits must not be looked in the eye, lest they latch onto your soul.”

More than soul-latching, it was a warning against the sudden rush of resentment or sorrow that could overwhelm an exorcist if they made intentional eye contact with spirits.

Out of the corner of his eye, Evan watched the translucent shadow hover over the girl.

Shadow Ghosts, souls that had wandered the earth for far too long to remember what they used to be as humans, which resulted in them losing any spiritual energies that could differentiate them from creatures of the dark and turned them into a silhouette without any definite form. These kinds of ghosts always lingered around people suffering from extreme grief or emotional pain.

Evan had been surrounded by them for years after his mother—

The car door opened. Evan blinked, uncurling his fist that he hadn’t realized had clenched. He snuck another glance sideways. Albeit creepy, Shadow Ghosts weren’t inherently dangerous, so he let them be.

Aaron jumped into his seat, dropping a heavy bag of cream buns and a pack of cigarettes into Evan’s lap. “God, the old ladyat the bakery is sweet, but she talks so much. I can’t even tell her I’m in a hurry because then she’ll ask me why I’m in a hurry and then keep asking—hey, you okay?”

No.

Evan plucked a cigarette from his new pack, face impassive. “Yep. Let’s go.”

Fifteen minutes later, they arrived at the edge of the woods, in front of the gates of the Greene property. Or whatusedto be the gates.

Rusted hinges groaned as the broken iron bars swung idly in the wind. Creepers and cobwebs wove between the grills, and the boundary walls had all but crumbled to dust.

It still puzzled Evan why exactly these people were going to this extent for this property? Not only was it wrecked beyond repair but the patch of land was located near the forbidden region of the forest; the Dark Woods. That area was strictly restricted by the townsfolk to everyone other than a few members of the town council and the Forest Officer. Anyone caught trespassing without permission could be exiled from town.