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Evan’s eyebrows almost brushing his hairline. “Oh,”

Red moon on a Friday night, also called a Reaping Moon.

The wandering souls of the dead, especially the troublemakers, were harvested by grim reapers that walked the dark with lamps. Perhaps it was only a legend, perhaps it wasn’t, but the townspeople weren’t really eager to find out, and every Reaping Moon, they shut their doors at dusk and kept them shut until the next morning.

Evan had wandered out once or twice on a Reaping Moon—in his defense, he never kept a check of the lunar calendar and wasn’t aware it was a Reaping Moon—but hadn’t encountered any reapers with lanterns. He did, however, run into foxes, bats, and animals that usually stayed cooped up in the woods, away from humans. And the air on these nights felt especially heavy with so many different energies of varying intensities, like smelling several strong colognes in one tiny room. It was suffocating.

But what did the Reaping Moon have to do with the missing people?

Evan’s eyes fluttered to the youth beside him, and he had this strange, almost stupid feeling that if he asked, Delos would know the answer to his questions. He was weird, yes, pronouncing words wrong without even realizing it, but he also had the gaze of an old soul that had seen more than it willingly let on. The lack of anything else in his aura other than calmness was another itch in Evan’s brain that he couldn’t quite scratch.

No human was so calm all the time.

Sensing the intense wavelengths of confusion emitting from Evan, Delos smiled that gentle, fatherly smile. “I’m sure your friend could help you. All you need to do is ask.”

“Friend?” Evan shook his head in defeat. “My friend has also…gone missing. Probably the sixteenth one.”

Delos mimicked Evan’s head shake. “Notthatfriend.”

Before his words sank into Evan’s brain, a current of dark energy slammed into Evan from the back. He felthispresencebefore the faint rustle of clothes reached his ear. The Shadow Hand froze on Evan’s arm before dissolving into the air.

Evan tilted his head, and sure enough, over him loomed the demon he couldn’t get off his back with hisgorgeousstupid face.

The usual impassiveness on Xen’s face had vanished, replaced with a look of barely suppressed irritation. His dark brows drew close and jaws clenched tight as he stared at Delos.

The youth, on the far end of the emotional spectrum, smiled warmly up at the towering giant like they were long-lost brothers.

Evan stood in between them like a broken bridge, completely useless.

“Long time no see, old friend,” Delos chirped, one eyebrow quirked like he was enjoying a private joke.

Xen’s lips lifted into an almost scowl.

“Old friend?” Eyes narrowed in suspicion, Evan glanced back and forth between the two figures. “You two know each other?”

“Yes,” Delos replied. At the same time, Xen grunted, “No.”

Evan paused for a moment, considering whom to trust. Then turned to the silver-haired ball of sunshine. “Since when?”

Delos shrugged with an ever-pleasant expression. “A long time.”

How long is ‘long’?

The imperceptible suspicion Evan had of Delos not being human was now spiraling off the charts. He knew Xen for a “long time,” this demon who had been locked away in an enchanted mirror for at least a few decades, if not centuries? Then how old was this young lad exactly?

“Go away,” Xen rumbled, staring down the white-haired youth who barely reached his chest.

Delos grinned. “This isn’t your house.”

“Go. Away.”

“You’re being meaner than usual.”

A vein surfaced on Evan’s temple as he forced himself to calm the turmoil in his brain. There were too many things happening way too fast for his scarcely used intelligence to comprehend.

He pinched the bridge of his nose before trying to decide which topic deserved his attention at the moment. But before he could shove the two…entitiesaway for more mental clarity, Xen stepped closer, knuckles brushing Evan’s other arm. “We have somewhere to be.”

Evan blinked, taken aback by the sudden intensity of his eyes. “What?”