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“Sounds like the sort of place you’d enjoy. You’d hate my hometown,” I tell her, not sure why I feel the need to continue talking. “It’s tiny, idyllic, clean, safe…full of nice people who take care of their neighbors.”

“Then why do you live here and not there, Saint Theodore?” she asks with a wide grin.

“That’s a very long story that we don’t have time for,” I reply, waving my hand ahead at where Mass attendees are spilling out onto the sidewalk from the old, historic cathedral. I spot the priest shaking hands at the front doors, then pull Annoth into a narrow alley between buildings.

“I need you to…go back inside me now,” I tell her. “It’s going to look weird if we both approach him about this sort of thing.”

She crosses her arms and huffs, “What if I have something to say?”

“I seriously don’t think there’s anythingyouneed to be saying to a priest. And you swore you wouldn’t fuck with me again. Just do what I ask and this can be over sooner, for both of us.”

“Very well,” she sighs loudly. In a puff of dark smoke, she vanishes, and I can feel her floating around inside me. Shaking the sensation away, I peek around the corner and watch as the last parishioner walks away. The priest bends down to unlatch one of the big front doors and close it, so I go up to the bottom of the steps and stop. I didn’t actually ask Annoth what will happen to me if I set foot on church property, but I think it’s better not to risk it.

“Father?” I say, as gently as I can. He looks up and smiles.

“Yes, young man? What can I do for you?”

“Would you mind…speaking with me for a moment? Down here?” I nod down at the sidewalk. He frowns, but grabs a puffer jacket hanging on the railing and puts it on over his liturgical robe as he comes down the steps.

“Is something the matter?”

“Look, I know this sounds a little…crazy, but do you know anyone who can…perform an exorcism?” I look behind me as I say it, afraid that somehow my parents might be standing there.

The priest looks appropriately concerned. “I’m afraid that’s not a joking matter, son.”

“I know it’s not, trust me. I’m not fooling around here. Please.” Annoth swirls in my head, impatient and hostile, and I just hope she doesn’t try to hurt him like she did with Father Benjamin.

“Well…official church policy is that I can’t perform one without the express permission of my bishop–”

“Ok, how do you go about getting that?”

“Hang on. I need the permission of the bishop, but also the family of the individual in question, and that’s after a battery of mental health tests to make sure there are no underlying problems. You understand, I’m sure…”

I let out a long sigh. Of course. It’s not the 80s anymore. They can’t just go around exorcising people just for behaving erratically. I was an idiot to think this would work.

“No, I-I understand completely. Thank you, Father.” I turn to walk away, but he reaches out and puts a hand on my arm, causing Annoth to hiss loudly inside my head.

“Please take this,” he says, handing me a business card, “as well as my prayers.” I take the card and walk away quickly. It’s a list of mental health resources, and a suicide hotline. Great. Annoth waits until we’re around the corner, alone on a side street before coming back out.

“Now what?” she growls.

“I don’t fucking know,” I snap back. “You got us into this mess! Youfigure it out!”

“I told you, I cannot–” She stops talking suddenly, her intense gaze fixed on something behind me. I turn and look. Getting out of an old-school, weirdly familiar black car down the block is a man wearing a leather jacket and dark sunglasses. Annoth goes completely still and doesn’t tear her eyes away from him as he leans on the side of the car and looks down at his phone.

“What?” I ask. “Why are you staring?”

“It is him,” she says in a low voice. “Father Benjamin. The priest who robbed you.”

I look again. Sure enough, he takes off his sunglasses and turns so I can see his face better. It’s definitely him, just wearing street clothes.

“Stop staring!” I say to her. “You look like a snake stalking a mouse! What are you going to do?”

“He can complete the ritual outside of the authority of the church,” she whispers. “He did not finish it because he was too frightened, but now hemustbelieve, and we can force his hand by threatening to turn him in for the robbery and fraud he has committed.”

“What?! Annoth, that’s not–”

But she’s already walking toward him, her hands balled into fists at her side. I follow, absolutely sure that I’m about to witness a gruesome murder. He looks up just as she reaches the back of his car.