Page 23

“E van,” Celie was the first to spot her brother, eyes wide as if seeing a ghost. The rest of the group whipped their heads around, and after a brief, stunned silence, they charged towards Evan. Crying like chicks who’d discovered their lost mother hen.

Nick and Elysia threw themselves at Evan. “Oh my God, we found you! Thank the Lord.”

“He’s alive! Big Bro is alive!”

Although Rumi and Wren hung back, Elysia pulled them closer, pretending they were part of the group hug. Celie stared at Evan with a look of concern and agitation. Like she wanted to say something but wasn’t sure how.

Evan stood frozen in the group hug, not even minding the whining teenagers latched onto him as he stared at Aaron. His initial shock at seeing his best friend standing there unharmed gave way to confusion, then finally relief.

His shoulders, which had been tensed since Aaron’s disappearance, sagged. There were so many words flooding his mind that he had to forcefully gulp them down.

Deep dark crescents highlighted under Aaron’s eyes, and although a bit of his usual playfulness was missing, the gentleness in those eyes remained. He quirked a small smile at Evan.

There it was. That face that said, Hey, I’m alive .

Without thinking much of it, Evan patted the teenagers’ heads as they clung to him, using that as a diversion to not look at Aaron. An unusual sense of helplessness gripped his spine.

“I’m fine. Sorry for making you all worry,” Evan said, his hands grazing Elysia and Nick’s heads since they were the only ones wetting the front of his shirt with snot and tears.

Seeing the idle discrimination, Wren inclined his head closer. Surprised, Evan’s hands stilled. It was confusing whether he was asking to be petted or threatening to headbutt Evan.

Wren raised his vacant eyes, not particularly displaying any sentiments, then almost shoved his head into Evan’s face. The message was obvious.

Awkwardly, Evan patted his head too. “Alright.”

Rumi remained two arms distance away, glancing up every three seconds but unable to hold his gaze. The girl was quite peculiar since the first time Evan had seen her. He’d initially thought she was socially awkward, much like himself. But it was only now that he was registering something strange about her eyes. A barely perceptible light flitting past her pupils.

“Where were you?” Celie asked, directly aiming for the elephant in the room. She was growing more and more frustrated as she saw her friends clinging to her brother. And her usually indifferent brother was actually letting them. He even patted their heads. “We’ve been looking for you everywhere for the last two days. We almost filed a missing persons report.”

The group hug scattered, making space for the sibling face-off. Evan was left standing amidst the crowd of expectant faces awaiting an explanation. Clearing his throat, he looked at his sister. “I…was away for work. Personal work. I wanted to let someone know, but I left my phone at home,” he quickly diverted the attention from him. “I thought you guys were staying only for the weekend?”

Celie almost broke character and scowled. “Did you expect me to just leave after you disappeared overnight?”

Evan didn’t respond, just stared blankly at his sister. Was she…worried about him?

“If not for Delos reassuring us you were safe and would return soon, Celie would have filed a report,” Elysia hugged Celie sideways, smiling at her impassive face.

“Are you hurt anywhere?” Nick prompted, sensing the rising tension and quickly switching the topic. “Do you need to go to the hospital?”

“Oh, I’m fine,” Evan ran his fingers through his hair, dusting off some small leaves stuck in the midst. “Just ran into a little…storm on the way.”

He threw a look over his shoulder, remembering how Xen had almost torn down the array of the Enclave Passage. As he looked back, he found Xen’s eyes already trained on him, burning with a palpable tension.

Zeev had disappeared as soon as the group had approached.

“Alright, what’s done is done. Big Bro's back, and that’s what matters,” Elysia said, her smile bright enough to dazzle the crowd. Then she turned to Evan. “Let’s get you home and warmed up. You're pale as a sheet.”

And so, with Nick and Elysia—and, surprisingly, Wren—sticking to Evan’s side like he might disappear again, the group made their way back home from the forest. The kids had not wandered into the Dark Woods, only searching for Evan in the safe area of the forest. For some reason, Evan thought that had something to do with Xen.

The red-clad figure trailed at the very back, hands clasped behind his back, wearing his ever-present impassive mask. His face didn’t give away his thoughts, although a small line etched between his eyebrows as the chatters of the group fell on his ears.

Aaron was unusually quiet as he walked beside the lot crowding around Evan. There were so many questions coursing through Evan’s brain that picking one seemed nearly impossible. Even though a huge part of him was relieved to see Aaron, a small, mildly frustrating part of him was itching to ask Aaron all about what had happened. But he wouldn’t do that in front of others. He had to wait for the right time.

As they neared the streets of Emberlyn, Elysia took it upon herself to brief Evan about everything that had transpired in his absence.

Delos stayed with them as promised and only left that morning after Aaron had shown up. He’d even cooked for them—something completely inedible—and sang songs to keep the kids entertained. Wren added to Elysia’s briefing with a “nice voice,” his face unchanging even as he complimented Delos.

Rue had refused to sleep in his bed, sitting by the door for three days straight. He'd eat his meals, then return to his post—waiting patiently for Evan to come home. Aside from a few cranky hisses, Misty showed no signs of distress at all. As if certain her Daddy would return.

Elysia cast a cautious glance back at Xen, then lowered her voice to Evan’s ears. “Big Brother, tell me something. Is your friend in red…normal?”

Evan almost tripped slightly and casually brushed a hand down his thigh, masking his flustered state. “Normal? My dear, in this day and age, hardly anyone is normal.”

“That’s true, of course. But that’s not what I meant,” Elysia tugged on Evan’s arm with surprising strength and tipped his shoulder down, whispering directly into his ear. “That guy is… He came home the day after you disappeared to talk to Delos. That’s when we found out you were…gone. And when he was talking to Delos, he—I saw his reflection, and it seemed like his eyes were…glowing.”

“Glowing?” Evan chuckled, forcing down a scream. “Where did you see his reflection?”

“On the fridge door.”

Fuck me sideways.

“Ah, I see,” With experienced ease, Evan flashed her a relaxed shrug. “Don’t worry, you weren’t seeing things. I have glow-in-the-dark stickers patched onto my fridge door. That’s what you must’ve seen.”

It wasn’t completely a lie. He’d actually won a few transparent glow-in-the-dark stickers on a carton of chocolate milk once, and he’d aimlessly slapped it onto the fridge. But Evan didn’t know if Elysia would buy it.

After a pause, however, Elysia heaved a sigh of relief. “Thank goodness. I thought I would need an exorcism or something.”

Evan cleared his throat.

Although he knew Celie’s friends were aware of his profession, Evan was still awkward discussing it. While normal people became doctors and artists and politicians, Evan had become a depressed crook who paid regular, uninvited visits to ghosts and kicked them into the afterlife.

It was almost as hilarious as it was sad.

On the way home, Xen quietly took Evan’s wrist and steered him—along with the whole group—towards a nearby restaurant. Only then did Evan realize that he hadn’t touched food or water in God knew how many days. It was because of his constantly circulating spiritual energy keeping his organs from failing that he was still alive.

The owner of the restaurant, Pike—a plump, stout man with a thick silver mustache—happily handed out menus, clearly thrilled by the crowd of customers pouring in. Evan gave a stiff nod, mentally scrambling to recall how much money was left in his account...when, out of the corner of his eye, he caught Aaron slipping his card to Pike.

The servers pushed two tables together for the group as they pulled chairs and sat down. With Elysia and Nick leading the group into interesting topics of conversation, it was lively at the table. Wren occasionally nodded or prompted a one-word response. Rumi remained as unresponsive as the cutlery. Celie sat across from Evan, occasionally glancing at him but mostly engaged in her friends’ conversations.

On Evan’s right side, at the edge of the table, sat Xen. From his stoic face and rigid posture, it looked like he’d rather be anywhere but in a bustling restaurant, surrounded by chattering teenagers and curious eyes. Not even crispy pork belly fingers or smoked bacon with fried potatoes could snatch his attention. And yet, he sat there, not letting Evan out of his sight once.

The topic of him being an Eternal was still untouched.

On Evan’s left side sat Aaron, smiling at something the kids were saying, not really partaking but engaged nonetheless.

Evan studied his face for a moment, his brows slightly drawn together before he cleared his throat. “Hey.”

Aaron stilled, then turned around with a toothy grin. “Hey, you good? Everyone was anxious when you disappeared.”

“ Disappeared is an overstatement. I’m a grown-ass man. I don’t need permission from anyone if I want to venture out on my own.”

Aaron chuckled softly. “Good point.”

Briefly looking him over, Evan turned his eyes away. “Talking about disappearing,” he took a sip from the glass of water Nick passed to him, keeping his voice low so only Aaron could hear him. “Where were you the day Celie came home? You didn’t pick up the rest from the station.”

The smile froze on Aaron’s face. He scratched his neck, chuckling nervously. “I’m sorry about that. Something came up at home. I did send a car for the kids, but the driver lost his way. By the time I found out, the kids had already reached home.”

But he’d told Celie the driver had called in sick?

“You could’ve called me.”

“I dropped my phone somewhere."

Evan regarded him for a second, then shrugged. “Well, I’m glad you’re okay. I thought I would have to dig you out of a coffin like that one case a few years ago. Do you remember that? You almost died when that spirit possessed you. But you didn’t, thanks to me.”

Aaron laughed. “I still owe you for that one.”

“You bet.”

As the dishes were served and everyone dug in, Aaron briefly excused himself to use the washroom. That’s when Evan shifted his focus to Xen, who sat taut in his seat, arms crossed against his chest. His hawk-like eyes surveyed every face in the restaurant with a frigid look.

“That’s not Aaron,” Evan whispered, dragging his chair closer to Xen’s. His face remained calm, like he was discussing the weather.

Xen lowered his head, side-eyeing Evan. “He isn’t possessed.”

He didn’t look surprised by the revelation. Xen had met Aaron before, and his overly friendly energy had attacked the demon, not something easily forgettable. And right now, Aaron wasn’t exactly exuding that energy.

Evan shoved a spoonful of chicken stew into his face. Since his mouth was occupied, he used their telepathic communication to reply to Xen.

“ No, he isn’t possessed. I could tell that much. But he isn’t…Aaron. ”

Xen inclined his head, staring at the table. “ He isn’t a clone. There’s a heartbeat. ”

Someone with enough spiritual energy could clone a person. Someone with abundant spiritual energy could make the clone almost identical to the original host. But for that, they’d have to know the person like the back of their hand.

Other than Evan, no matter how friendly Aaron was to people, he didn’t have many close friends. And those that were close were normal people with no spiritual abilities. Evan had met them all.

Clones weren’t real people, and although they possessed organs like a human, they wouldn’t work. That would require a constant supply of spiritual energy, and the creator of the clone would deplete his powers uselessly.

But Aaron’s heart was still beating in his chest. And he was eating, which meant his digestive organs were working too.

He wasn’t a clone.

“ I don’t know how to explain it ,” Evan gripped his spoon a little too tight, bending the metal. “It’s his body, but his mind...it feels altered. The voice is his, but the words aren't. I made up some bullshit story about him getting stuffed in a coffin, and he actually played along. That never happened. Is it even possible to control someone’s mind like that?”

Xen adjusted the cuffs of his suit blazer. “ It’s possible .”

“ How? Who would do it?”

“ A demon could do it through a blood bond, ” Xen leaned forward to refill Evan’s empty glass. “ A spiritually cultivated individual could achieve the same through a binding spell. It links another person's mind to their own—or to whatever creatures they choose. They can influence that person’s thoughts, speech, and access every memory. ”

Evan looked at Xen and mumbled a ‘thank you’ as he took the refilled glass of water.

There was no trace of demonic energy on Aaron. Even a speck wouldn’t go unnoticed by Evan’s eyes. So it had to be the work of a spiritually advanced individual and not a demon.

The Nightshade freaks weren’t inhuman beings. They were people, even though mentally unstable. If there was someone among them with a spiritual background, then it wouldn’t be difficult for them to cast a spell on Aaron while he was kidnapped. Perhaps he wasn’t even aware he was being controlled.

But since his brain was influenced, Evan couldn’t ask him direct questions about his disappearance. What if the person in control sensed that Evan was getting suspicious and tried to make Aaron harm others or, worse, harm himself?

That was precisely why Evan hadn’t directly asked Aaron about his disappearance and beat around the bush using Celie and her friends’ arrival as an excuse.

“ I need to find the caster of this spell? ” Evan’s gaze drifted to the only person—or demon—he'd never thought he’d trust, the only one on whom he could now rely on. “ Will you help me? ”

Magnetically, Xen’s eyes drew up, boring into Evan’s. If he sensed Evan’s anxiousness, he didn’t point it out. “ As you wish. ”

Evan could tell before even crossing the threshold, that something was wrong with his house. The once dull but pure aura of his property bore traces of something unsettling. The talisman that hung over the house’s front door was missing. And the scent that assaulted his nose was so familiar, he reflexively groaned.

Expensive cologne and hair wax.

As Celie and her friends poured into the house, Evan almost stopped them before rushing in too. Xen and Aaron followed close behind. When the lot reached the threshold of the living room, however, every pair of feet came to an abrupt halt.

Before them stood a tall man, dressed in a custom-made suit, ginger hair professionally slicked back. He was facing away from them, staring out of the living room window. Upon the shuffle of feet, he turned around and instantly quirked a smile. “Welcome back.”

This isn’t your house to welcome us, asshole.

Evan closed his eyes and took a deep breath before pushing forward from behind the stone-still, wide-eyed teenagers. “What are you doing here, Tiago?”

It was indeed his debt collector, owner of Phantom Finance Corporation, Tiago Diaz. And he wore a smile so poorly crafted that Evan almost smiled back with a sneer.

“Tiago,” Celie’s surprised tone sliced through the tension, an unusual warmth etched onto her face. Smiling, she dashed past Evan, right into Tiago’s open arms. She was tiny compared to his massive form, like a baby clinging to their father.

Like a little bird padding into a crocodile’s mouth.

Tiago laughed, wrapping her up in his arms. “Oh, Lord, look at you. You’re growing up way too fast for my liking.”

Evan’s face darkened, eyes fixated on Tiago’s hand that rested on Celie’s shoulders. He patted her head, and she chuckled like a kid being tossed into the air, blindly trusting a pair of hands to catch her.

Celie had grown up thinking Tiago was their father’s friend , not the boss of the loan sharks who constantly assaulted their father. When their father abandoned them, Celie was flung into a pit of despair and only crawled out when Tiago extended his hand to her. In her mind, she’d already replaced their father with the ginger-headed bastard who worked Evan to his bones ever since their father had disappeared one fine morning. And Tiago had played into that role pretty well.

But the suffering of those years, the humiliating words and unwanted caresses to his body, they were all burdens Evan never wanted his little sister to know he carried. And she never asked. Perhaps she couldn’t tell anything was wrong. Perhaps she didn’t care.

To this day, Celie had no idea who Tiago really was, what crept beneath that gentle parental mask he wore around her. But Evan knew. He knew all too well.

Watching Tiago and Celie mingle, and her friends join too excitedly, Evan’s jaws involuntarily clenched. Anger, resentment, and envy clouded his brain.

Why was he always being thrown to the sidelines when he’d spent most of his life struggling to build a better life for his sister? Why had she never acknowledged it? Why had she never let him pat her head like she let Tiago?

Why exactly was she so repulsed by her own brother?

A hand came to rest on Evan’s shoulder, while simultaneously, another brushed the back of his knuckles, tugging him out of his bitter reverie. Without even looking, Evan knew who those hands belonged to.

Aaron squeezed Evan’s shoulder as he watched a vein surface on his temple. Even though his mind was being controlled by someone else, it seemed there was still a small part of him that was Aaron. The real Aaron.

The hand that brushed Evan’s knuckles lingered, traced, caressed. Slowly, the tension drained from Evan’s body. He tilted his head to glance at Xen, but as usual, he was already looking at him.

Some silent message passed between them, and—as if doused by a calming spell—Evan's tense muscles uncoiled.

He’d mentioned earlier that demons who formed blood contracts with humans could control not just their bodies but their minds too. Maybe Xen was using that power right now. Because how else could just a single look from him silence Evan’s inner turmoil?

“I heard Celie was coming home, so I had to pay a visit,” Tiago said, smiling at the kids around him. “I see you’ve brought friends. Even the siblings are here.”

Evan frowned. What siblings?

Tiago probably knew all of Celie’s friends because he visited her at school every now and then. Mostly it was so he could keep Evan on his toes by insinuating that she was within the reach of his claws at all times.

Evan watched Nick and Elysia mingling with Tiago, remembering how they bickered all the time like siblings. But their facial features weren’t even remotely alike.

Then his gaze ducted to the two dark-heads standing off to the side, both wearing the same gloomy expression, the same vacant eyes. Not in appearance, but in demeanor, there seemed to be a flicker of familiarity between them.

Wren and Rumi were siblings? The thought hadn’t even crossed Evan’s mind. He was slightly embarrassed when he realized how little he knew of his sister’s friends.

“How’s Uncle Bruce?” Celie asked, grinning up at Tiago.

Blood turned to ice in Evan’s veins, a sudden stiffness rendering him motionless. He kept his expression blank, but when Tiago quirked a brow in his direction, a drop of cold sweat trickled down his nape. Knowing Tiago and his sick mind games, it was difficult to say what he could be plotting.

"I’ve sent Uncle Bruce on a vacation,” Tiago said, voice sweet with an undertone of threat meant singularly for Evan’s ears. “He won’t be back for a while.”

Evan and Tiago stared at each other. This hunk of muscles was the only ghost in Evan’s life that he couldn’t exorcise. Even though the most painful memories of his life were brought to him on a silver platter by this very man.

Worse, he couldn’t even say anything. Celie was happy because of Tiago, and Evan wouldn’t ever intentionally snatch that smile from her face.

“Who’s hungry?” Aaron suddenly asked, dispersing the tension in the room that Celie and her friends had failed to notice.

Elysia perked up. “I am!”

Nick gaped at her. “You just had three plates of roasted chicken.”