He scooped the last of his things out of the bureau and froze: The rectangle of Anya’s skin lay in the bottom of the drawer.

His mouth went dry. This couldn’t be. They’d buried it yesterday, yet here it was, without a speck of dirt.

Jack walked out to the main room where his father was discussing prices and commissions with the sales office; he went directly to the back porch and grabbed the shovel he used yesterday. He headed for Anya’s garden.

The burial spot was just as they’d left it. Jack dug into the loose soil and quickly reached the two-foot level.

No skin.

He dug down another six inches—he knew he hadn’t gone this deep yesterday—and still nothing but dirt.

Anya’s skin was gone.

No, wait, not gone. It was lying in a drawer in his Dad’s guest bedroom. But how…?

Jack didn’t waste time with unanswerable questions—how it had gotten out of the hole and into the house, why it was there. Either he’d find out later or he wouldn’t.

He quickly refilled the hole and hurried back to the house. Dad was still on the phone. He looked up with a questioning expression as Jack passed but Jack waved him off. Back in the room he went directly to the bureau and froze again. Now the drawer was empty.

What the hell?

He turned and saw a now familiar pattern through the open top of his duffel bag. He stretched the zippered mouth and stared.

There it lay. Apparently Anya, or at least this piece of her, wanted to go home with him.

Jack sighed. Again, he wouldn’t ask why, he’d just go with the flow and trust that sooner or later this would all make sense.

He covered the skin with his remaining clothes and zipped the bag closed.

All right, Anya, he thought. You want to come along, be my guest.

He lifted the bag and headed for the front room. Dad hung up as he entered.

“Well, just a few papers to sign and the place is officially on the market.”

“Great. I hear they’ve got people lined up to get in here, so it shouldn’t take long.”

“Yeah.”

A silence grew between them. Jack knew he had to go, but he was reluctant to leave his father here alone.

Finally Dad said, “It’s been wonderful getting to know you, Jack. There’s so much about you I still don’t know, but what I’ve learned…I’m surprised, but pleasantly so.”

“You’re pretty full of surprises yourself.”

“But you know all mine now. I get the feeling—no, I know you’ve still got quite a few left.”

Here we go. “Probably not as many as you think. But who knows what you’ll find out once you get back north?”

Dad nodded. “Right. Who knows?”