Ayanna tried not to think at all, only wait. Her left shoelaces were far dirtier than the right. She wanted to stand up and look closely at the painting on the wall because the other woman’s brain was somewhere else and for her to interrupt or try to speculate would be unhelpful. And besides, Ayanna could tell all her ideas were bad. There seemed to be nothing they could do beyond waiting for a door to appear.

The last time she had spoken to her father, he had claimed all the church’s texts had been seized. They would probably sit the rest of their lives in government storage. If they filed claims to get them, there would be endless runarounds. He had said it was better to move on in a situation like this rather than to let all the red tape, all their denials, chew at him. If she told him about this place, about her interest in getting involved, he would say, “Haven’t you been hurt enough? Don’t you want to live a life?”

“My church had paperwork,” Ayanna finally said when the silence became unbearable. “Part of our faith was to acquire knowledge about what was truly out there.”

“I’m sure it’s gone.” Professor Collins gestured to herself a little, in a way that made Ayanna certain she was having a profound back-and-forth with herself. “You know, nothing like this has to be solved immediately.”

“Should I go?”

“No. Let’s go out to the woods for a minute. Felix’s out there.”

They left in silence and walked to the park. It started to drizzle, but Ayanna thought to remark on it would be annoying. There wasn’t any need to hop the fence with Professor Collins. Before, Ayanna had missed the card reader attached to it. With a quick scan of the professor’s university ID, the fence clanked open. In the woods, the drizzle was reduced mostly to a soft patter on leaves. She peeked at her cell phone: an invitation from Jane—with a crystal ball, a strawberry, and a glass of champagne next to it—to hang out. She assumed the crystal ball meant getting stoned but wasn’t sure. Ayanna considered telling the professor her other secret, since her time in the meadows, the spirits asked her for things.