“If you’ll let her talk, I’ll give you my expert opinion. And never doubt it, Adam—it is expert.” To Elle, Rune asked, “Now, what did you see?”

As Adam paced and Rune listened intently, she told them about the mountains. Every detail was etched clearly in her mind, as if she’d really been atop of that mountain gazing at the other mountains that peopled her life.

When she finished, Rune turned to Adam and nodded. “She’s reading that absolutely right. She has no one who depends on her.”

Adam stopped pacing. “Could her subconscious lie to her?”

“Unlikely,” Rune said.

“No.” Elle looked at them both. “I went looking for shadows. There were none. The light was pure and bright and uncomplicated.”

“Good. That’s good.” This time, Adam allowed the relief to lift him.

Rune looked at the two of them alternately. “That is good news. I can see we’re relieved to hear it.”

Elle swallowed. “The shadows are in the water. In the ocean.”

Rune settled more firmly into her chair. “That is where they would be.”

“But not because of the near drowning. It’s not like that.” Elle told them the fearful vision of murky water and terrible creatures and tried to explain the fear and anticipation she had felt. Then...the flat faces. As she recalled them with their empty, staring eye sockets and prominent lips, she had to again put her hand on her chest to calm the beating of her heart.

“Can you clarify what you saw?” Rune asked. “There were two people looking at you in the water?”

She squinted into the sunlight pouring through the windows. “They were leaning against a...a rock. A rock that rose out of sight. The root of the mountain.”

“That makes sense. You had been at the top of a mountain. Then you were at the very bottom,” Rune said.

“The faces,” Adam said urgently. “They had a nose? A mouth?”

She nodded. “Ears that stuck out at an odd angle. But no hair. No bodies that I could see.”

“And no eyes?” Adam wanted that to be very clear.

“Their eyes had been scooped out, yet they stared at me as if I were responsible for the agony of their loss. They didn’t move or speak.” She swallowed. “I suppose they were dead.”

“But not decomposing.”

Rune hushed Adam.

“No. No decomposition, and their skin was a dull yellow. They scared me so much I woke up.” She looked to Rune. “What does it mean?”

Rune rubbed her palms against her skirt. “Let me tell you what I hear. Elle, you went looking for the shadows of existing relationships and found that you are free. But your subconscious heard not only that question but another—what are you responsible for? And showed you those two faces.”

“How can I be responsible for dead people?”

“Maybe they’re not people,” Adam said. “Maybe they’re—”

“Excuse me!”