The next morning, Harry invited himself along on Neil’s regular drive up to the school to drop off Toby. They sat side by side in the front of the pickup truck in silence. The weather was heavy and threatening again, with a sky the color of bruised fruit. Harry smoked too much, while Neil looked pale and tired, and drove badly.

Only Toby was composed, sitting with his hands held together in his lap, unsmiling and quiet.

The pickup truck circled the school yard in a cloud of lingering dust and stopped. Harry climbed down and helped Toby jump after him.

The yellow school bus was already parked by the fence, waiting to take the children up to Lake Berryessa for the day. Neil had awakened early to make Toby some peanut-butter sandwiches, and they had stopped at the store on the way to school to buy him a Milky Way and a package of Fritos.

“Have a nice day,” said Harry. “Don’t fall in the lake.”

Toby looked at him gravely. Then he turned and walked across to the corner of the yard, where the rest of his classmates were beginning to assemble. Harry recognized the carroty hair of Andy Beaver, and a couple of the other children that Toby had pointed out on their trip around Bodega the previous day. Harry gave Andy a cute little wave, but the boy simply turned and ignored him.

Mrs. Novato came out of the schoolhouse and started to count heads. Harry was about to climb back up into the pickup, but then he changed his mind and said to Neil, “Wait here a minute, will you?” and he walked across the yard to where Mrs. Novato was standing.

“Good morning,” he said, in a friendly way.

“Good morning,” said Mrs. Novato distractedly.

Harry coughed. “I was wondering,” he said.

“Oh, yes?” said Mrs. Novato. “Daniel—keep still, will you? I’ve already counted you five times.”

“My name’s Harry Erskine and I’m a friend of Neil Fenner.”

“I see.”

Harry cleared his throat again. “What I was wondering was, ma’am, if you could do me a favor if anything weird starts happening in your classroom.”

Mrs. Novato stopped counting, her finger poised in midair. She turned to Harry and said in an offended tone, “Something weird? What on earth are you trying to suggest?”

Harry gave her a defensive smile. “I’m really not trying to suggest anything. But Mr. Fenner has been kind of worried about some of the nightmares your kids have been having, as well as some of the peculiar events that have been happening in his home, and, well…”