Isaac blurted before thinking it through, “I did not say I have no reason.”

“Then you might start with that.” It was Kat, Amelie’s sister. She was a miniature of her teacher, Isaac thought.

Amelie, her back to Kat, rolled her eyes as if to say bossy, and for the first time in a long while Isaac was tempted to smile.

He said, “My parents had me smuggled out of Prague. They sent me to Orkney. When I arrived there, well, it is hard to explain.” He cleared his throat. “My parents were there . . .” and here Isaac paused. How much should he say? Should he tell them about the casket or the pendant? About the feeling of being in a different time?

About the monster, and the terrifying vision of the end of days?

Leo closed his eyes and said in a strange, strangled way, “Oh, that’s awful. What is that? That . . . that creature?”

Isaac said, startled, “You can see it? You can see what I saw?”

Leo nodded, his eyes wide and worried. Everyone else stirred.

Isaac shook his head. “I do not know what it was. Some kind of monster.”

Leo stood, swaying a little. “Terrible.” His face was drained of color, and he stared into the distance. Gumble reached over and put her hand on his arm, and he sat again, beads of sweat on his forehead.

“I think it was chasing my parents,” Isaac said. “They want me to keep searching for a certain symbol. A number of circles. They called it, I think in English it means a forever knot. They told me to come here and then they vanished.”

In other times and places, if he’d said his parents had vanished, Isaac was sure people would laugh. But not this crowd.

Kat said, “A forever knot? I’m guessing you must mean an eternity knot. An eternity knot is an ancient Celtic symbol. Like this, right?” She drew it with her finger on the table.

Isaac nodded. “That is the one.”

Gumble said, “Not just Celtic, Miss Bateson. That symbol has been used in many cultures over time.”

“Clearly,” said MacLarren, “this all be a puzzle to solve.” He rubbed his hands together as if ready to go to work. “Now, laddie, have ye found that symbol anywhere?”

Isaac nodded. “Where I saw my parents it was carved into a stone.” Isaac’s voice dropped and he propped his head on his hand. Exhaustion flooded him through and through. He ought to tell them about the casket and the pendant. But something held him back. Possibly it was the low hum or heartbeat or ocean wash that he heard, now louder, now softer, a thrumming ache in his head. He closed his eyes, unable to keep them open.

MacLarren said, “Your parents, what else did they—”