“Neither did I,” Lynn said, walking towards the house. “But once I saw them again in the sky this morning, I knew there was a reason I feel that awful … foreboding. It’s so much stronger this time … I feared it was finally happening.”

“You mean you’ve seen them in the sky like that before?”

“Just once.” Lynn was quickening her step. “Not long after William left. I thought at the time it was just the anxiety of realizing he was gone again, even if it was of his own choosing. I wasn’t surprised that I woke up the next day a bundle of nerves and ended up in the woods again, looking for something to help me understand what happened to us. Here, watch the stairs. They’re wet from the sprinklers.”

“At least you finally are worrying that I’m going to wipe out. But I’m fine. Go on.”

“It wasn’t even cloudy that morning,” Lynn said, holding open the screen door. “But when I entered the clearing, I immediately noticed something was casting shadows on the ground. That’s when I looked up and saw it. So many of them … far above … so thick that I didn’t understand, at first, what I was seeing. Then, I saw the ladybugs everywhere, thousands of them. I ran inside to get my phone to document it, and thankfully also grabbed Tom’s old Canon.”

Lynn ushered them through the kitchen, down the hall, and into the study. “Sit at the computer.”

“At long last.”

“Maybe I shouldn’t. I probably shouldn’t.…”

“Because you think it might shock me? I think we’re past that point.”

Lynn’s hand hovered over the mouse. “I’m sorry, Roxy. Just in case I haven’t said it lately. I’m sorry for dragging you into all this.”

Roxy placed her hand on top of Lynn’s. “If you recall, I shoved and pushed and corralled my way in. You would have left me back at the train station fifteen years ago if you’d had your way. I chose this. I’ve held back on demanding answers to what you’ve been up to because I know you worry that it could end up harming me. But I want to know. So get that mouse moving.”

Lynn sighed. She reached into her pocket, withdrawing a flash drive.

“Do you routinely walk around with those in your pockets these days?”

“I keep them in Tom’s gun safe. It was the first thing I grabbed before I headed outside. I wanted it on me just in case.…”

Just in case you died. That whatever is in you was activated and your ears bled and you died or went into a coma, like all those people in that terrible hospital. We would have found your body and ultimately that flash drive. Your last secret to reveal.

Roxy patted her hand. “Show me.”