“No, not like that.” I shook my head slowly. “I told him that I didn’t remember anything, and he didn’t believe me. And then . . . I felt the buzzing—” I moved my hand around the back of my head. “—and the song came back.”

“The bird and the flower one?” Dagny asked.

“Yeah, it only lasted a few minutes, and it sounded dull and far away,” I elaborated. “But yeah, it was definitely while I was in the Korva’s office.”

“Starting to feel left out because I’m the only one without this jaunty tune in my head,” Bryn said dryly.

Dagny snorted. “It’s definitely not jaunty.”

“You’re okay now, right?” Pan asked, and his eyes were solemn even though his voice was light.

I nodded and smiled to ease his worry. “Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. He didn’t hurt me or anything. I was just a little weirded out after.”

“Good,” he said with a thin smile.

“On the good-news front, Elof said he thinks he’ll have the results of the familial blood testing for you guys tomorrow,” Dagny said.

“Good,” Bryn said. “It’ll be great to start getting some concrete answers.”

We all talked a bit more, with the conversation turning to lighter subjects like Pan’s reunion with his dog, Brueger, and then he got up and stretched.

“Speaking of Brueger, I should get home and let him out,” Pan said. “He’s been cooped up in the apartment since eight this morning.”

“Do you mind if I go with you?” I asked, getting to my feet. “I could use the fresh air.”

“Sure.” He grinned and headed toward the door.

I turned to Bryn and said, “I won’t be gone too long.”

“I think Bryn and I will manage without you,” Dagny said.

It was afternoon, and the sky was sunny and pleasant. Pan and I went down the steps from the apartment and along the soft gravel alleyway.

“How has everything been going for you here?” I asked as we walked through the bustling avenues. Barrels of potted linnea and lavender aster lined the already narrow roads, and when we had to go single file to slide between the plants and a woman walking a pair of very pregnant angora goats, Pan put his hand on my back.

“Fine, honestly,” he said, speaking loudly to be heard over the neighborhood sounds—talking, competing music, goats braying, babies crying, and children laughing. “Just trying to get back into the swing of things and make sense of everything.”

There was enough room that we could fall in step beside each other. I knew we were getting closer to Pan’s place because I could smell it. He lived in a studio apartment above a salmon tannery and only a street away from the giant woolly elk stables. The good news was that it wasn’t quite as busy around here.