Dawn came creeping over the treetops. Alex watched it with intense concentration, trying to fix it in his memory forever. As the first sunlight touched them, the dogs got up, stretched, and padded away. Alex’s grandfather seemed to be breathing steadily. The fever had broken, but they still couldn’t rouse him.

“What do you think, Harry?” Alex said.

“We’re not out of the woods yet.” Harry smiled. “But goin’ in the right direction.”

Kingdom returned a couple of hours later, and they carried the old man up the slope, past the ruined tower, and down through the forest. They left Alex’s grandfather in the car she’d “acquired,” then returned to gather up the picture frames. Harry said he planned to have a bonfire in Albert’s garage yard.

“Nearly forgot,” Harry added. “You left your phone when you went runnin’ from the car at the museum. I picked it up.”

There were two messages from David.

Kenzie’s woke up, doing okay. Need your help with witches.

The second message read:

Witches from Macbeth I meant. This essay. Can’t figure out what they’re supposed to be all about: Paddock calls! What?

“So,” Kingdom said. “Which one of you is going to explain to me exactly what just happened?”

As Alex bent to lift another armful of broken wood, he realized he was smiling. The dogs ran around them as they worked, playing among the trees.

•  •  •

TWO DAYS LATER, Alex arrived back in Britain with Kingdom. They had done their best to return the paintings they’d found hidden around the ruins of Castle Boll and on the slopes of the Kandel, sending them anonymously in the mail. Kingdom was on her way to dump the last, the picture they all now called Waffle Lady, at Cambridge University.

She dropped him in front of his home and tooted the horn of the rental car as she drove away. He balanced a large white cardboard box in the crook of his arm as he hunted for his keys. The front gate squealed when he pushed it open. He stood looking at it for a moment.

“Oh, hello, stranger,” his mum said when he walked into the living room. She was at her desk by the back windows. Carl was off at work. Alex put his arms around her and stood hugging her silently for almost a minute.

“Well, that was lovely,” she said, after he stepped back. “You all right, Alex?”

“Yeah . . . Uh, Mum?”

“What?”

“Would it be okay if I asked you some stuff about Dad sometime?”