“Eh.” Harry looked to the sky, then furrowed his brow. “Eh, yeah. Think so. I mean, I’m kind of . . . foggy-feelin’. But it’s beginnin’ to clear a bit. I just can’t remember ’ow . . . I found myself in gloomy woods, but I can’t remember ’ow I got there. I was just walkin’, tryin’ to think, listenin’ to the birds. Somethin’ made me come in this direction. Then I heard voices and saw . . . wassername, the girl.”

He broke off, frowning after a memory. His eyes widened. “Zia! Gawd. Yeah. I ’id in the trees watchin’. There were, eh, whatsits, little flyin’ blighters . . . fliers sittin’ around, but she was too busy lookin’ down the well at you, I guess. They were dozin’. I managed to grab a couple and smash ’em before she knew I was there. Stunned ’er for a moment. I thought I’d be in for it then, but when she saw me—well, it was weird. She just kind of froze, starin’ at me. Like she was . . . scared of me, just for a second. So I took the opportunity to smash another couple of her machines. She went stumblin’ away, then she got ’it by another bigger shock and ran.”

Harry gestured at a few badly damaged fliers lying around the ground, then pointed out the direction Zia had taken, into the trees behind Alex. “I reckon we shouldn’t ’ang around too long, though.”

“Harry . . .” Alex paused, picking his way carefully. He held himself tense, ready to run. “You don’t remember anything before you found yourself in the forest?”

“Well, yeah,” Harry mused. “I mean, I can remember most things. I just can’t remember what ’appened . . . just before. Do you know?”

“You, uh. There was an accident. With your car,” Alex said tentatively. He stole a glance at Harry’s clothes, looking for signs of his recent burial. They seemed immaculately clean.

“Oh yeah.” Harry stood scratching his cheek. “That rings a bell, right enough. Must’ve banged me ’ead . . . Lessee, I was . . . up on the Kandel. And—” He stiffened, snapping into slightly sharper focus. “’Ere, where’s your grandfather, Alex? There’s things I need to tell ’im. If I can remember what they are.”

“We have to find him,” Alex said, glad to change the subject. “He crashed. Over . . .” He trailed off as he looked around, lost. He cast another anxious look at the big man and decided he was glad he was there. Harry seemed like Harry, after all. Leaving aside that he had returned from the grave, there was nothing different about him as far as Alex could tell. So far, anyway. He made a quick bargain with the part of his mind that was screaming: they could get together and freak out about it later. There were more important things to do now.

“But what do we do now?” Alex said, speaking more to himself than Harry.