Zadie took a seat at the dining table and helped herself to a bowl of Cheerios, but after only a few bites, she was no longer hungry. A clod of worry had formed in her throat. She couldn’t swallow even if she wanted to. “Excuse me,” she murmured and pushed away from the table.

Zadie checked the bathrooms, the whole second floor, and the sunroom. She walked back up to the barn apartment, but it was still empty, as were the woodshop and the surrounding yard. Zadie looked out at the gray clouds gathering over the mountain and felt a tingle down her neck. Then she heard the door to the house open. It was Joel. “Hey,” he said, a nervous smile twitching across his lips. “I was wondering where you went. You worried about Finn?”

“Yeah. I checked the house and the barn. Couldn’t find her. Something feels off.” Off was a mild way of putting Finn’s more alarming episodes, but she didn’t feel like getting into it with Joel right then. She just wanted to find her sister.

“Do you have any idea where she might have gone?”

Zadie did, but getting there would require the Van Houtens’ help. She went to the window and caught Myron’s eye, waving him over. “What’s up?” he said as he stepped out onto the porch.

“The tree the girls were climbing yesterday … where is it?”

Myron tensed and closed the door behind him. “Not far. About a third of a mile up the hill. Why?”

“I think that might be where Finn went. I hate to ask, but with the storm—”

Myron waved her off. “I’ll grab us some rain gear.”

The trail was slick. Even in hiking boots, Zadie could feel her feet slipping on the mossy rocks. Glassy pearls of water collected on her jacket sleeve, something between rain and mist that both fell and floated like the air behind a waterfall. Despite the conditions, it took Myron, Joel, and Zadie only ten minutes to reach the pine tree Finn had described. But Finn was nowhere in sight.

Zadie turned to Myron with a look of contrition. “Sorry. I thought for sure she’d be here.”

“That’s okay,” he answered, distracted by the dozens of holes that encircled a giant maple tree. Zadie noticed them, too. They were similar to the holes she’d seen the girls standing in when they’d first arrived. Then Zadie spotted a pair of boots sitting at the foot of the same tree. “Shit.” She ran over to them. “These are hers.” Inside one of the boots, Zadie found her sister’s phone.

“Why would she leave her boots behind?” Joel asked. Zadie had seen Finn running around on grass and sand and pavement in her bare feet, but even she would never trek through the deep woods without proper foot protection. It had to be an echo.