“I hope you haven’t lost a pet,” I said as I approached, thinking that the most likely reason for putting up fliers. The woman with Ann raised a stricken face. I saw immediately that she wasn’t as young as I’d thought – and that she had Down syndrome. “Not ours! Silver is safe at home. We’re not going to let her out until it’s safe.”

“That’s right, Jessica,” Ann said, patting her daughter on the arm. “Nothing’s going to happen to Silver. That’s our cat,” Ann added to me with a patient smile. “We’re keeping her in while there are so many … strangers in town.”

“I’m not supposed to talk to strangers,” Jessica said, shuffling the stack of fliers in her hands. They had been Xeroxed in multiple day-glo colors. I looked at the one that they’d just stapled to the telephone pole and saw that it featured the face of a young man above the words “MISSING: Tobias Granger, age 26, last seen fishing on the lower Undine. June 14.”

“He’s been gone for two days?” I asked.

“He works at the animal shelter and he’s my friend,” Jessica said.

“I’m sure he’ll come home soon,” I told Jessica, hoping it was true.

“Thank you,” Ann said, a pained look on her face as she looked away from me to Jessica. “Jessica wanted to do something to help.”

“I’m sure that these fliers will help,” I said. “And they’re in such bright colors. Everybody will notice them.”

“I picked out the colors,” Jessica said proudly, and then, turning to Ann. “We need to go. There are a lot more to put up.”

Ann smiled apologetically at me as she continued down Elm with her daughter – and I continued up the hill in a somber mood. Soheila had told me that Ann used what Aelvesgold she could find for her daughter. I knew that a number of physical ailments and a shortened life expectancy often accompanied Down syndrome. It was painful to think what might happen to Jessica if the supply of Aelvesgold were cut off.

As it was bound to be if we didn’t stop the Grove from closing the door. Wasn’t it cowardly to worry about keeping my affiliation with the Grove secret when so much was at stake? What I needed, I decided, as I walked up my front path, was a sign …

Something heavy fell at my feet.

I bent down to look at it. It was a hammer. What the hell kind of sign was that?

“Are you okay?”

The voice came from above. Was that my message? I stepped back and looked up at my roof, shading my eyes against the sun. A dark figure limned by white light stood above me. It reminded me of the dark lover in my dream, the way he’d been haloed by light …