Adrian received a checkup in the afternoon to confirm that his infected wound was fully healed and was only then permitted to leave the hospital.

Gloria had packed up. They swiftly got into a car without alerting anyone and left Novemton to return to Swallowston.

***

It was dusk.

A nineteen-year-old girl was waiting quietly under the setting sun in a distant mountain village. She stood at the village entrance, staring at the road leading to the village. Every time a car drove past, she wou