June awakens to an echo. The farmhouse and surrounding woods are swathed in darkness punctured only by pinhole stars. What was that sound? It might have been a dream, or the house settling, or a loon in the swamp beyond the woods. The loons scream like women. Their screams shiver and die on the wind. What if someone were dying out there? The sheet has twisted around her legs, and when she peels it from her nightgown, static sparks against her skin. What if someone were dying, and she just pulled her covers over her head?