JESS SIMON

Jess didn’t hear Gandalf’s message until after her Resistance Lit class, and then it took ten minutes before she could break away from the three students arguing about whether or not Mudbound was an example of cultural appropriation. The students were smart and passionate, and it was an important question, one she normally would have followed to the student union and continued over coffee. But seeing the missed call notification flash across the phone screen was ominous.

The first disturbing thing was that Gandalf never called during the workday. The second was the message itself. It was panicky, almost incoherent. Something about a missing neighbor and dementia and danger and police blocking the Court. And Hurricane Island.

The Hurricane Island part was what scared Jess most. Her beloved had never been the same since she was kidnapped and taken to that awful, awful place. Gandalf had tried putting it behind her, tried going back to her work, but she couldn’t concentrate and finally accepted a severance package. Getting out of Manhattan seemed important, and Jess’s new job at the local college provided the perfect safe and comfortable place to live. Gandalf insisted that she understood about PTSD but refused to see a therapist. Hopefully, she would be able to get to work on her book soon; science had always been Gandalf’s passion and it might be her therapy. But in the meantime, Jess worried about her. The phone message was disjointed and alarming enough to send her hurrying home in the middle of the afternoon.

The police cars weren’t blocking anything on the Court when Jess got there, but a moving van was unloading at Number Five. No one was in sight except the movers carrying a crib with painted giraffes up the stairs. Normally, Jess would have gone over and introduced herself—she would later—but first, she had to make sure Gandalf was okay.

Well, maybe not okay, but okay enough. Maybe she should suggest that they go away for the weekend, insist on it. They could probably get a room in their favorite B&B in Provincetown. If only she could protect Gandalf from the past, and from what might come in the future.