Dr. Grant walked out the front door. Mom and Mo followed her, fussing about whether we would stay or go. A few moments later, a siren blared somewhere in the distance, and I peered out the window as an ambulance sped up the drive.

A group of officers emerged from the side of the house, carrying the man I’d seen between them. He looked like he was unconscious. His body was limp, his face swollen, and a trail of spittle hung from his chin.

“What the hell happened to him?” Dr. Grant asked as the officers hoisted the man onto a gurney.

“No idea,” said an officer. “He was laid out near the tree line. He said something about being attacked, but he lost consciousness before he could tell me the rest.”

“ ‘Attacked’?” Mom asked, shooting me a glance. “He’s the one who came after my daughter.” Her fear had ebbed, and I could see the anger taking over as she shifted back on her heel and crossed her arms over her chest. “He’s lucky I didn’t catch him.”

“He got stung by something?” one of the medics asked.

“I have no clue,” said Dr. Grant. “He was out here harassing the property owners. Make sure you keep an eye on him. We’ll follow you to the hospital. Northern Dutchess?”

The paramedic nodded and the ambulance sped out of the driveway with the other officers following in their patrol cars. Dr. Grant stayed behind to take my statement. I told her exactly what happened, except for the part about the plants coming alive and snatching the man into the trees. I kept that to myself.

“What’s going to happen to him?” I asked.

Dr. Grant stepped up onto the porch. The hollows under her eyes were deep and dark. I didn’t recall her looking so dead tired the last time I saw her. “They’ll probably cite him for trespassing and possibly criminal mischief. You said he had a knife? If I can get a few of my people to go back out and find it, that would be another charge.”

“I don’t think anybody should go back out there. I mean, it’s our place now. People shouldn’t be wandering around.” I didn’t want to have to explain my reasoning in too much detail, but Mom and Mo both nodded like they agreed with me and that was good enough for now.

“We can get a restraining order against him too, if you’d like,” said Dr. Grant.

Mom tilted her head to the side. “And what are we supposed to do with a restraining order when he comes back? Throw the paper at him?”

Dr. Grant shook her head. “I know it’s not much. I’ll go up to the hospital to speak to him, see if I can find out what motivated him to come out here in the first place.” She shifted her weight and sighed, tucking her pad of paper into her breast pocket.

“I don’t know if we’re staying or not,” Mom said, her tone clipped. “So maybe we won’t need a restraining order.”

“The man in the woods called me Selene,” I said quietly. I thought Dr. Grant should probably know that detail.

“What?” Mo asked. She turned to Mom and then back to me.

Dr. Grant stared at me, a blank expression on her face.

“My birth mother’s name was Selene. She lived here. That man thought I was her.”

A look of utter shock gripped Dr. Grant’s expression. She quickly put up her arm and coughed into the crook of her elbow. When she turned back to us, she exhaled long and slow, avoiding my gaze. “So you inherited this place from your mother?”

“Selene was my birth mother. They’re my moms,” I said, gesturing toward Mom and Mo. “And I guess technically, I inherited the house from her sister, Circe.”

“Of course,” said Dr. Grant. She stood quietly for a minute.

“So, uh—yeah,” I said. “That guy in the woods, he called me Selene, but I don’t know why he’d think that. She died a long time ago.”

“You look like her,” said Dr. Grant. Her commanding voice was softer, but her mouth was pulled into a tight line like she was biting the inside of her lip.

Mom lifted a brow. “You knew her?”

Dr. Grant suddenly seemed much less sure of herself. She straightened up and cleared her throat. “I went to school with Circe. I was very sorry to hear that Selene had passed. I’m still sorry. Rhinebeck is a small place. Word got around—” She stopped short, shaking her head and swallowing hard. “That’s the past, isn’t it? No use bringing up painful things.”

Was it painful for her? She’d known Selene through Circe, but she seemed pretty wrecked talking about her death.

“I’m going to head over to the hospital to see what I can find out about your trespasser,” she said. “I’ll call you when I know more and we can discuss your options.”

Mo sighed, letting her shoulders roll forward and shaking her head. “Fine.”

Dr. Grant left, and we retreated inside.

Mom fell into the couch. “We need to talk.” I sat next to her as she ran her hand over my cheek. “We need to seriously consider packing up and getting the hell out of here.”

“I don’t want to leave,” I said.

“Baby, I know, but this is ridiculous,” Mom said. “Who are these people and why are they descending on this house? Did a memo go out? A signal to all the weirdos? What?”

“I don’t know, but that old man was confused,” I said. “And he got pretty jacked up out there. I don’t think he’ll come back.”

“About that,” Mom said. “What the hell happened to him?”

“He looked like somebody two-pieced him a few times over,” Mo said, shaking her head. “You sure you didn’t touch him, love?”

“I would never hit an old man,” I said. “Unless he really deserved it.”

Mo and I laughed, but Mom sat quiet.

“I just don’t know,” she said. “I think we should leave.”

I started to protest but Mo patted my hand and jumped in before I could say anything.

“We’ll sleep on it,” she said. “We don’t wanna make a decision we’ll regret, one way or the other. Sleep on it. Then we’ll talk in the morning. Deal?”

Mom huffed but nodded reluctantly. Mo gave me a nudge and went to lock up for the night.

I slept at the foot of their bed for a second night. I dreamed of the gate, of the strange man in the woods. My restless mind conjured images of sentient plants surrounding me as I stood in shadowy woods. The man swung his machete, barely missing my head.