He listens to the sounds of the night, sounds of the barn settling around him and of the creatures outside scuttling around its borders like foreign territory they dare not trespass. The sounds normally soothe him, but his mind is too busy working over all the changes the day has brought to let them lull him to sleep. Just across the yard and seemingly a thousand miles away, his mother sleeps restlessly, the medicines they picked up earlier hopefully running their course. Edgar can't remember the last time they've been apart; certainly not since his father died. In the barn, dogs rustling in the darkness, he is truly alone for the first time in months. The thought is like a surge of fresh air after being trapped under a blanket.

He is alone, and it feels good. He is going to take care of things, all by himself, and that feels good, too. He won't be reliant on anyone, and that feels best of all.

He can do it. He can take care of the kennel and the dogs and his mother and everything will be just fine. A grim determination fills him, along with something like hope, or maybe peace.

Edgar closes his eyes and watches lights dance across his eyelids. Somewhere in the dark to his left, one of the dogs whimpers and another answers it with a short, puppy-like howl.

/Quiet,/ he signs in their direction. /Go to sleep./

The whimpering stops. Almondine noses his open palm, and Edgar lets his hand run over her head and shoulders before burying it in the fluff on her chest. She nestles into his side once more and with a final sigh lays her head against his leg.

Edgar falls asleep with the smell of hay and dogs surrounding him, the buoy of possibility lifting his spirits higher than they have been in a long while.

When he wakes, the first thing he notices is that Almondine is not beside him. More than the lack of warmth or the weight of her body, her absence, the sensation it produced, is a subconscious realization before he even opens his eyes. The sun blinding him from directly overhead is his second observation.

/Almondine,/ he signs. He claps his other hand to his thigh without sitting up, then uses it to cover his eyes against the sun as he signs again. /Almondine, come here./

Then the fact that there is sun on his face finally makes its way into his groggy mind and he sits bolt upright. There is no way sun could be hitting him in the face. He is in the barn, by the kennels. Kennels he can no longer smell. Somewhat trepidatious about what he might find, Edgar drops his hand and glances around in utter bewilderment. He is lying in browning grass amid a stand of trees. The sky above him is overcast, the thin clouds reminiscent of early winter. But it's summer, he thinks. The chill in the air belies the thought and he pulls his legs to his chest, tucking his bare feet as close to his body as he can.

Glancing around at his unfamiliar surroundings, he spots Almondine slipping through the trees.

/Where were you?/ he signs.

Almondine watches him with serious eyes, and Edgar feels his heart pound once, heavily, against his ribcage. When she lies down nearly on top of his feet, Edgar lets her.

It's cold and he has no idea where he is. Or how far he is going to have to walk.