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Isaac stepped back to the room’s center, and checked his surroundings once again. He looked at his reflection in the mirror, standing perfectly still so that he could check how he looked. His eyes moved over his image; his button-down shirt was fine, his hair combed just right, his scar . . . Isaac reached up to the left side of his head where the scar was, where his head had been opened when he was only four, and ran a finger along its puffy length. He hated the scar and wished it wasn’t there, but it served as a reminder to him. He didn’t remember the car running him over and crushing his head, but the scar did. It told him to always be careful.
    Things looked good at the moment, and he slowly backed up to his door, reaching behind him for the doorknob.
    He kept his eyes on the room and all his belongings as he opened the door behind him and stepped out into the chaos of the hallway.
    Taking a deep breath, he took it all in. The amount of stuff stacked and lying on the floor of the hall path nearly sent him into a panic, but it was always this way after leaving the ordered universe of his room. It would take him a little while to get used to it. To adjust.
    But he always did.
    As he stood and adapted to his surroundings, his mind wandered, and he thought of the strange sound he had heard in his Steve ear back in his room. Reflexively his hand shot up to the ear and the device there. He was tempted to play with it again, but—
    â€œIsaac?” his mother called from the living room, though there was very little room for living there. They could barely even watch TV.
    He quickly took his hand away.
    â€œYes?” he called out.
    â€œCome watch Price Is Right with me,” she said. “The Showcase Showdown will be coming on.”
    Feeling a bit more at ease, Isaac navigated the uneven surface of the hallway floor to join his mother, the disturbing sound he’d experienced in his bad ear forgotten.
    For now.

CHAPTER FIVE
    Sidney wasn’t sure she’d ever seen the parking lot of the Benediction Veterinary Hospital this crowded before.
    She drove down to the back of the lot where the hospital staff was supposed to park and walked up with Snowy obediently by her side. The way the morning was going so far, she really didn’t know what to expect inside, and the tea had done very little for her headache.
    Removing Snowy’s leash from her back pocket, she fastened the clip to the dog’s collar and reached for the door, opening it into chaos. It was as if everybody in Benediction had decided to bring their animals in at the same time. Not only were there barking dogs, held tightly on leashes against their owner’s legs, and crying cats inside the confines of pet carriers, but there were squawking birds and wire cages filled with guinea pigs, rats, hamsters, and what looked to be a chinchilla.
    Pam, one of the front-desk workers, looked up from her computer, where she was finishing up checking out a woman client, comically widening her eyes and making a twisted face.
    Sidney approached the counter and asked, “What’s going on?”
    â€œI haven’t a clue,” Pam said, handing the woman her credit card and receipt. “It’s been like this since we unlocked the doors.”
    Michelle, another of the front staffers, was busily checking folks and their pets in. “It’s appointments, but it’s also walk-ins, like everybody decided at the same time to pay us a visit today. It’s crazy.”
    â€œI’ll be right out to give you a hand,” Sidney told them, navigating the meandering crowds with her dog.
    â€œExcuse me,” the woman Pam had been helping suddenly said. “Exactly how long am I expected to wait before you bring me my dog?”
    Pam, who was already finishing paperwork for another client, spoke up. “I sent one of the techs to get him, Mrs. Berthold,” she said as pleasantly as she could. “He