It’s been a week since the full moon. Steve has been out of town for pretty much the whole time, and Melanie was gone for four days. Things with her and Freddy are still tense, but it doesn’t seem like she’s carrying any more aggression against him. They’ll never sleep together, but I don’t feel the same antagonism anymore.

Things are settled down, really. Or they were, until about five minutes ago.

My hackles raised almost before the knock came at the ...