Usually it started working sooner than this, though. “Nothing is okay,” he said, sounding lost. “Jenny and Naomi are gone. The January Society has everyone living in terror, and he’s here, and we haven’t heard anything from the outside world in months. How is any of that okay?”

“Let’s go sit down,” Eleanor said. She reached for Ben’s hand, and this time he didn’t flinch away. “Come on. I’ll make you some cocoa.” She patted the back of his hand and led him through the crowd of her companions.

“Maybe you could go check the perimeter?” she suggested to the hedgewitch delicately. Eleanor wasn’t sure which would alarm him more—talking to her mother, who he thought burned her house down, or talking to a totally different person who had her face.

“I’ll make sure the wards on this place are still in working order,” the hedgewitch said with a nod. “Perhaps you would like to come with me, Thea.”

Eleanor stiffened. “I don’t think that’s a good idea,” she said.

The hedgewitch huffed. “I promise you she’s safe with me. For now,” she said. “And I need to check her over to make sure there is no way her brother can sense her here.”

“Swear you won’t hurt her,” Pip said, narrowing her eyes.

“I swear on the Stories and on my own life,” the hedgewitch said with exaggerated patience. “Good enough for you?”

Eleanor looked at Thea. The girl gave a tiny, almost imperceptible nod. The hedgewitch put her hand out, and Thea took it. Eleanor watched as they walked away, stomach pinched. She didn’t know if she trusted the hedgewitch, but she didn’t think she’d actually hurt a little girl.

Eleanor led Ben down the hall to the kitchen. Having gotten them into the house, he now seemed to have lost all direction, and let her guide him to a chair. She surveyed the kitchen with dismay. There were boxes of crackers and cookies and bags of chips open everywhere. Empty cans were piled into a mountain, spilling over the sides of the recycling bin, and while the dishes had been washed, they were all stacked high on the drying rack, threatening to topple.

If the world outside Eden Eld was swallowed by gray, how did they have fresh groceries? Eleanor opened the fridge with trepidation, but she was relieved to find it well stocked. There was a gallon of milk on the top shelf. She checked the expiration date. It just read never ☺.

She frowned and looked at the label. It showed a picture of a farmer facing away from the viewer, standing next to an inexplicably menacing cow. january dairy, it read.

“Is that safe to drink?” Pip asked, looking over her shoulder.

“Ben’s still alive,” Eleanor pointed out. “And judging by the recycling, he’s had lots of it.”