Eleanor didn’t reply. It didn’t matter whether the hedgewitch meant to take her mother away. All that mattered was that her mother was gone, and there was a hole in Eleanor’s heart where she had been. She was going to lose them all. Her mother. Pip. Otto. And then she was going to lose even the memory of them, and that seemed like the most horrible thing of all.

The hedgewitch frowned, looking out into the orchard. “We have a visitor,” she said.

“A visitor?” Eleanor peered past the hedgewitch’s shoulder, and then she laughed. “This should be interesting,” she said. She walked to the back door and opened it for their guest, who trotted in without so much as a hello and leaped up onto the kitchen counter.

“I thought those humans in town had all lost their kibbles, but here you are in the flesh,” said the cat-of-ashes, magnificent tail swishing. “How did you manage that?”

“Ever hear of the Wending?” Eleanor asked.

The cat-of-ashes narrowed her eyes. “Pah. You’re the ones that messed with time, then. I wouldn’t have thought you—what is that?” She leaped to her feet so fast a cutting board went spinning off the counter and crashed to the floor. Her tail poofed into a bottlebrush.

The kitten-of-ashes stiff-legged into the kitchen. She arched her back and laid her ears flat against her skull, hissing and spitting sparks. Eleanor scooped up the furious kitten, shushing her with scratches behind the ears. The little feline hunkered into her arms and growled.

“She’s the kitten-of-ashes,” Eleanor said meekly. The cats looked at each other in unconcealed horror.

“It’s me. But it’s small. And weak and stupid,” the cat-of-ashes said in a complaining tone. “Why would you bring that thing in here?”

“We helped the kitten-of-ashes and Thea escape the Pallid Kingdom,” Eleanor said.

“Thea,” the cat-of-ashes repeated. Her pupils had expanded to swallow her bright green irises, and she stretched her claws out almost nervously. “You stole a baby monster from the nest? You’re bigger fools than I thought.”

“Old,” the kitten-of-ashes squeaked.

“I—I am not—how dare—” The cat-of-ashes stammered to a halt and began furiously grooming herself. Her voice came out garbled between fierce licks, muttering as if talking to herself. “Whiskerless fools. Meddling with things they shouldn’t. What were they thinking?”

“Thea hated it there,” Eleanor said. The kitten-of-ashes clambered its way up onto her shoulder, hunkering down under her hair and glowering at the older cat. “She’s sleeping upstairs. I don’t know what happens to her after we leave the Wending, but for now, she’s with us.” She said this with a hard look at the hedgewitch.

The hedgewitch crossed her arms. “I’m in agreement with the cat. It is an unnecessary risk to have her with us, and a missed opportunity. She’ll turn on us eventually.”