I burst out laughing, and then slapped my hand over my mouth. I didn’t want to face the wrath of Felix if I woke him too early. And Theo wasn’t human before ten. Savannah glared at me until I continued. “I’m sorry. I forgot all of this was new to you. We don’t need food. But sometimes a cup of tea is nice all the same, just like Theo’s hooch.” I led her into the kitchen, sitting her down at a small wooden chair and table. “As for the age of stuff, it’s the age it was when it was brought into the house. The simplest way to explain it is, as Felix said, the house exists outside of time. Just like we don’t age, the food doesn’t either.”

“But…”

“Yes, the goods we have will eventually run out.” I responded to the question before she asked it, turning to the heavy iron stove. I had never been so grateful for Felix as when I found out he had electricity and running water installed in the house. “Luckily Felix had the house stocked before he was set to move in. Theo uses the canned fruit for his hooch, but he’ll run out soon enough. And I make the tea stretch.”

We waited in companionable silence for the water to boil. I considered telling her what I knew about tea, and then thought better of it.

It takes around two thousand tea leaves to make a pound of tea. China drinks the most tea out of any country, or at least they used to. Tea could last for hundreds of years if it was stored properly. These facts kept me focused on the boiling water, instead of obsessing over Savannah. Barely.

Digging into my resources a bit further than normal, I made two strong cups of tea, and sat down across from her. The teacup’s delicate lavender pattern always made me smile because it was definitely not Felix’s style. “Don’t let the two of them scare you. They can be intense sometimes–for completely different reasons.”

She laughed, turning her teacup around in her hands. “They don’t scare me. They’re pussycats, really. You just need to figure out where they like to be petted.”

I grimaced into my cup, not wanting to think too hard about what she meant. “What makes you so scared you’re trying to break out, then?”

“Nothing.” Her face grew tight, and she gulped her tea. “Being trapped isn’t exactly my idea of a fun time.”

“I don’t think it’s anyone’s idea of a good time. Believe me when I say, if there were a way out, we would’ve found it by now. We’ve tried to break windows. For the record, it doesn’t work.”