Ashwini grimaced slightly as she said, “Pip is the one who creates the handy distractions we need when we’re in a sticky spot.”

“That’s just a boring way of saying I’m the captain of fun and tomfoolery,” said Pip.

Ashwini rolled her eyes for the millionth time since I’d met her, but her mouth twitched like she was trying not to smile. “I seem to remember we’ve talked about your use of the word captain and the authority it inaccurately implies.”

I giggled.

“Well, I think that pretty much covers the tour,” Ashwini said to me. “Let’s go to the kitchen.”

Pip whooped. “Second breakfast!”

“I hate you all,” said Ashwini.

Back on the ground floor, the kitchen was small and spotless, a bright room painted in peach. It was starkly, unnervingly familiar. I remembered spending ages sketching in the smallest details of that rack of spices, determined to name every single one. I remembered drawing the ice tray inside the fridge and the blue door in the corner. I remembered browsing through a gazillion reference photos of dining tables before deciding on the rustic wooden one now stretched across most of the empty floor space. I even remembered drawing the little chip in the table from where Pip tripped one time and almost knocked out a tooth.

The others had already gathered at the table by the time Ashwini, Pip, and I went in. Lej raised his eyebrows. “Is she going to be eating our food?”

“What else is she supposed to eat?” Ashwini demanded.

“One of those rainbow unicorns on her pajamas? A piece of that ridiculous castle in the sky?”

“Shut it,” said Ashwini, and pointed to an empty chair at the table. “Why don’t you sit down while I get breakfast sorted out, Kiki? I’ll show you where you can sleep after we’ve eaten.”

I sat down obediently. “Do you live here all by yourselves?” I asked before I could think better of it. “Where are the grown-ups?”

There was a split second of silence before Lej said, “You didn’t give us any.”

I opened my mouth, but couldn’t speak. You didn’t give us any. I could hear the bitterness and resentment in his voice and, frankly, I couldn’t blame him. Because I didn’t give them any grown-ups, did I? I had specifically created a group of rebel kids.

“We do live here by ourselves,” Ashwini told me. “But there’s an old lady next door who pays us to do odd jobs for her and there are a couple of people at the market who help Lej find weapons and other gear, so it’s not like we’re completely alone.”

“Grown-ups are no fun anyway,” Pip piped up.

Lej didn’t reply, but his hard eyes met mine for a moment and I could guess what he didn’t say. That he’d have liked to have an adult around to actually look after them. That he didn’t want the only person he could rely on to be Ashwini, who was also a child.