Rosalind opened her mouth with a furious huff of air. Cordelia kicked her, hard.

Luckily, Tilda wasn’t looking at them anymore.

“What were you thinking?” she demanded of the armed group. “Or did those dukes claim your eyes as well as all our farms?”

Shaking her head in disgust, she turned back to Cordelia, Rosalind, and Giles. “You poor things. Did we frighten you horribly?”

“He didn’t seem frightened,” a different woman muttered behind her, pointing at Giles. “He’s just thinking about his stomach!”

“Aren’t we all?” Tilda sighed, beckoning Giles closer. “You certainly have an impressive voice, lad. I’m sorry it was wasted on an unappreciative audience.”

Rosalind snorted. Cordelia rolled her eyes.

Giles gave her a fabulous bow. “At your service, milady,” he said grandly. “I’m afraid we’ve been lost in the forest for some time. It was lonely and frightening—and there weren’t enough berries, as I may have mentioned—and my sisters are both terribly excitable, so—”

“The forest?” Tilda took a rapid step back, pulling her ragged shawl tighter around her shoulders. “You went into the enchanted forest? By yourselves? Why would you ever do such a foolish thing?”

“Ah …” Giles faltered, and Hal seized his chance.

“She was a bear!” he said, pointing at Cordelia. “I saw her! She—no, she really was, Tilda!” he added plaintively as she turned to give him a severe look. “Those soldiers told us to watch out for demons from the forest. And everyone here can tell you, too! We all saw her change shape … didn’t we?”

Whispers and mumbles circled around the men as Tilda tilted her candle to look each one of them in the face.

“It was dark,” another man said weakly. “I thought … but I mean, I suppose I might have—”

“She doesn’t look like a bear to me,” said Tilda. “You’re seeing specters in the shadows, and you should know better, at your ages! But you children,” she added sternly to Giles, “should never have done anything so wild and reckless! Your poor parents must be—”

“Our father is dead,” said Rosalind flatly. “Our mother was in the forest with us.”

“Ohhh.” She breathed out the word, exchanging a look with the men and women around her. “Was she one of the soldiers forced inside to face that wicked enchantress? Oh, you poor things. No wonder—!”

She cut herself off, wincing. “Never mind. You’re safe with us for the night, at least. This lot won’t leave so much as a sparrow unchallenged. You can have a good sleep before you make any decisions about what to do next. I only wish—”

“We need to go to Raven’s Nest,” said Cordelia, just as Rosalind said ominously, “Wicked enchantress?”

“Shut up, shut up, shut up!” Giles hissed at Rosalind. To Cordelia, he added urgently, “We haven’t actually decided—”