Kitt once more wrapped his arm through Ophelia’s.

He patted at her with a smile as the cigarette hung off the corner of this lip. He took a long drag before exhaling. The two others of the trio chuckled and continued to skip around Ophelia, their eyes peeled.

“No worry, mam, we’ll get ye where ya need to be.” Kitt looked over to her, but couldn’t see past the shadows of her hood.

“These are our streets.”

“And who are all of you,” asked Ophelia.

Kitt pulled this cigarette from his mouth. “We are yer guides. The Reynard’s Skulkers.”

All three of them turned over their shoulders and beamed at her. Then they were back to their duties, escorting her out of where ever she had found herself.

“I am sorry…,” Ophelia started, “if I caused anything between you and--”

”Ack,” Kitt waved a hand and scoffed, “Mum and me been boiling cauldrons since I was little.”

“You don’t stay with her?”

“Rather sleep on the street than in that hellhole.” Kitt took a long drag of the cigarette, until it was out. Then he squashed it underfoot. “Anyway, that’s Tod.” He pointed to the one with a darker-colored jacket. “And that’s Vix.” The one wearing a cap twirled on their feet with a smile to wave at Ophelia before returning to their duties. “She don’t like no one to know she a she, so best not repeat it, eh?”

Ophelia gave a nod.

They passed by more streets and around corners Ophelia didn’t recognize. She would have been wandering for hours had they not spotted her. When they made it to a major road Ophelia knew, she stopped and turned to them.

“I know where I am now.”

Kitt patted at her arm. “Ya sure, we don’t mind.”

“It’s getting late,” added Vix.

“We walked you all the way here, we could go more.” Tod put his hands on his hips. His jacket looked massive.

“You all should head back and sleep. I can make it home.”

The Skulkers lined up in a row to look her over. In the brighter light of the main road, she could see how young they all were. Covered in dirt and in clothes too big for them, with attitudes far older than them, Ophelia couldn’t help but remember the first time she spotted herself in the mirror after she left the caverns. She looked so similar.

It made her chest ache.

The Skulkers looked around, but there was little traffic. “Are ye far, mam?”

“Not really.”

“Well then,” Kitt grinned and cajoled, “we have’ta see ya all the way home. Can’t get this far and give up now, can we?”

Vix and Tod nodded along to their leader.

Ophelia obliged. “This way.”

They moved through the main street, mostly alone, and towards her part of the district. Kitt kept close to her side as Vix and Tod seemed to move in a circle around them as they walked.

“What were ya doin’ all the way out my way before?”

“I got turned around.”

“I noticed. Why?”

“Awfully inquisitive.” Ophelia massaged her arm that began to hurt worse.

“I don’t mean nothin’ by it, just never seen ya before.”

“I would count that as a blessing.”

“Why, ya real ugly under there?” Kitt nodded towards her hood still blocking her face.

Ophelia didn’t answer. She lead them down the narrow lane to the small courtyard before her cottage. The Skulkers stood in awe. Even though they lived on the same level, this district was far more spacious and nicer. They oogled over her glass windows and hanging plants as she unlocked her door.

“C’mon,” she said, “make yourself some tea to warm up.”

The Skulkers poured in with their eyes wide. Vix went straight to the terrariums in the back. Tod went to the shelf of skulls. Kitt snapped his fingers over a couple candles to give them all more light, along with the scattered collection of bioluminescence that gave parts of the wall a brilliant, but eerie glow.

Ophelia pulled down her hood with a knot in her stomach. Kitt stood frozen in the sight of her. She held her breath as she waited for him to have a similar reaction as his mother. Vix and Tod, hearing silence, turned to see what had left Kitt so dumbstruck. Then, they too were silent.

Ophelia shifted uncomfortably where she stood before she pulled off her cloak. She moved to the kitchen and re-lit the stove. She kept moving, pretending that the trio didn’t move into her kitchen as a single blob to stare at her.

“Your hair…,” Vix started, “is so pretty.” Ophelia turned over. Vix pulled off her cap and her blonde hair rolled down. It had a terrible knot that she could tell the girl had tried to pull apart. “Are all these plants yours?” Vix pointed to the wall of glass terrariums.

“Yes, I grow them.”

Vix broke from the group and went to a pot. She lifted a finger to the petal and leaf. Tod and Kitt were still staring at Ophelia dumbfounded.

She looked to the girl, then to the plant. “I found that one behind a restaurant.”

The corner of her mouth turned. It was one of the plants she had pried from the stones. They had fought long enough, she convinced herself, it was time--

Ophelia looked over the three children in her cottage, dirty, in clothes that didn’t fit, and a soft grumble in their bellies.

Damn it, she sighed.