The siblings were always getting into something. It felt like there was no reprieve from their chaos and constant rule-breaking, not that mathair seemed to mind much. If anything, she almost encouraged it.

But she hadn’t been herself lately.

The sadness that clung to her was suffocating, and it filled the little soldier with quiet worry. Not to mention vater was missing. His large form had been gone for so long, his steady presence, his warmth. The last time Honor had checked, he had been down in the dark place. He never came to visit them, yet mathair always smelled like him.

Him… and something else.

Something that made Honor’s stomach twist, nausea curling deep in her gut. It was wrong. A bad omen. Even her young mind could piece that much together, though she didn’t understand why.

It was the scratching that woke her.

The dull drag of claws against wood.

Lifting her head from the tangled mass of siblings, she spotted movement near the door. She watched in silence as the dark figure pried its way out of the room. Moments later, Selkie wriggled free and bolted after Wendi.

Honor hesitated only a beat before pulling herself from the warm pile and following.

By the time she squeezed through the doorway, Wendigo and Selkie were already halfway down the stairs. Pausing at the top, she peered down as they scooted their way toward freedom.

Now, any logical pup would have followed mathair’s example.

Honor, however, seemed to lack that particular instinct.

Instead of scooting, she simply stepped forward, and promptly tumbled head over tail down the entire flight of stairs.

Thankfully, puppies were durable. Aside from a few bruises, she escaped relatively unharmed. Even more impressively, she managed to stay quiet through the ordeal, refusing to cry out.

For a moment, she lay there dazed.

Then she pushed herself upright, casting her brothers a thoroughly judgmental look.

What exactly was standing on a box supposed to accomplish? And was Selkie… playing? At a time like this?

Vater was gone. Mathair was gone.

Shouldn’t they be helping?

Ignoring whatever they were doing by the window, Honor marched to the front door and began clawing at it with determined focus.

If her brother could get the damn thing open, so could she.