3rd Person

“Are we really gonna see Mommy and Daddy?”

Paisley whispered excitedly. The pups were hesitant to believe any good news after everything they’d been through, but their walls were down after so much trauma, and the costume mistress had taken their worries very seriously. She promised to take them back and not to trust anyone but their parents.

“They says they’re taking us back!” Riley exclaimed, bouncing up and down where she sat. “l can’ waits, I’m gonna hug Mommy and Daddy so tightly. I’ll never ever, ever lets go.

“What if Fabian finds us first?” Parker worried aloud. “What if it’s too cloudy to see thems again?”

“Don’ be so grumpy” Ryder scolded. “lf you thinks like that, you’ll jinx us.”

“How long ‘afore we get there?” Paisley asked the costume mistress when she returned from the caravan’s kitchen unit with a jug of hot water and a few wash cloths.

“It will be a few hours.” She tells them kindly, “And I’m sure your Mommy and Daddy would prefer to have nice clean pups returned to them” She continues, waving the cloths in their direction.

“Mommy and Daddy loves us dirty or clean.” Riley informed the woman haughtily.

“Well of course they do, but you don’t want to worry them do you?” She reasons. “They’re probably already so concerned, and they’ll feel bad if they see how hard you’ve been living. I don’t have any fresh clothes for you, but we can at least get some of the dirt off you.

This reminder made the pups submit to her ministrations. They found it annoying that grown ups were always so obsessed with being clean, but they couldn’t help but see the logic in her statement. They didn’t want their Mommy and Daddy to feel bad, and if they were completely honest, they didn’t like smelling like the sewers or feeling the grime on their soft skin.

“When was the last time you ate?” The costume mistress questioned once they were recognizable as pups -rather than street urchins- once more.

“A nice llama farmer gave us food the day ‘afore yesterday.” Parker explained, “we didn’ really have anything with the orphans.”

The woman surmised. “That must not have been easy,

directly. She could only guess why they were so skittish, but she knew it would keep their l!ps sealed no matter the

murmured, her young eyes look far more haunted than should be possible.

close.” Ryder nods in agreement.

calling for

costume mistress assured them. “There’s nothing scarier than losing one’s

taken from thems?” Parker wondered aloud, speaking thoughts he hadn’t aloud himself to voice with his siblings. As the oldest, he often considered it his job to protect the others, but now that there was an adult to ask- now that they’d given up trying to stay silent to protect themsélves – hé couldn’t stop himself

my sweet.” The costume

sometimes bad things

thing. But after everything happened with Jane and Eve, her parents had told her over and over that it wasn’t her

only thing that ever

them.” She whispers,

sure they miss you too.” The costume mistress empathized. “You’ll be together again soon enough. I promise, I will not leave your side until you’re back safe with

safe, only to take them so far away. Thomas and Mary had been kind, but they’d only gone to the police. Sophie had

small town’s streets for signs of their parents – or even Sophie. They saw nothing at first, and the costume mistress took Ryder and Paisley’s small paws in her own. “Why don’t we try going back to the spot where you

out for their Mommy and Daddy, but afraid to call attention to themselves. They came to a stop behind a clothing shop, and the costume mistress pursed her l!ps. “All these shops

and forth between one another, silently conferring. Eventually, Riley nodded and shared, “Mommy’s really pretty, with gold hair and

costume mistress smiled, she believed it-if their mother was even half as lovely as her pups, she must

and really strongs!” Paisley announced, smiling as she thought about her

like him”

then.” The

if anyone who looks like that

it gradually became clear that no one matching these descriptions had been about. The only travelers in the area had been a trio of three men, and a young woman in leather – all on her

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