Not now! There isn't enough time. She barely managed to get Kendra up to the part where she escaped from the sugar factory using her grandmothers scarf, and that had taken twenty minutes. She does need to get Kendra up to date, but now is not the time.



"That door leads to the basement, right?"

"Mmmmhmmm, there's some hanging plastic and some stairs. That's it." murmers Kendra, listening at the door, "I still don't hear any thumping, but I think I hear you talking to Mr. Shovel. God, this is super weird."



They're far too small for the not-dog, but they'd be about the right size for a beagle. These must be Piotyr's.



No need. There is no water.



The bottom of the bowl is bone dry, and covered in a thin layer of dust. Even considering the excavation being done in the basement, nobody's can have been drinking out of this bowl for several days. She checks the food bowl, half full, but also dusty.

Piotyr can't have been here for a while.

Bina has been pretty sure that the Hound and beagle must be connected. It feels right, even if she doesn't have much evidence of this beyond 'they're both dog-shaped, and they're both very odd'.

But did Piotyr… turn into the Hound? Create the Hound? Is it her dead body? Her shadow? Some other timeline's copy of her?

What happened to Piotyr?

Bina is pretty sure that if she could just figure that out, this whole confusing mess would begin to unravel.

Notes