Penny and Zoe arrived at the hollow before Katie and Ellen, Penny slightly revitalized by the one cup of nasty reheated coffee that Susan allowed her, Zoe still dragging despite the extra sleep she’d stolen before and after dinner. As always, Penny scanned the lower limbs of the old ash for Ronan and, as always, felt a stab of grief when she remembered that he wouldn’t be there.
The captured homunculus was still there, however, dangling from the tightly wound willow limbs and totally immobile, turned into a statue. Penny supposed that meant he was asleep. She envied him a little.
Katie had wanted to kill the thing outright, had been aiming her wand right between its eyes, but Penny had convinced her not to. She just didn’t feel right attacking something helpless.
Penny started a fir
