"Don't you miss your sister?" Samantha asked. She thought of the night her parents died and the sister or brother who had died in her mother's stomach.
"I hardly knew her. My parents died when I was a baby and she'd already taken off by then. I saw her a few times, mostly when she wanted a place to lay low. She wasn't a good person."
"I'm sorry," Samantha said again.
"It's not your fault," Mr. Pryde said. He looked up at the clock on the mantle and shook his head. "Joey should be here. He's usually upstairs with his crazy experiments by now."
"Should we go look for him?"
"Nah, he's probably studying some rocks. Your little cousin would hit it off with him."
"I'm sorry for any trouble he's caused-"
"He ain't done nothing wrong." Mr. Pryde tossed his cigarette into the fireplace. "I ought to show you kids where to sleep."
"Thank you. By the way, about how far is town from here?"
"Not far. Down the hill and to the right about three miles. I can take you kids in tomorrow if you want."
"I couldn't ask you to do that. You've been so nice to us already. We can make it on our own."
"I'll take you. We can't have you kids out on those icy roads getting in the way." From the tone of his voice, Samantha knew better than to argue. She went to the living room to tell the others only to find Prudence and Wendell both asleep on the couch in the blue glow of the television.