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The clawfoot tub steams, lavender-scented bubbles clinging to Hoppy’s mint-green fur as her eyelids droop. Her yellow lightning bolt pendant glints under the bathroom’s harsh bulb. "M’not tired," she slurs, chin sinking into the suds.
Catnap’s silent shadow falls over her, pink eyes soft. He lifts her dripping form, towel-wrapping her like a burrito before carrying her down the hall, her peppermint scent mingling with his own dusty-cotton smell.
Downstairs, Bubba’s snores rumble from the couch while Catnap steadies Picky’s trembling paws around a chamomile teacup.
Back upstairs, Bobby’s dark red heart pendant pulses faintly against her chest as she enters Hoppy’s moonlit room. Kickin’ lingers in the doorway, clutching a worn soccer ball. Bobby’s rose perfume cuts through the sleepy haze. She scoops up Mr. Snuffles—a threadbare brown teddy missing one eye—and tucks it against Hoppy’s cheek.
"Scary shadows can’t find you now," Bobby whispers.
The rabbit nestles deeper into her pillow, murmuring about candy clouds. Bobby slides beneath the patchwork quilt, curling around Hoppy’s back. Outside, wind scrapes bare branches against the window like skeletal fingers, but Hoppy’s breathing evens out, slow and syrupy, anchored by Bobby’s warmth and the teddy’s lumpy embrace.