Caught up in her worries about Dad, the sound of Rodeo's voice made Maizie jump. She'd expected to be overlooked or ignored for the rest of their visit -- not through any cruelty on the part of the Hellhounds, but because she was the youngest and the least important visitor they were hosting today. To have the Dog King come over himself must've meant that Maizie did something wrong in stepping away, and she turned to face him, on the edge of blurting out that she wasn't spying, just trying to breathe for a minute.
Her expression faded from one of guilt to confusion as Rodeo's words sank in and she saw the plush gray wolf he held out to her. Did it have a hidden meaning of some kind? Something about Dad, because he was a Wolfe too? No, the Hellhounds wore wolf patches on their vests, maybe they just had a whole crate of the things to hand out to all the kids. It probably meant nothing more than Rodeo saw her as a child in need of comforting. Any other time, Maizie might've felt mildly annoyed by that -- she fought so hard to make everyone believe she was grown up -- but not today.
Maizie looked up into the Dog King's face, just to be sure absolutely sure he wasn't laughing at her on the inside. After a moment she nodded and reached for the toy. What to do with it once she had it was another matter, so Maizie ended up wrapping both arms around the stuffed animal, hugging it. And, ok, it was pretty soft.
"Thank you," she said, because Dad would want her to be polite. Rodeo seemed like the type who would balk at being called 'sir', though, so she took a chance and left it off. "For all of it, I mean. I'm not sure we would've found Dad on our own, so I'm real glad you all were looking for him too. Even if --"
There was no good way to finish that sentence. Even if you had your own reasons for helping. Even if Aunt Day doesn't trust any of you. Even if Daddy doesn't make it. Maizie let it drop.