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The door to the cabin popped open They were silent as they ca the narrow space between the nearby bunks

The PSF ca them off Then, with a faint smirk, she turned and added me to the tally The others knew better than to move before the unifor could have surprisedlike hope on her face

Her honey-blond hair had been hastily braided back, and her face was streaked with black dirt She looked tired, pushed past the point of exhaustion; but her stance, the hands on her hips, the expectant tilt of her head--that was Sairls She and Ashley had always tried the hardest to take care of the younger girls Without her best friend standing shoulder to shoulder with her, I barely recognized her There was a beat of stillness and then she was rushing toward , too I’m not sure I could havewith happiness at the sight of them, and still terrified about what they’d think?

"Oh ain Ellie crouched down in front of reen shirt splattered with rain She took ht touch that turned into a fierce grip once she seemed to accept I was real "Ruby?"

"I’irls bottlenecked the path between the bunks, and some, Sam included, simply crawled over the mattresses and frames that stood between the out, touching ry Not accusing Not afraid

Don’t cry, I toldeven as my eyes burned behind my lashes

"They said that you died," Ellie said, still kneeling in front of me "That it was IAAN What happened? They took you away that night, and you never came back--"

"I got out," I told the I met other kids like us andwe hid" The abbreviated truth would have to do--for now I’d never bothered to ask Cate if the caht of theh We weren’t supposed to touch each other

"But they found you?" This from Vanessa, dark eyes still ith disbelief "Do you know if they took Ashley, too? Have you heard anything about her?"

"What happened?" I asked, careful to keep my tone measured

"They pulled her in to work in the Kitchen out of the ordinary If there were specific, small tasks, or if they needed an additional hand somewhere like the Kitchen or the Laundry, they would pull frouess "That night, they wouldn’t let us eat in the Mess And then she just didn’t coot her out?"

They were all staring at me, and the hope in their eyes was unbearable What would the truth do to them? I don’t know if it was kindness or cowardice that made me say, "I don’t know"

"What was it like?" one of theh escaped , violentbut open, wide open and beautiful" I looked up into each of their faces, starving, desperate for so outside of the fence "Almost ready"

"For what?" Ellie asked

"For us"

After we ate the bread and tasteless soup they served in the Mess Hall for dinner, weour every step, ar at his side They’d shaved his hair down to dark fuzz beneath his unifor in his eyes, not a trace of e dinner, I’d had to look away to keepthe same He’d stopped behind her at one point She’d dropped her spoon into her bowl and stopped pretending she wanted to eat But afterwards, I saw her look at his back, eyes devouring his shapeand I wondered

Up until that hts of as happening to the others What they were doing If they were safe Whether or not they were actually co I couldn’t let it distractof Lia to find his parents to tell thehts to sweet, sht on Zu’s s over himself and Nico when one of their handmade toy cars worked The way Pat and To Chubs in North Carolina for the first ti he was alive Cole’s easy smile as he reached over and s along Lia to walk out of here

I a htened around her lips, pulling their corners down There was still a hooked scar, a faint pink line curving to connect the chapped upper lip to her nose; but that, like the rest of her, had faded And when I turned to h A year apart, three years since I’d blanked out every memory she had of me, and I still could read her face like it was ot braver as tihts orking behind her light-colored eyes, and she watchedalarh the entire ten minutes ere allotted to eat oatmeal in the Mess Hall, and then next toair to begin the day’s work