Free Follow Me Through Darkness by Danielle Ellison

together and he slides his hands into his pockets.
    I’ve imagined our reunion every night since I died, since before I left the Compound. There would be kissing and tears, and he’d look at me in that way that only he can because I’d just found a way to save him from a fate he didn’t know was coming. It’d be the most blissful kind of dream, and I’d never want to wake up. It wouldn’t be like this-in the presence of strangers and shrouded in confusion.
    This is not as blissful.
    “How are you here?” I ask.
    I search Thorne’s eyes and see the spark that lives there. The one he tries to hide when he’s with everyone else. The one that’s only for me. I missed him so much. Looking at his face, seeing how tired he is and his heavy eyes-all I did was miss him. I reach out through our connection, trying to search his emotions for something, but he’s blocking me out. I hate when he does that. It so rarely used to happen that he didn’t want to let me in, but now? This is what I’ve done, what I’ve caused.
    “How are you here?” he asks back. I almost see the word on his lips. Dead .
    Next to us, Cecily clears her throat. I turn to her, nearly shaking. “How is he here?”
    “Something to eat?” she asks. As soon as she mentions it, my stomach churns. I nod slowly. Maybe food will wash away the aching and fill the pit in my soul.
    “Boris!” Cecily yells. His name makes me want to laugh, though I’m not sure why. The feeling fades as soon as he appears again. “Get our guests some sandwiches.”
    He nods and leaves the room without a word or a sound. My eyes keep drifting to Thorne as he sits, and I can’t help it. I never thought I’d see him here.
    “He’s a lump, not good for much other than protection, but he makes a great grilled cheese, so I keep him around,” Cecily says, and then her focus is straight on me. “Have a seat, Miss Ambrose.”
    I do as she asks and sit next to Thorne.
    “Mr. Bishop here tells me you’re on a secret mission, though he didn’t seem to know the details.”
    I look at him curiously. He doesn’t know anything. Knowing Thorne, he wouldn’t need to. He’d go anywhere for me, do anything, and this is no exception.
    “Why are you here?” she asks, pulling my eyes from Thorne to her.
    “Xenith Taylor sent me. I need sanctuary with your people,” I say. The Remnants. Because they know him and his family and I need them to help me get safely to the Mavericks.
    Silence closes in around us, and lets my doubts about Xenith sink in. Maybe he’s not as powerful as he thought he was, but then Cecily nods her head slowly.
    “Young Mr. Taylor has a tendency to overstep his bounds. What makes you think I will help you? You are the director’s daughter, after all. How can I trust you?”
    “I’m here in front of you. I’ve made it all this way, and Xenith trusts me. He trusts you. That’s enough.”
    I feel Thorne’s emotions then. A sudden impulse of red-hot anger and irritation. I try not to look at him, not to be thrown by it, but it’s hard.
    “Even in my circles, some cannot be trusted,” Cecily says. That’s the same warning Xenith gave me. Not all Remnants are innocents. “Why do you seek the Mavericks?”
    “The Elders are enacting a plan against my Compound, and we need help to prevent it.” I feel another ripple that sends my head spinning, and I steal a sideways look at Thorne. He’s confused, and right now I can’t tell him all the reasons I had to leave. It’s not the time or the place.
    She nods from her chair, and her eye widens. This woman has survived so much, and sitting here with her eye narrowed on me, I can’t help but wonder what evils she has faced.
    Seconds slip away from us. I push up the hair on my neck and angle myself toward her. Cecily stares at my branding and adjusts her position in the chair. Her face remains blank, keeping her secrets locked tight, but I know she bears the same mark because she and her twin were born in