Free Love Lasts Forever by Dominiqua Douglas

surrounding woods. He moved quietly. His hearing tuned to the woods. The natural sounds diminished as Willow’s soft whisper carried back to him.
    “It’s okay to come out. Come on. You’re safe.”
    A deeper masculine whisper replied, “What about that young massa? We saw him with you.”
    “He won’t hurt you,” Willow replied. “He’s with me.” Without turning, she beckoned with her hand for Thor to come to her. “Thor, let them see you.”
    Thor moved briskly at her call. His hold on the branch loosened, but he didn’t think to drop it. He was too busy looking at the trio who surrounded Willow.
    A young man, probably in his mid-teens, and a girl and a boy who were a few years younger stared with large brown eyes at Willow. Their clothing was little more than rags, and none of them had extra luggage with them.
    Their faces were round even though their cheeks were sunken. The boys’ skin was bronze while the girl’s complexion was darker like chocolate. The resemblance between the three was startling and left little doubt they were siblings.
    As he reached them, three pairs of eyes watched him and Willow with thinly disguised fear and wariness. On instinct, Thor moved to her side and placed a protective hand at the small of her back. She stiffened at his initial contact and then relaxed, pressing lightly against his palm.
    “I won’t hurt you,” he reassured the trio quietly.
    “He’s not a patroller,” Willow quickly added when the children remained silent.
    “Is he a station massa?” the young girl asked. The biggest boy gave her a hard look, and she moved behind him.
    Willow shook her head. “He’s not, but I know one. I can get you to him. How did you find these woods? This path is off the track. Did you have a shepherd?”
    The oldest boy nodded, his brown-eyed gaze boring into Willow. “Our shepherd told us to go on ahead. He told us to follow the Drinking Gourd.”
    “The Big Dipper?” Thor slowly deciphered the coded conversation.
    “Yes,” Willow answered him. “Why did your shepherd tell you to go without him? Patrollers rarely come up this far, but it has happened. He shouldn’t have left you alone.”
    “He had no choice, miss,” the boy said. “A few nights ago, the other runaway with us got scared and said he was going back. The shepherd didn’t trust him, so he went after him. He told us to keep going, and we’d see the light, and sho’nuff we did! We saw the lantern on the porch and knew we was on the right track.”
    “The lantern?” Willow repeated softly.
    Thor glanced at her. A worried frown creased her brow. “What’s wrong?” he asked her.
    She ignored his question and kept her focus on the children. “When was the last time you ate?”
    “About two nights ago.”
    She inhaled sharply and nodded. “It’s another two miles to the station. Can you make it?”
    “Miss, we can do whatever we needs to do to make it to the Promised Land. We come from down by Macon and don’t have no plans for stopping until we get to Canaan.”
    She gave the boy a tender smile. “I understand. Follow me.”
    “Willow.” Thor’s hand wrapped around her elbow to stop her from leading the group away. “Where are you going? You don’t have to take them anywhere when there’s food inside. Let’s go back to the cabin.”
    Her eyes grew large as she vehemently shook her head. “I’m forwarding them to Reverend Brown’s place. They can’t eat at your kin’s cabin.”
    “What?” He almost yelped in surprise. “Why not? It’s right here. You heard him. They haven’t eaten for two days. They may be dehydrated, too. We can feed them here, and then take them to the reverend.”
    “They can’t eat here! Please, Thor. Go back to the cabin and watch out for Miss Eva. I won’t be gone long. Tell her I’ll come back as soon as I can—”
    “Why can’t they eat here?” He refused to release her even as she tried to twist free.
    Her mouth tightened. Through stiff lips,