Mama was furious then, because she started yelling curses at the officer in her native tongue. I only remember one other time when she got so angry that she dropped into it. Bianca and I had decided--or rather, I had decided and dragged Bianca along--that we should go for a swim to celebrate spring. The river where we normally bathed and swam moved quickly, filled to brimming with melted snow. It roared past us, drowning out all other sounds.

I had never seen the river look so scary before, as we didn't bathe there in early spring and were forbidden to go anywhere near the water. It was not the tranquil river it should have been, in my mind, and I was beginning to feel that this wasn't such a clever plan after all. Bianca was beginning to look as I felt, but as I was determined to be the brave, mature six year old, I grabbed her hand and jumped in.

Almost immediately, I was carried over to the other side of the river, away from Bianca. The current shoved me into the muddy bank on the opposite side of the river. I clawed up through the muck until I was safe from the rushing water.

Bianca had tried something similar on her side of the water but hadn't managed to pull herself up the bank. She clung to an exposed root with the current washing over her. Her head bobbed above the water, below, and above again.

I don't know how Mama knew to look for us there, but the footprints in the mud might have been the main clue. She lifted Bianca up out of the river and glared at me. Poor Bianca looked like a wet cat. Her blonde hair was plastered to her face in odd clumps and her dress was all muddy.

Mama scowled at me and waited until I had made my way across the stream once more. For several minutes, she didn't say anything. She just stared at me as I fidgeted. Suddenly, she just let loose and began screaming at me in a language I was relatively proficient in speaking. I learned a lot of new words that day.

Mama used most of those words and some new ones in her screaming. Finally, I heard a dull clunk and silence.

"Knew that branch would be good for something." Parter sounded pleased with himself. They began to walk away, crashing like elephants through the forest.

The four of us each held our breath until we couldn't hear those men anymore. The rest of the day faded into night as we tried not to wiggle and willed our stomachs not to growl.

When any hint of the sun was gone, Karekare finally spoke. "I think we're safe. Let's get out of here.

It was mainly out of shock at hearing Karekare's voice that we obeyed her. I was ecstatic to be moving again, even if my legs couldn't hold me. For several minutes, I just lay on the ground, all stretched out, watching the sky. The others joined me and we were silent once again, enjoying the night.

Finally, Karekare stood up. We had all silently voted Karekare our leader, since she was the eldest. I struggled to my feet and looked at Karekare's face, for I was curious as to why her hand was over her eye so long.

Immediately, I felt dizzy at the sight and began to vomit. The little food I had eaten gurgled up in waves of nausea. Karekare nodded in grim understanding.

Half of her face looked as it always did, excepting the expression she wore. Karekare was usually cheerful and a little bossy, but tonight, she was the general who had lost the war.

That was not what frightened me. It was her left side and her left eye, or lack thereof, that made me sick. Karekare's eye was gone, and the hole replacing it was red and mushy. Her cheek and forehead were slashed open, beginning from her eye and arching out like gruesome sunbeams. The blood shed in the creation of these despicable markings had run down her face and neck and puddled itself in a great stain on her dress.

I tried to look Karekare in the eye, but I couldn't do it. Karekare bent herself down until her face was level with mine. Still, there was no way I could look at the grotesque cuts on her face. She turned my face so I was looking straight at her. The dried blood, dull at any other time, held a sinister glitter in the dim light.

I thought she would reassure me, tell me she would be fine, and become our bossy leader once again, but she didn't. Karekare said quietly, "Rip the hem from your dress."

This was not an expected answer, but Karekare always knew what to do. I obeyed, while Karekare offered advice. "No, wider than that. Yes, that's better. A little longer...perfect!"

I handed her the tan cloth and she tied it around her head so it covered her eye like a patch. "Pourfay!" she cried, imitating Mama. We all giggled as she modeled the new addition to her outfit, which clashed amusingly.

"All right, then," said Karekare. "Let's go back to your house, Melly, since it's closer. Let's go."

Our ragtag army started off towards home. Once again we moved slowly. Karekare and I led the group, with Bianca and Ranyel shadowing us. We were all so stiff that at one point, no one could do more than stagger along, gripping trees at every moment and try not to fall into the others.

The moon was high overhead when we came upon the remains of our house. My eyes widened when I saw my home. Everyone was completely silent as we took in the mess before us.

Our house was ruined. The Police had ransacked it for what few valuables were inside. A bonfire crackled mockingly and smelled terribly like fabric. I saw my best dress crumbling into ashes on the edge of the pit. High overhead, smoke seemed to be wafting out of the trees south of us, the direction of the Blacksand house.

Remembering the flames in front of us, I whispered, "Karekare! They've seen our clothing. They'll know that we're here and they'll come back to get us and--"

"No, they won't," Karekare replied with fierce bravado. "It's all circumstantial evidence until other witnesses confirm our existence. Mama and Papa said so a while ago."

I did not know what any of that meant, but I nodded as if I understood anyway. Karekare started pulling an exhausted Ranyel towards the house and I followed suit with Bianca.

We tucked them up next to each other and stood uncertainly outside. I moved to sit at Papa's place near the fire. It felt wrong to be sitting there--as if I were overstepping my boundaries by sitting in my father's place--but I didn't move. Karekare sat across from me in her father's spot.

There we sat, looking wearily at each other through the fire, which slowly died down to embers. As the sky grew grey with the dawn's light, I suddenly realized that we had held our vigil for hours.

"Maybe we should go sleep," I suggested quietly.

Karekare nodded and stood. Her visible eye was already half-closed with the heaviness of sleep. We walked back to the remains of my home and curled up next to Bianca and Ranyel.

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