With Sebastian and Donny now on shaky terms, the Ravens moved to settle into the cabins. As there were few of them, they were split between two of the old cabins: boys in one, girls in the other. Kamai would join the four members of the Riot in a separate structure, feeling uncomfortable around her allies from the Grove.

Among the boys who had chosen this journey were Hayden, Corey, and Nathan: the old roommates from their original camp. Sebastian was the only one who hadn't shared a space with anyone else back in their forest. Since the very beginning, his room had doubled as an office. Originally, that was all it was intended to be, but he had spent so many nights in that room, falling asleep at the wee hours of the morning, they all began to see it as his own.

The others in his cabin chose their bunks based off where their old roommates would be. It was the first time he'd felt like the odd man out. There were nine boys, and five sets of bunks. Sebastian was the only one with nobody above him.

As they began to organize their supplies, Corey was the first to cheer. "Guys, we made it! The Condors ain't shit any longer!" he yelled. In response, the other boys hooted and clapped at his announcement.

However, Sebastian was far from thrilled. He simply muttered, "Great, now we're living with another enemy." As he'd learned from the encounter earlier, Kamai had a kill order on her head. This wasn't some irrelevant detail; if she had a kill order, she was dangerous. Besides, she'd said this camp would be empty, although clearly it was not. She'd lied to them twice now—what else could she be hiding?

"Lighten up," Nathan smirked, "That Donovan kid was weak. Even Marko could take him down in a second."

"You know it!" called a skinny Asian boy near the back of the cabin. His face beamed with happiness as he was laughing alongside the rest of the room. They all felt so comfortable in this new camp. Sebastian couldn't help but worry they were making a mistake. Hansel and Gretel felt this way too when they arrived at the witch's house, did they not? At this moment, the door to the cabin swung open, and in irritated Emma stormed in.

Nathan teased, "Ever learned to knock? We could have all been naked in here. Your brother could have been naked in here."

"His fragile masculinity couldn't handle that," she snapped, then turned to the moping leader, "Can we talk?"

Sebastian sighed and stood up off his bottom bunk, "Let's go outside."

"No," Emma said, "In here. They can all hear it."

"What's your issue?" he sighed, realizing he was in for his sister's wrath.

"What's yours?" she said, "I mean, welcome to Nirvana, right? We have everything here, and you're acting like we're all about to die."

"We followed a wanted criminal here, Emma," Sebastian said, his voice monotonous.

"Great," she shrugged, "I'm one too, remember? And so is Mai, and Hayden too, yet you trusted him to be our leader." Across the room, Hayden smiled, slightly embarrassed. He was one who did truly value their new location. Adrian wasn't here, so he was finally safe. The Condors or the City of the Forgotten were never his biggest threat.

"So you think we should trust the random band of criminals and drug addicts," Sebastian crossed his arms, glaring slightly, "They left three joints on the ground, who knows what else they do."

"Woah, some unsupervised teens are doing drugs. Not like that's never happened in our camp before," Emma laughed, "Besides, that one girl seems dope." That last line cracked a laugh from most of the guys in the room, since they were all enthralled by the siblings' argument.

"This isn't a joke, Emma," he sighed.

"You're the one that's not thinking rationally, Seb," she shouted, "We can't go back to the Grove. I saw the City, you didn't. They'll destroy everything. So we're stuck here in a huge camp with a garden, and a lake, where we can actually support ourselves, but we have to deal with four more people. There shouldn't be any question here."

"We don't know who these people are. I don't think they're safe," Seb said.

"There's four of them, twenty of us. What threat are they going to pose when we're running from the same group." The younger sister pulled her hair back, clearly frustrated with her brother's stubborn stance.

"They threatened to call the City here," Sebastian snapped, "Why would they do that if they were on our side?"

"The same reason I put my knife to Hayden's throat," she shrugged. Her brother did not respond, waiting for her to stake her claim, make her grand accusation. "You were pointing a gun at me."

"I didn't attack them," the other boy muttered as a wave of guilt flew through his body. He still hadn't come to terms with the fact that he had almost hurt his baby sister, even though he was unaware the masked intruder was in fact her.

"Not physically," she corrected him.

"You know you're wrong about their numbers," Sebastian said, changing the subject, "It's five to nineteen. Kamai's with them, and you know it."

Angered, Emma whirled around and walked back towards the door from which she came, "Make it six to eighteen." With that, she marched out of the cabin and out of the boys' line of sight. After a few seconds of uncomfortable silence, Sebastian stood up and followed her out, although he turned in the opposite direction. He just needed fresh air and space to clear his mind. Emma did have a point, but he couldn't bring himself to trust these strangers. Every time he chose to ally with a new person, a new group, his friends somehow ended up in danger. He couldn't just put them at risk again. The moment he let down his guard, he had a vague suspicion that everything in front of him would fall apart.

Back inside his cabin, the other boys looked to each other with surprised, and maybe even impressed, expressions. It was still strange for some of them to see Emma walking around so casually, as though she had never left. This was one of the first times they'd seen her changed personality really break through. She had always been outspoken and stubborn, but there seemed to be more now. Perhaps it was simply maturity, but as she spoke to her brother now, she was no longer the rebellious little sister with an inflated ego. Instead, she was an entity unto herself. A fighter in control of her own story, tied down to no one.

"If he's sharing a cabin with everyone, are we always gonna have to deal with his leader drama?" Nathan asked eventually. None of these boys were used to living with Sebastian, and consequently the stress that came with it. He had managed to keep a calm composure on the outside, so many of the kids who weren't close with him knew nothing of the flaming anxiety manifesting inside.

"How long until Emma steals his jacket?" Corey added, "Let's take bets. I give it a week."

"Less than that," Nathan laughed, "I bet she's negotiating with the Riot right now, and then she has the power. Tomorrow morning."

Someone added, "She already has it. She's the one that brought us here, Sebastian was just following her."

"Let's just hope Sebastian doesn't screw this whole thing up," Nathan sighed, "We're finally someplace stable, he needs to simmer down."

Hayden stepped in here, "Give him some credit, it's harder than it looks."

"Oh yes, because so much happened in your three days in power," the first boy muttered.

The ex-leader frowned, "Actually a lot happened, for your information. And Seb's been doing it for two years. He's done a damn good job."

"No one ever doubted that," Nathan shrugged, "Anyways, if two years is how long it takes for him to wear out, then it might be time for someone else to bear it. Otherwise, he's going to lose it, and then we're all screwed." To this, Hayden simply shook his head, not wanting to hear the other boys degrade their leader. Sebastian wasn't perfect, he'd made his fair share of mistakes, but anyone else would have done the same. Hayden had the utmost respect for him, but even now, he did have to admit that he could be making a mistake by not trusting the Riot. The two groups would have to collaborate, or else there would be bloodshed. It wasn't exactly difficult to predict.

---

Emma Gail Harlem was pissed. She had fought with her brother plenty of times before, but never had she been so disapproving of his decisions. He's crazy! she thought, He's gone mental! After storming out of the boys' cabin, she marched down the hill towards the cabin where the Riot was staying and knocked on the door. She hated standing there, waiting for them to let her in, but she still didn't know them well enough to simply barge in.

The girl Marley opened it, and seemed a little hesitant about seeing who was outside, "Are you lost? Your cabin's up the hill"

Emma rolled her eyes, "Can I come in?" Kamai was able to recognize her voice, and alerted Marley that this girl was to be trusted. Emma entered the cabin to find the other four kids sitting in a circle around a deck of cards. They seemed peaceful and simply happy to be in each other's company. This was a strange contrast compared to the Ravens' cabins—both of theirs were hectic and brimming with tension.

"So how can we help you?" Marley muttered, glaring at the other girl.

"This is Emma," Kamai explained, "My guess is that she's here to be reasonable."

Emma smirked and turned to the group, "My brother's an asshole. For whatever it's worth, I'm on your side."

Donovan smiled, "I could guess." He remembered this girl's outburst when he and Sebastian had gone face-to-face on the hill. She had protested her own people's plan of government, which he greatly appreciated.

"So what's your point, Miss Emma of the Ravens," Marley scoffed, snickering on that last part. Emma simply glared at her.

"Chill, Marley," Natalia laughed. She then turned to the Raven girl and added, "Want us to deal you in? Baby Druggie over there has decided she's too cool for card games."

"Baby Druggie?" Emma raised an eyebrow. The other kids in the room just laughed.

The girl whom they referred to sent Emma a side-eye and muttered, "Don't ever call me that."

"Got it, BD," she responded, receiving a harsh glare.

Natalia smiled, "I like you. You're cool."

"I don't," Marley said, although not in a cruel way. She was picking dirt out of her nails in a casual manner, as though nothing in this room fazed her. Her rancor was showing, of course, but when was it not?

"She makes intellectual comments," Kamai added, "Occasionally, at least."

The drug dealer just shook her head and chuckled, "Just get out of here already. I'm not dealing with smart people."

Jacob commented, "You're a doctor, Mar."

"I am not!" she protested, "I'm a nurse. There's a difference."

"Is there?" the boy laughed.

She frowned, "Why do we keep bringing this up? One knows about medicine, one's a drug dealer. We've been over this."

Jacob turned to Emma and asked, "So, little Raven princess, you at all naughty?"

"I'm the forest slut, so that counts for something," she shrugged. It seemed that she was proud of this title, honored that she got to be a little rebellious. She had never referred to herself this way; it was a secret to her friends, and a known fact to all the forest. She'd never had to explain it.

"She keeps getting better and better," Natalia smiled. And so Emma Gail Harlem took a seat on the floor of the Riot's cabin. Nobody came looking for her, and the group never did leave their room that evening. When the rest of the camp had gone quiet, as they had yet to come up with an organized guard schedule, the group stayed up for another hour more, hollering and laughing and shouting at the stars. The Riot were a wild type—free, and happy, and dancing under the weight of the universe. This lost girl felt that she had found her people. Oh, how she felt she was at home.