We returned to Ashborn's compound nearly two weeks after departing for the council session, and the sight of those familiar gates, battered but standing, filled me with an emotion I had not expected to feel so strongly, something that felt uncomfortably close to the word home despite everything that word had once meant only in connection to memories of Danny.
The compound had begun rebuilding in our absence, new sections of fence reinforcing the breach Callahan's forces had exploited during the assault, and members who had stayed behind greeted our return with visible relief, questions tumbling out faster than any of us could fully answer as the full story of everything that had happened slowly spread through the gathered crowd.
Marcus, fully recovered now, met me near the garage with an
