The swinging gate transformed. First, two broad arms uncurled from within the wooden slats. They stretched past us and scooped Riddy and me into a crushing bear hug. Then, when I was still seeing stars from our heads knocking together the wood grain took …

Realistically it wasn't going to happen. The lighter dark of the road seemed to go on forever, winding through the greater outer dark of the forest around us. More than anything we were hungry, so hungry it made us weak. Hungry, filthy, and unprotected--t…

Each morning, the master wakes us before dawn. We are given a bowl of cold gruel to eat before being herded into the Great Hall. That is when our work begins.

All day long we sit folding paper cranes. Our fingers move with the precision and control of…