I woke before Cosima. I woke before Aishe. I woke before everyone, as far as I could tell. The house was quiet. But when I pushed the dresser from the door, Cosima sat straight up, her eyes wide, her body bare from the waist up.

"Attention!" she shouted, raising her hand to her brow in a stiff salute.

I jumped back. Our eyes met. A crimson blush spread across her face.

"Bon jour," I said, smiling.

She lowered her hand and pulled the blanket up.

"Good morning," she said, squinting without her glasses.

I shoved the dresser completely out of the way, then clutched at the front of my nightgown.

"I'll make breakfast," I said.

"Okay. I'll be down soon."

"Take your time."

I pulled open the door.

"Delphine," she whispered.

"What?" I said.

She smiled.

"Are you ready to fly today?"

I laughed, not entirely sure if she was joking or not. Her cocky smile said that she was, but there was an anxiety that sat like a stone in the pit of my stomach, and that anxiety said that she wasn't.

"I'll make breakfast," I repeated, shaking my head and laughing.

I stopped in my room for a moment to slip into a housecoat. Aishe was still asleep in the bed, though she was turned completely around so that her head was at the foot of the bed and her feet were sprawled out across the pillow. I pulled the blankets over her and left her to sleep.

When I got to the bottom of the stairs, I heard heavy footsteps coming up from the basement. I heard the door unlatch and squeak open. Ethan emerged first, his hands tied behind his back, his eyes swollen and his nose red as if he had been crying all through the night. Behind him came Laurent, a gun in his hand and dark circles under his eyes.

Ethan saw me and smiled. I crossed my arms. I stepped back.

"Bon jour, Delphine," he said. "You look lovely this morning."

I think I opened my mouth to thank him, but then horrified with myself, I shut it tightly and turned away, walking into the kitchen.

"Let's go, Romeo," Laurent said.

"I'm hungry," Ethan said.

"Bathroom first, then you eat."

I didn't watch, but I heard them shuffle into the bathroom. I heard Laurent close the door and turn on the water faucet. I set about making breakfast, not careful to be quiet, not careful to keep the pan from banging or the eggs from cracking loudly. And when things were quiet, I sighed to myself, if only to cover up the sounds coming from the bathroom; the muffled pleas, the stern orders, the thud which sounded much like a man's body being thrown against the wall.

BOOM!

I flinched.

I flinched but I did not move.

A shout. A pathetic cry.

Just then Cosima ran down the stairs, still buttoning the top button of her shirt.

"What's going on?" she said, stepping into the kitchen.

"I don't know," I said, setting the table.

BOOM!

Another body slammed against the wall.

"It sounds like they're fighting," she said.

"Maybe they are."

"It doesn't sound like a very fair fight."

"It probably isn't."

"Delphine," she said. "Aren't you going to do something?"

"What should I do?"

Our eyes met. Once again we found ourselves on opposite ends of the table. Only this time, the distance seemed much further.

"This isn't right," Cosima said.

"I know."

I said it coldly; as cold as I could muster. But she never took her eyes from mine. She never took her warm brown eyes from mine, and I felt my resolve melting.

"I know," I said again, my voice softer.

The door opened again.

Laurent stepped out first. His hair tousled, his lip bleeding.

"Laurent, what's going on?" I said.

"Just a little disagreement," he said. "But we've got it all figured out now, don't we?"

Ethan shuffled out next, raising his tied hands and wiping at his lip. When he pulled his hands away, they were smeared with blood, which he squinted at and scowled.

"You busted my lip!" he said, indignant.

"Eye for an eye," Laurent said. "Lip for a lip."

Ethan scoffed and when he looked up, the smirk slid right from his face. Yes, when he looked up, when he saw me, when he saw Cosima on the other side of the table from me, that's when his angry scowl shifted into something much more sinister.

It was a look I had seen once before.

"So," he said. "The Dandelion returns. How poetic?"

I felt shivers like knives down my spine. I stood straight, my ears pricking up at the word.

Dandelion. How could he know?

I looked to Cosima. Her chin was held high, her head tilted back. She was not scared.

"Good to see you, too, Ethan," she said.

Ethan looked directly into my eyes, his face cold and hard. "You've made the wrong choice, Delphine."

Laurent jabbed Ethan in the back with the pistol. "Move it!"

Ethan shuffled forward, but he glanced back at me over his shoulder.

"Enjoy your little reunion while you can," he said. "The Nazis have a special place for people like you."

"Shut your mouth!" Laurent said, pushing Ethan forward.

But Ethan just laughed, giggling to himself as Laurent guided him back down into the basement. And even then, even after the door was shut, we heard his little chuckles shoot up through the cracks in the floorboards.

I looked at Cosima.

"How about we eat upstairs?" I said.

But as I said it, my voice cracked into tiny pieces and my knees became weak. Cosima crossed the kitchen, catching me in her arms and holding me while I let myself fall apart.

"Everything is a nightmare!" I said.

"Even if that's true," she said, "no nightmare lasts forever."

"This one does, Cosima. You've only been here one day. You'll see. You'll see."

"No," she said. "No. It's not an option. We are not staying here. I have seen the other side, Delphine. I know it exists. And I know how to get there. We just have to stick to the plan. Okay?"

"The plan?!" I shouted, pushing her away. "What plan?!"

Immediately, I regretted it. Immediately, I pulled her back toward me.

"Look, I'll have that plane fixed up by this morning. I just know it. And we'll do a test flight, okay? Just you and me. And once you see how easy it is, you'll feel better about all of this. I promise."

I embraced her so tight, tighter than I have ever embraced another, that I heard the air pass right through her lips.

"Hey," she said, pulling away, looking into my eyes. "Hey, I know I left you once before, and I'm sorry..."

"It's okay," I started to say.

"It's not okay," she said. "It was the biggest mistake of my life. I won't ever do it again. Do you hear me? Never."

She touched my face. She brushed my hair aside. She leaned forward so that there was no way I could avoid her gaze, or her beautiful face, or her smile which tore my heart in two.

"Do you hear me? I will never leave you again."

"I hear you," I said.

"Good. Then let's eat. We're going to need our energy today."