Ruin - By N.M. Martinez Page 0,45

of Mary, as the older boy walked up.

"Where is she?" The older one sounded angrier than the younger one. Mary took a step back. The movement caught his attention and he looked up at her with his eyes freezing her in place.

"I dunno." The younger boy said. He stood firm in front of Mary and she found herself thankful to have his small body between her and the other boy. "She didn't say."

The older boy was still looking at Mary. He had just come from training. Sweat stuck to him and there were fresh bruises on his arms. It was clear he was a tribal, and a tribal close to her age was dangerous. They had the most to prove and lacked responsibility. If they carted her off, the worst they would get would be a stern talking to about being responsible and how difficult it would be to find a human who belonged to no one and could be trusted with the children overnight.

His eyes narrowed on her. "Who're you?"

"Mary."

"Whose pet are you?"

The assumption was insulting. She was no one's pet. "I live here." Mary crossed her arms and stood up straight before him.

The older boy watched her trying to stand bravely in front of him. The suspicion etched into his eyes melted away. The younger boy between them seemed to relax.

"This is Brandon," the older boy said just as the younger one, Brandon turned around to look at her. "I'm Jimmy. Thanks for watching him."

Intermission Two

In the fresh morning air, still moist with slowly drying dew, Jimmy stood leaning against one of the blossoming trees without a shirt on.

Mary tried to keep her eyes on the children in front of her. Lacking a shirt wasn't unusual, especially for those who were training. They said it was because it got in the way, but Mary had a feeling that it was also just because of the pride they took in their back tattoos. Rank was shown in those tattoos.

She caught herself looking again. Jimmy made people nervous when he hung around the care center. No one would tell her why they were nervous or what there was to fear. Mary had the most contact with Jimmy and Brandon and she'd never noticed anything fear worthy in the few months she'd known them.

Except that look in Jimmy's eyes. He glanced at her and she looked away quickly towards the children. There wasn't one word she could use to describe them. Some of her books mentioned the "cold eyes" of certain characters and that was close, but it suggested a lack of emotions, and that wasn't the case.

Mary patted at the large lump in her pocket of the old apron covering her dress. His visits during break were generally erratic, but she'd had a feeling she'd see him. It was just something in her stomach-- a gut feeling. And as a last thought that morning, as she was heading out to greet some of the kids, she'd shoved an apple into her apron.

She glanced at him again. He was still there, but his eyes were already on her as if he were reading her thoughts and seeing right through her.

Brandon was off playing with some of the other children. He had stopped briefly to chat with Jimmy before going back with a glance and a smile at Mary. If he knew what she intended to do, he hadn't said a word. At least not to her. The boy could pick up thoughts so he had to know. He'd told her he couldn't control it. Thoughts found their way past his defenses.

She turned and walked up the hill towards the tree Jimmy stood under. One of her hands dug into her pocket to grip the apple, the other tugged on her apron to pull the two apart. There were eyes on her from the others. But the children were all in good hands. Under Jimmy's glare, none of the kids would do much misbehaving anyway. It was almost comical how well behaved they were when he was around.

Mary held the apple out to him with one hand, her arm stretched out as if standing too near him might burn her. He reached out for it without thinking. It was automatic. His hand slowed as he reached the apple, and her eyes focused on the gray of his. No, cold was definitely not the right word for them. Maybe at first glance without knowing, but standing near she could see something there.

She pulled