Ruin - By N.M. Martinez Page 0,48

I could do that wouldn't kill you. They wouldn't even leave a mark where anyone could see. But Brandon would know."

Her safety was in the mind reading ability of a boy barely even a decade old. Mary bit at the inside of her lip until she tasted blood. She didn't even feel the wound.

He opened the door and stood to the side. "Let's go outside."

She didn't really have a choice.

"You like him, don't you?"

They sat on the grass by the playground. The air was warm and the ground was still dry. It was late, but not that late yet. Mary found herself distracted by the star filled sky overhead.

"Don't most girls?" She replied tensely.

"Most think he's cute. There's a difference."

Mary fidgeted, poking at the grass at her feet. She hadn't bothered to think about it and she was sure that Jimmy hadn't either. It was best that way. Maybe she was only a pest to him, but he was the one who kept coming around. There was nowhere else she could go. He had no real excuse.

The shuffling sound of soft grass under heavy feet made her look up to see two young tribals walking towards them. Most likely they'd been on their way to the abandoned lot next door where the fire pits sat and most their age gathered.

Mary froze again. She was supposed to be safe on the grounds. But it was the middle of the night and the only one outside with her was no friend of hers even if he was supposedly a friend of Brandon and Jimmy. It had been his suggestion to come outside. Perhaps he'd planned it so that when she disappeared at the hands of the two assholes before them, he could feign complete ignorance. If Jimmy cared enough to do something about it, he'd have his targets and probably would never suspect the hand his friend had in it.

Mary glared at Aaron, but he kept his eyes on the others with a sharp smile.

"Hey, it's that girl." The larger one in front smiled down at her. "Wanna go to the fire pit with us? It's just right there." He nodded towards the abandoned lot. "We'll bring you back."

He gave her the creeps as much as Aaron. She knew if she stepped off the grounds they had her. They might even drag her off to have their fun. How could she really stop them when they outnumbered her?

Aaron's hand brushed against the small of her back. "We're busy."

The others didn't take it as a cue to leave. They clearly had no idea who Aaron was either. She glanced at him, her eyes opening wide enough to sting. He didn't take his eyes off of the boys in front of them.

Aaron stood up to face them and that broke the ice around her muscles. Mary hopped up and took a step behind Aaron, then let out a gasp. In the moonlight she could see the dark tattoo on his back peeking out from his tank top. Full rank, when Aaron couldn't have been older than eighteen or nineteen. It was a bad sign, and it made it worse that the young tribals before them didn't recognize him. A young man of his rank should have been revered and feared by the others close to his age the way Jimmy was.

The boys across from him had no idea and he didn't seem intent on showing them. Mary spoke quickly. "He has the full tattoo."

That made the other two stop. They had been ready to crouch into their sloppy fighting forms. Aaron was already waiting to spring forward, steady and well-practiced. It was the one in the lead who ended things quietly.

"Next time," he said with a nod at Mary before they continued on their way.

Aaron turned to Mary and her stomach burbled. She faced him with her hands balled into tight fists. "You're a Ghost."

The moonlight cast a shadow from a nearby tree across Aaron's face, covering him in patches of darkness and light. He didn't grin at her. There was no expression. His eyes were exactly what she expected cold eyes to look like. "You know about that?"

The damp, chilly air crept from Mary's exposed neck down to her spine. This man standing before her would extend no mercy. There was no way she could be clever enough or pitiful enough to escape him.

"People talk," she said with a shrug. "They forget I'm there.

Ghosts were a myth whispered about among the tribe members.