from everyone except for her.
She cries out a warning to Jack.
In the alley, one of the bandas raises his gun. Maria feels the bullets punch into her chest before the sound of the gunshots register. They lift her up onto her toes and then she falls backwards, arms outspread. She hits the ground hard. She tries to suck in air but her lungs fill with blood.
She doesn't hear Jack's inarticulate cry. She doesn't see him spring into action.
The bottle tree man knew as soon as he saw Jack that the boy in the green hoodie was a marksman with any weapon—even it was only a stone in a sling. He would not be surprised by what happens next.
Jack had planned to only scare off the bandas. Break an arm, a leg. Incapacitate them.
Now, he shoots to kill.
He moves with supernatural speed, turns, looses a stone from his sling. Another. The bandas who shot Maria and the man beside him are dead before they even realize Jack has a weapon. Ti Jean charges the other four. Will comes at them from behind. The Glimmer Twins appear from a side yard and run to help.
In moments five bandas lie in the street, their lives bleeding out on the pavement. The survivor in the alley turns tail and runs.
But for Maria, it is too late.
The next morning the news is full of the gang war between the 66 Bandas and Los Murrietas, which left seven dead on the barrio streets. There's also speculation about Sheriff Crase's involvement, fueled by his sudden disappearance and the photo the Glimmer Twins uploaded of the sheriff's safe with their message spray-painted on the wall above it.
No one pays attention to the release of Lucia Chaidez from county. With all the heat spilling over from the sheriff's office, the D.A. doesn't want to risk being seen as holding an innocent girl behind bars.
Luz walks from the county jail to the camp the boys have outside of town. The camp's hidden under some cottonwoods where the San Juan River winds its dusty way along the back of a ranch on the east side of town. It's only during monsoons that water fills its banks.
Jack's not there.
"We haven't seen him since last night," Will says. "He walked out into the desert after we got back to camp and he hasn't come back."
Jack doesn't return until the funeral, three days later.
Santa Margarita Maria church in the barrio is filled to capacity. The whole neighbourhood has heard that the bandas killed the leader of Los Murrietas, and everyone has come to the funeral service to pay their respects. Burly barrio boys without gang affiliations keep watch by the doors of the church and stand on street corners nearby in case the 66 Bandas are brazen enough to show up.
Luz sits unnoticed in a pew at the back where she hopes Pablo and the rest of Maria's family won't notice her. Jack and the boys are scattered through the congregation. Luz pays no attention to the crowd. She doesn't hear the priest. Her attention is on the photo of Maria on an easel beside the coffin.
Oh Maria, she thinks.
And she remembers.
Once upon a time, they were best friends.
Earlier this year, when they are both nineteen, Luz comes back to Santo del Vado Viejo with Jack and the other boys. The first thing she plans to do is look up Maria.
"She's a good friend?" Will asks when she excitedly mentions this to the boys.
"She's my best friend."
"And here I thought I was your best friend," he says. He lays the back of his hand against his brow. "I'm so hurt."
She punches him in the shoulder and grins.
"Don't be silly," she tells him.
"Don't you be silly either," he says.
She's about to make another joke when she sees how serious he looks.
"What's up?" she says.
"What will you say when she asks what you're doing back in town? Will you invite her to join our little gang?"
"Of course not. I'm not going to tell her about any of that."
"But it will be hard keeping something so big from her."
She's about to say it's not even going to come up, but then she realizes how can it not ? Maria will ask her lots
She cries out a warning to Jack.
In the alley, one of the bandas raises his gun. Maria feels the bullets punch into her chest before the sound of the gunshots register. They lift her up onto her toes and then she falls backwards, arms outspread. She hits the ground hard. She tries to suck in air but her lungs fill with blood.
She doesn't hear Jack's inarticulate cry. She doesn't see him spring into action.
The bottle tree man knew as soon as he saw Jack that the boy in the green hoodie was a marksman with any weapon—even it was only a stone in a sling. He would not be surprised by what happens next.
Jack had planned to only scare off the bandas. Break an arm, a leg. Incapacitate them.
Now, he shoots to kill.
He moves with supernatural speed, turns, looses a stone from his sling. Another. The bandas who shot Maria and the man beside him are dead before they even realize Jack has a weapon. Ti Jean charges the other four. Will comes at them from behind. The Glimmer Twins appear from a side yard and run to help.
In moments five bandas lie in the street, their lives bleeding out on the pavement. The survivor in the alley turns tail and runs.
But for Maria, it is too late.
The next morning the news is full of the gang war between the 66 Bandas and Los Murrietas, which left seven dead on the barrio streets. There's also speculation about Sheriff Crase's involvement, fueled by his sudden disappearance and the photo the Glimmer Twins uploaded of the sheriff's safe with their message spray-painted on the wall above it.
No one pays attention to the release of Lucia Chaidez from county. With all the heat spilling over from the sheriff's office, the D.A. doesn't want to risk being seen as holding an innocent girl behind bars.
Luz walks from the county jail to the camp the boys have outside of town. The camp's hidden under some cottonwoods where the San Juan River winds its dusty way along the back of a ranch on the east side of town. It's only during monsoons that water fills its banks.
Jack's not there.
"We haven't seen him since last night," Will says. "He walked out into the desert after we got back to camp and he hasn't come back."
Jack doesn't return until the funeral, three days later.
Santa Margarita Maria church in the barrio is filled to capacity. The whole neighbourhood has heard that the bandas killed the leader of Los Murrietas, and everyone has come to the funeral service to pay their respects. Burly barrio boys without gang affiliations keep watch by the doors of the church and stand on street corners nearby in case the 66 Bandas are brazen enough to show up.
Luz sits unnoticed in a pew at the back where she hopes Pablo and the rest of Maria's family won't notice her. Jack and the boys are scattered through the congregation. Luz pays no attention to the crowd. She doesn't hear the priest. Her attention is on the photo of Maria on an easel beside the coffin.
Oh Maria, she thinks.
And she remembers.
Once upon a time, they were best friends.
Earlier this year, when they are both nineteen, Luz comes back to Santo del Vado Viejo with Jack and the other boys. The first thing she plans to do is look up Maria.
"She's a good friend?" Will asks when she excitedly mentions this to the boys.
"She's my best friend."
"And here I thought I was your best friend," he says. He lays the back of his hand against his brow. "I'm so hurt."
She punches him in the shoulder and grins.
"Don't be silly," she tells him.
"Don't you be silly either," he says.
She's about to make another joke when she sees how serious he looks.
"What's up?" she says.
"What will you say when she asks what you're doing back in town? Will you invite her to join our little gang?"
"Of course not. I'm not going to tell her about any of that."
"But it will be hard keeping something so big from her."
She's about to say it's not even going to come up, but then she realizes how can it not ? Maria will ask her lots
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