The New Arrival

Mariza pressed her face against the dusty window of the giant house, watching the older kids below argue in the courtyard. Their voices echoed off the tall stone walls that surrounded their hideout home.

"We can't keep him!" shouted Jake, pointing at the scrawny boy sitting on the front steps. "He'll bring trouble!"

The boy looked maybe eleven, with messy brown hair and torn clothes. His shoulders shook slightly in the cool morning air.

Ava, their sixteen-year-old leader, crossed her arms. "Max stays. I've decided."

"But Ava—" Sarah started.

"No buts. He needs help."

Mariza touched her eye patch and watched Max wipe his nose with his sleeve. The other kids kept glaring at him like he was some kind of pest. She knew that feeling.

Her right eye glowed faintly green as she studied the new boy. Something about the way he sat alone reminded her of herself when she first arrived. Nobody had wanted her around either.

Not until they learned what she could do.

Thunder and Whispers

Later that afternoon, Mariza crept down the back stairs toward the kitchen. She heard voices from the dining hall and paused.

"He probably stole something to get here," Jake was saying. "Runaways always do."

"That's not fair," Ava replied firmly.

Mariza peeked around the corner. Max sat alone at the far end of the long wooden table, picking at a sandwich. The other kids clustered at the opposite end, whispering and shooting looks his way.

She made her choice.

"Mind if I sit here?" Mariza asked, sliding into the chair beside Max.

He looked up, surprised. "You sure? Everyone else thinks I'm trouble."

"Everyone else doesn't know what they're talking about."

Max smiled for the first time since arriving. "I'm Max."

"Mariza."

The whispers from the other end grew louder. Sarah pointed at them and said something that made Jake laugh meanly.

"Ignore them," Mariza said, unwrapping her own sandwich. "They're just scared of anything different."

Outside, thunder rumbled. Through the tall windows, she could see dark clouds gathering fast over the stone walls of their hideout.