. . .

Tom turns on Maria.

“He doesn’t have to be,” Tom says. His eyes are intense. “He doesn’t have to be evil. He doesn’t have to be the Devil’s skin. He can just be him, no matter what you or he or anybody else says. So you shut up with your stupid death rays that don’t do anything and your ‘oh, you really are, aren’t you nee nee nee’ and you leave my little brother alone.”

Maria shrugs.

“I just wanted to know if I should set this thing to ‘holy,’” she says, mildly; but there’s two shots in a charge, and Tom’s standing right there, so she fires.

“Also,” says Tom, calmly, “As a general life lesson, never let a boy adventurer walk right past you and touch your gun. That’s just not cricket!”

<< . . .

. . . >>