CHAPTER 2

Diego did not move. He stood there with his hands in the pockets of his expensive blue shorts. He looked at me with those dark, sharp eyes. He looked like he was deciding whether to crush a bug or let it crawl away. Mateo’s hand was sweating against mine. I could feel his fingers trembling just a little bit. He was trying to be brave for me, but we were both terrified of his father. The Patron was a man who did not like his sons mixing with the help.

"What do you want, Diego?" Mateo asked. His voice was thick and low. He moved his body more to the left to make sure Diego could not even see my face.

Diego took a step forward. He reached out and touched a leaf on the rose bush next to him. He pulled the leaf off and started to rip it into tiny little pieces with his fingernails. He watched the green bits fall onto his shiny black shoes. "I want to know why you are hiding. I want to know why you are giving her things that belong to this family. That bird is not hers. It is ours."

I felt a cold shiver go down my back. I looked at the mossy stone bench where we had hidden the blue glass bird. I thought I could see the edge of the stone was not perfectly flat. My heart started to beat even faster. It felt like a drum hitting my chest. I wanted to run. I wanted to find my mother in the kitchen and hide behind her apron. But I was stuck. If I moved, Diego would know I was scared. And Diego was like a wolf. If he knew you were scared, he would bite.

"It is just a toy, Diego," Mateo said. He was trying to sound like he did not care. "It is trash. Father was going to throw it away. I was just showing it to her."

"You are lying," Diego said. He dropped the last piece of the leaf. He looked at me again. He didn't look at Mateo. He only looked at me. "You like her. You think she is your friend. But look at her clothes, Mateo. Look at her dirty hands. She is a servant. She is here to clean up after us. She is not here to play."

I looked down at my hands. They were a little bit dirty from the garden dirt. My fingernails had a little bit of brown under them. I felt a hot wave of shame go from my neck up to my cheeks. I felt small. I felt like the trash he said I was. I wanted to pull my hand away from Mateo’s, but he held on tighter. He wouldn't let me go.

"She is my friend," Mateo said loudly. The sound of his voice echoed off the high stone walls of the mansion behind us. "And if you tell Father, I will tell him about how you broke the window in the library last week. I will tell him it was you, not the wind."

Diego stopped smiling. His face went very still. The two brothers looked at each other. It was like a silent war between them. I stood there, caught in the middle. I looked at the grass. I looked at a small ant crawling over a pebble. I wished I could be that ant. I wished I could just disappear into a hole in the ground.

"You would choose her over your own brother?" Diego asked. His voice was not loud anymore. It was quiet and very scary. He walked closer until he was standing right in front of Mateo. They were so close their chests almost touched. "You would protect a ghost instead of your own blood?"

"I am protecting my friend," Mateo replied.

Diego looked over Mateo’s shoulder. He looked right into my eyes. For a second, I saw something strange in his face. It was not just mean. It was something else. He looked lonely. He looked like he wanted to be the one sitting on the bench. He looked like he hated that I was looking at Mateo with love and looking at him with fear.

"Fine," Diego whispered. He reached out and grabbed a handful of my hair. He did not pull it hard, but he held it firm. I gasped and my eyes filled with tears.

"Let her go!" Mateo shouted. He pushed Diego’s hand away.

Diego laughed, but it was a dry and hollow sound. "I will not tell Father. Not today. But you owe me, Mateo. And she owes me too."

Diego turned around and started to walk away. He walked slowly, kicking at the dirt with his expensive shoes. He did not look back. We watched him until he disappeared through the big glass doors of the mansion.

I let out a long breath. I felt like I had been holding it for an hour. My legs felt like water. I sank down onto the mossy bench and put my face in my hands. I started to cry. It was a quiet cry, the kind of cry a ghost makes. I didn't want anyone to hear me.

"Don't cry, Valeria," Mateo said. He sat down next to me. He put his arm around my shoulders. He was warm, and he felt like a shield. "He is gone. He won't tell."

"He hates me," I sobbed. I wiped my nose with the back of my hand. "He thinks I am trash. He is going to get me kicked out. My mother will lose her job and we will have nowhere to go."

"I won't let that happen," Mateo said. He reached down and pulled the stone away from the bench. He took out the blue glass bird and put it back in my hand. "I am the oldest. One day, I will own this house. I will be the boss of Diego. And when that day comes, you will never have to be afraid of him again."

I looked at the blue bird. It was still beautiful. It was still shining. But the garden did not feel safe anymore. The red roses looked like drops of blood. The high walls felt like they were closing in on us. I looked at Mateo. He was smiling at me, trying to make me feel better. But I could see the worry in his eyes too.

"We should go back," I whispered. "My mother will be looking for me. If she finds me here with you, she will be so scared."

"Okay," Mateo said. He stood up and helped me to my feet. He brushed some dirt off my dress. He looked at me for a long time. "Hide the bird well, Valeria. Don't let anyone see it. It is our secret. It is the only thing that belongs just to us."

I nodded. I tucked the bird into the deep pocket of my dress. I felt the weight of it against my leg. It was heavy and cold. I turned and ran through the bushes. I ran past the fountain and the statues of the stone lions. I didn't stop until I reached the small, dark room near the laundry where I slept.

I went inside and shut the door. I sat on my small cot and pulled the bird out. I stared at it for a long time. I could still feel the place where Diego had touched my hair. It felt like a burn. I realized that the mansion was not just a house. It was a board, and we were all pieces in a game. Mateo was the king, and I was just a pawn. And Diego? Diego was the one who wanted to change all the rules.

I hid the bird under my thin pillow. I lay down and closed my eyes. I could still hear the sound of the wind in the rose bushes. I could still see Diego’s mean smile. I knew that tomorrow would come, and we would have to play the game all over again. But for tonight, I just wanted to dream of a place where blue birds could fly away and never have to hide under a stone.