Chapter Twenty-Five
Feasting and Bragging
When they got back to camp, the train platform was filled with the pounding beat of music. Hero ran up ahead, yelling at the kids nearest the music player to shut it off, but Valentina staggered to a stop. It was all too familiar, the young warriors dancing together, bare limbs twining up to the sky, feet stomping with the beat.
It was just like the party she had crashed looking for her brother, all the cartel brats celebrating their victorious street fight. Only these kids were celebrating a battle they hadn’t even fought yet, let alone won.
And now that she was looking with those eyes, she started noticing other details. The scars that clearly hadn’t come from rat fights. The violent nature of a lot of the designs inked on their clothing or o
