Chapter 32: Manuel

Manuel stopped in his tracks. Hero? He looked down at the girl's slack face and found himself caught up in a moment of wonder.

He had never been anyone's hero before. Sure, he watched out for Miguel. That was his job as the bigger twin. And he liked to make sure that no one picked on the younger kids. But being a hero? Heroes were people like Archer O'Malley and Quinn Piers, or Minnesota who could do

anything with her hands. Or even the cool space captains in his favorite vids. But Manuel? He had never considered himself to be one of them before.

Never mind he knew what she was like, this spacer girl who was so mean to everyone and refused to help out. She was selfish and unkind and didn't care for anyone but herself. He knew why she was in the clinic, had seen her eyeing up the drugs the way his Uncle Andre looked at them, the uncle who died from an overdose a year ago. Manuel spotted her entering the clinic from the transport and leapt off to get her before anyone else did.