Free Hunters of Chaos by Crystal Velasquez

only one who wasn’t rich. “Is it an athletic scholarship? I saw Coach Connolly timing you.”
    â€œWell, track is why Temple recruited me. Coach works with me whenever she can to get me ready for the meets. I may even try for the Olympics someday. But the scholarship was a total surprise. You can’t believe much of what comes out of Lin’s mouth, but she was right that my parents live on a Navajo reservation. Last year, after I got the letter inviting me to Temple, I found out that this Navajo charity had given me a full scholarship. Good thing, too, since there’s no way we could have come close to affording it otherwise. The whole thing really freaked me out, though, since I hadn’t even applied. But my parents were so happy, I didn’t question it. And here I am.”
    I was floored.
    â€œThe same thing happened to me,” I said quietly.
    â€œYou got a full scholarship from a Navajo charity?” Doli raised one eyebrow skeptically.
    â€œNo.” I looked down and picked at the blades of grass in front of me. “I got one from my parents. They left me the money for tuition . . . in their will.”
    Doli’s face fell. “I’m so sorry,” she said. “I didn’t know.”
    â€œThat’s all right.” I shrugged one shoulder. “I live with my aunt and uncle now, and they’re great. My parents died a long time ago, when I was really little. I don’t even remember them, to tell you the truth. But I know they wanted me to come to Temple Academy. So here I am.”
    â€œHuh,” Doli said, swiping her forehead with her arm. “I guess that makes two things we have in common.”
    â€œTwo?”
    â€œYour necklace. It’s a cat, right?”
    I hadn’t realized that when I’d bent over to do the stretches, the necklace had fallen out of my T-shirt and was resting against my chest. I cradled it in my palm, the turquoise carving cool even in this heat. “It’s a jaguar. My aunt and uncle gave it to me. Aunt Teppy told me never to take it off so they could always be with me.” Feeling like I had just said something unforgivably lame, I added, “It’s a Mayan thing.”
    But Doli just nodded seriously as if she understood completely. She reached into her own T-shirt and pulled out a necklace. I couldn’t hide my surprise. She had an accessory after all. Dangling from the end of a thin leather loop was a small carving of a cat in midleap. “Must be a Navajo thing too, because my parents also gave me a cat to wear. Only, this one’s a puma.”
    â€œWhy did they give you a puma?” I asked.
    â€œThey said it was to keep me safe. My people believe that pumas are protectors—guardians. But really I think they just wanted to give me something that would make me feel close to them.”
    â€œYour mom and dad must miss you a lot. How far away is the reservation?”
    â€œThat’s just it!” Doli laughed. “It isn’t far at all. The reservation is right outside the Temple Academy grounds. If I had a pair of binoculars, I could probably see my parents from my room.”
    I laughed with her for a second, but my longing must have been written all over my face. Doli stood up and gazed down at me. “What’s the matter?”
    â€œNothing.” I ripped more blades of grass from the ground, shredding them into confetti. “I just wish my aunt and uncle were that close by. They’re all the way in Ohio, and I miss them like crazy.”
    It was a risk telling her these things. Not only had I revealed that I was from glamour-free Ohio, but I’d exposed myself as the homesick kid I was instead of the independent New York debutante I’d been pretending to be. But Doli and I had so much in common; somehow I knew she wouldn’t hold it against me.
    She drew her lips in with that same look of compassion I’d seen earlier in the