"Max?" Jondy had been so quiet that Max never noticed her as she had been watching her hand shaking.
A janitor came in seeing them and came over. "It's all right, child." He put a card in her hand. "She'll watch over you."
When he was gone the others came over to see what it was. "What did he give you?" Zack asked.
"A blue lady..." Max said staring at the card.
Ben took it. "She's watching over us, protecting us. She'll help us be good soldiers."
They had to hide the card. It was contraband. The last time had been a red balloon with 'Happy Birthday' written on it in white letters. Max had seen it first and Zack had gone up into the tree to retrieve it for her. It wasn't like anything they had ever seen before. It was bright and colorful. They didn't know what a 'birthday' was, but it was obviously something important. One look from Lydecker though had forced Max to let go of such a...nice thing.
Jondy cuddled under Ben's arm as he told her all about the Blue Lady, who she was and about the place she lived. The Good Place. They would go there one day. They could stay in bed as long as they wanted in the morning. Ben looked down at her. "We can stay in bed as long as we want." She smiled up at him. He ran a hand over her cheek, "Such big eyes."
"Jondy," they turned to see Zack. "Back to bed before anyone comes."
She reluctantly got up, not wanting to, but she couldn't tell Zack no. He was their leader.
Ben had come up with the idea of giving a tooth to make the Blue Lady stronger. He had made something up on the high place. He had figured out that he could open the window and climb up the drain pipe to a flat place on the roof. They put the card there. The Blue Lady. Along with other items they could take and no one would notice.
They had ordnance training that day. Jondy had a set look on her face as she carefully and meticulously disarmed the bomb that they had ticking down. She had approximately 30 seconds to do it and she felt sick in her stomach every time. The Blue Lady was watching over them. She was always watching over them. Ben believed that so ardently that she couldn't help but believe too. He inspired that in her.
They went up to the high place that night and pulled out a tooth to give to Ben. "Now she'll be stronger, she'll be able to protect us more." He looked so certain. Jondy took his hand and he smiled down at her. "She'll protect us, Jondy, she will."
"Could your eyes get any bigger, Jondy?" Brin asked grinning.
"Probably not," Kavi piped up.
They stood in line, eyes forward until Jack fell seizuring. Jondy glanced down since he had been standing beside her, but tried to keep her eyes forward. They picked him up dragging him out. Max had turned to look and was told to keep her eyes forward. He never came back.
"Why didn't she protect us?" Max wanted to know.
"I don't know, but I'm going to the High Place and I'll ask her." Ben said.
"Don't go, please don't go..." Jondy said. "I don't think you should."
He wanted to, but he couldn't say no to Jondy. She took him back to her bed and cuddled up with him. He waited until she was asleep. She woke up with Ben gone and Max at the window. There was shouting from outside and search lights. He had gone anyway. What had they done wrong? Why hadn't the Blue Lady protected Jack?