Edward shrugged. "I dunno. It might not if you were careful!" He said defending his answer. He rolled his eyes at her giggling. "Yeah get an adult to help. There's some that do jewelry stuff. You can ask them how they do it, but they might just kick you out cause you're not buying nothing."

As they walked, he'd cut through dark alleys to worse and worse parts of town. Sometimes he'd turn to go down a side path and immediately stop and pull her along to go another way without a word. "It's just a private place. An abandoned hole, yeah?" It certainly wasn't anything to be proud of other than it was his own spot he'd claimed in the world.

"I haven't. But that's cause they are bastards. And you're ok." He immediately shook his head. "Oh, lay off. We just met! I don't think it works that way." But he did pinken a bit at the concept. All the other friends he had were mostly younger kids trying to learn from him. She was the first kid to give him a gift and that he went out of his way to hang out with. She wasn't like the others who would fight like dogs to get a part of anything he managed to get, not to say he wouldn't do the same.

The idea that someone would kick Mable out just because she wouldn't or couldn't buy something from them offended her, but she supposed Edward was right.  People were so selfish, especially the ones well off enough to be selling jewelry.  She'd have to be very careful asking around, then.

Mable was oblivious to the worsening state of buildings around her and Edward as they walked, but she was very aware of the carefully chosen paths they took.  When some way looked too scary or dangerous or dark, Edward pulled her a different way.  The boy called Edmund would do the same thing, but with Edward as young as her, she didn't know if it was for her sake or his.

Maybe it was for the both of them.  They were just kids, out late after the sun set.  There were not many more stupid things in the world, but there also weren't many more fun things either.

"I think it works any way we'd like it to," Mable argued, but she wasn't upset by the other's words.  "If I had a secret place, I'd show you where it was too, because you're one of my very best friends, even if we did just meet.  But I don't have a secret place, not here anyway.  But if I did, you'd be the first and only other person to know!"

Edward listened to Mable and didn't know what to say. "Well, you don't look like you know a lot about friends. Friends can stab you in the back if you stick your neck out." He tapped his head as he walked and soon they went through really bad alleys. There were houses that were in varying degrees of derelict and run down. They sometimes saw a rat or stray animal run by. Once in a while, there were people noticed in the houses, many of them staring as they walked by.

"Really? You'd show me?" He seemed honestly surprised and quickly looked away. "Why would you? If it's your special space, you gotta.. you know. Keep it special." No one shared special stuff with him, and she had no reason to trust him.

Edward said she didn't know much about friends, and that was true, but she didn't think he did either if he was so surprised that they were.  Mable watched animals run by, scared of them, and wished they knew she only wanted to admire them and maybe pet them.  Instead, she pat Edward's head to satisfy her cravings.

"Why are you showing me to your special place?  If I know where it is, will it not be special anymore?  Or will it be more special?"

Ha!  Mable thought she sounded very clever with that question, and puffed out her chest like she thought Edward wouldn't be able to answer it.

Edward just continued on and finally went to a building where part of the roof had collapsed. There was a piece of rotten wood over the door that he used all of his body to push aside to make it wide enough to get in.

"It's still special, but it's special for me and you. So it's our special place. I still might have others. You don't know." He grinned trying to be all mysterious.

Mable was glad for the lack of light and her darker complexion.  Without either, she was certain her face would be a noticeable pink at Edward's words, even if they were teasing.

"You're right about that," she said, "I don't know.  But I don't need to.  Just having one special place for us is enough.  Where are we, anyway?"

The building did seem very friendly, but Mable trusted Edward.  She was careful to step only where he had, and kept her hands close to her chest as she followed the boy.

Edward looked over and frowned looking very embarrassed. "It's.. It's not a big deal! It's just so we can hang out. You don't got a place all your own so I'm letting you share one. That's.. all."

He shrugged. "Just an old place. Nowhere special. No one comes out here anyway. " While the roof was partially gone, the walls seemed secure and it was a dirt floor. He walked in and sat unceremoniously on a stone slab. "So what are we gonna do? I just wanted to show you the place so if you wanna go..we can. "

Mable stayed standing while Edward sat, but she did not look uncomfortable in the decrepit space.  Mostly, she seemed to be looking for another seat or a place where the dirt was not so loose that it would get on her dress.

"No, it's nice here.  Let's stay for a little.  May I see your knife?  You have me curious about it!"  She's seen knives before, but she couldn't imagine why Edward needed one.

Well, she could now that she was staring at his discolored eye again.  Worry flooded her anew, but she pushed it down.

Edward watched her stand and frowned. "Come on, sit. You're making me nervous!" He scooted over so she could sit beside him.

"Here, it isn't much." He pulled out a knife. It was a very old small kitchen knife that was rusty but the blade had scrapes as if someone was trying to sharpen it on any sort of uneven stone. Parts of the metal were also scratched and dented from him trying to play with it and throw it.

Mable sat quickly when Edward told her to, not wanting to upset him. She kept her legs together to take up as little space as possible.

With careful fingers, Mable took Edwards knife and turned it every which way to examine it. She really hoped he didn’t use it on those older boys that hurt him, but she couldn’t see any blood on it. Maybe she didn’t know what to look for, though.

“How cool, Edward! Do you know how to really use it? Even if you do, I hope you rarely need to…” She offered it back to him. “Show me something neat with it! Oh, only if you don’t mind, please!”