Page 9 of The Beast's Heart

“Um, hello Enrique.” I smile at him. “My name is Jonathan.”

He takes a step back from me.

“You don’t need to be scared. I’m a friend.”

He looks around wildly and starts crying again, his cries rising in volume and pitch.

“Well, you’re no help at all,” Geoff says somewhere behind us.

Enrique darts away from the comforting hand I was reaching out and sprints off in the direction of the stairs. The older child curses and takes off after him. Before either of them reach the end of the passage, the other two children come into view.

Enrique bounds up to them and wraps himself around the legs of the eldest child. She’s a teenager, with dark skin and dark hair tied back in a tight braid. She looks down at him fondly, running her fingers through his hair. The fourth child is another boy—pale from head to toe, probably eight or nine, and wearing a bowtie. He takes me in, staring unabashedly. His eyes are the clearest blue I’ve ever seen.

I hold up my hand in greeting. “I’m Jonathan Belle, your new teacher. Good to meet you.”

“Geoff said we were getting an old guy,” the pre-teen says, coming to my side and looking me up and down. The look isn’t nearly as intimidating as he probably means it to be, given that he only reaches my shoulder.

“Manners, Malakai,” Meredith scolds.

“I’ve been told I act like an old guy, if that’s any consolation?” I offer.

The boy pulls a face. “What does con-sol-ation mean?”

“Well, it generally means making someone feel better.”There. Lesson one done.

“Why not just say that, then?”

“Malakai,” Meredith warns. Her voice isn’t loud, just firm, but he flinches.

“No, it’s okay,” I assure her. “The wonderful thing about English is that it’s so varied. There are hundreds of ways to say what you mean. It’s really up to you which variation you prefer. For instance, just now when you swore…”

His gaze shutters as if sensing he’s about to be in trouble.

“...that was one of many ways you might have expressed your frustration. While I’m here, I hope to teach you some better ones.” I give him a smile.

He scowls at me as if I’m the one who just let loose a string of curse words.

Meredith sighs. “Children, I was hoping we could do this around the dinner table rather than hanging about the hall, but never mind. Why don’t you introduce yourselves to Mister Belle?”

The girl goes first. “I’m Alisha.” She gestures to Enrique, still firmly wrapped around her. “This is Enrique. He doesn’t talk.”

Geoff is leaning against the wall with his arms folded. “She insisted Beast take the kid. Wouldn’t come without him.”

She stiffens and pulls Enrique a little tighter to her. I feel her embarrassment second hand. Couldn’t Geoff have waited until we were alone to say something like that?

“I’m sure he didn’t mind taking both of you,” I say. “This place is certainly big enough.” I turn to the pre-teen still standing at my shoulder. “Your name is Malakai?”

“Mal. Your name is bell? Like ding-dong?”

“With an ‘e’ on the end, but said the same, yes. I don’t mind if you want to call me by my first name.”

He shrugs like he doesn’t care either way.

“And what’s your name?” I ask the blond boy, who’s still staring at me.

“Ben. I like your suit.”

I smile again. “Thank you. I like your bowtie.”

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