Page 10 of Dawn Caravan
A flood of fierce protectiveness filled his mind and sharpened his senses. He noticed the chill in the air, the irregularity of the grass she ran on, and the shoelaces hastily tied. She could trip. She could injure a limb or her spine.
“Sadia, be careful.” He reached down and scooped her up. There. She was safe in his arms.
“I can’t believe you came home!” She was lisping a little through two missing teeth. “Do Baba and Mama know?”
Ben had no doubt that Giovanni and Beatrice were already aware he was on the grounds. They would have been informed by whoever was watching the cameras.
“I didn’t tell anyone,” he said. “I wanted to see you first.”
“Really?” Her smile was incandescent. “Look! Did you see my tooth?” She pointed to the gap where her two bottom front teeth had been. “I lost two now, but Carina says they’ll grow back.”
“I remember. You showed me when we talked on the computer, remember?”
“Oh right.” She wiggled down. “Want to see my bike?”
“Yes.” Ben followed her to the bright blue bike on the patio.
“Right now it has extra wheels, but when I’m bigger, Baba can take them off and then I’ll be able to go really fast.” She looked over her shoulder. “Want to see?”
“Definitely.” Ben crouched down and watched her take off on the little bike.
“See how fast I can go!” She was panting. “And I can go even faster in the front when Zain moves all the cars.”
“Be careful, okay?”
“I will!”
Ben watched her pedal three large circles on the patio before she climbed off. He saw curtains twitching on the second floor and knew Giovanni and Beatrice had spotted them, but thankfully they held back from coming down to the garden.
“Want to see my trampoline?” She bounced on her toes. “We just got it, but I’m already really good.”
Ben picked her up. He knew she didn’t need to be held, but he couldn’t help himself. She was so delicate but so full of life. His emotions were all over the place. He was happy. Ecstatic. He was sad he’d missed so many years. He wanted Tenzin to be there. He hated that he would never see Sadia in the sunlight again.
“I saw your trampoline.” He swallowed his emotions and focused on her. “Do you know any tricks?” They walked toward the far corner of the garden where a blue-and-red trampoline rose in the shadows of oak trees. A large net surrounded it, presumably to catch any errant bounces.
“I know tricks like jumping really high and doing the splits—”
“Really?
“Kindadoing the splits. And… mmm… spinning in the air.” She held her fingers straight up and twisted them. “Like I kind ofjump… and then I spin.”
“That’s amazing.”
She absently tapped his cheek. “Baba said you can fly now.”
He stopped in his tracks and forced himself to look at Sadia. “Uh… yeah. I can.”
Her eyes were wide but unafraid. “Can I see your teeth?”
Ben had avoided the request when she made it over video chat, but he couldn’t avoid it forever. Something about showing his fangs to Sadia made being a vampire even more real. That was who he would be from then on. A vampire to the world and to the smallest and most vulnerable member of his family.
“Do you really want to see them?” His voice was quiet.
She nodded forcefully. “Yes.”
“You’re not afraid?”
Sadia frowned like he’d spoken an unknown language. “Why?”
