Page 19 of Dawn Caravan
Sadia attended the discreet and very private school that Ben had also attended as a child. It was run by and for the day people of immortal clans. All the children knew about vampires, and none of them had to hide their unusual families or parents’ jobs from unknowing classmates.
“When do you think she’ll be ready to hide things?”
Beatrice snorted. “Never? I’ve never met a blunter child.”
“Not even me?”
“You?” Beatrice looked at him from the side of her eyes while she kept her focus on Sadia. “You were the opposite of blunt. You were the most politic teenager ever. You wanted to make everyone happy and get your way at the same time.”
“Isn’t that everyone?”
“Maybe.” Beatrice narrowed her eyes. “But you weren’t manipulative. You never did anything you thought would hurt people. You just… tried to cheerfully arrange the people in your life so you got the exact outcome you wanted.”
Ben frowned.But wasn’t that how everyone worked?
“Don’t get me wrong, you were a great kid. But more than once, I caught you doing something, started to object, then realized you’d actually gotten me to give you permission in some tricky way.”
Ben smiled. “I did get away with a lot.”
“And your uncle didn’t help. He treated you like a miniature adult. Tenzin—” She broke off and clapped for Sadia when she surfaced at the end of the pool. “Good job, Sadia!”
The little girl panted. “Okay, I’m coming back now.”
“Then we need to go read before bed.”
The little girl gave a pained expression. “Nooooo.”
“Yes.”
Sadia looked at Ben.
He shook his head. “Don’t look at me, kid. I can’t overrule her.”
Sadia whispered loudly, “But you can fly me away and hide me.”
Ben chuckled. “Tomorrow night.”
She perked up. “Promise?”
Beatrice shrugged when Ben looked at her. “It won’t be the first time she’s flown.”
“Because Tenzin flies me!” Sadia flung herself back into the pool.
“What were you going to say?” Ben asked. “About her?”
Beatrice looked at him, then looked away. “Just that…” Her voice was flat. “She never seemed to realize you also weren’t an adult. She never treated you like a child.”
Mentally, Ben couldn’t help but think:Since we’ve had sex, it would be super weird if she had. Definitely, majorly weird.“To be fair, I wasn’t exactly a normal sixteen-year-old.”
He’d killed for the first time when he’d been sixteen. It wasn’t the first time he’d seen someone die, but was the first time he’d killed someone.
“I know you weren’t,” Beatrice said. “But I tried to give you something approaching a normal childhood.” She reached for Sadia and lifted the little girl out of the pool. “Is she a girl or a fish?” She turned her back and forth, pretending to check her neck. “Ben, do you see any gills?”
“I think she hides them.” He walked over and pushed Sadia’s dripping hair out of the way. “Where are they, Sadi?”
Sadia laughed. “I don’t have gills.”
“I don’t know…”
