“I see,” Sasha said. “That’s what happens when you’re mean-spirited.”
“Mean-spirited,” Noel parroted.
Sasha paused, her hand on the front door. The stranger had stood right here—she could smell him. His scent covered the wood as if he’d tried to push the door. The weight of a stare at her back told her the man or someone else was watching again.
“I’m tired of this,”her dragon said.“I wish they’d show themselves so we could goBuffyon their butts. We need to find one of those wooden stake things. Where do you buy those? Will Justine, The Smart Computer, know?”
“I think stakes only work for vampires. We’d need to see this watcher’s teeth first.”Sasha unlocked the door and ushered Noel inside.
“Is my surprise here?”
“No,” Sasha said. “We’ll have a drink and a sandwich first, then I’ll show you your surprise. I suspect you’ll want to play with it for a while before you have your nap.”
“Don’t want a nap,” Noel said in his usual protest.
“Remember the Sasha rules. No nap. No beach.”
He frowned, his nose wrinkling.
“We have the same discussion every day,”her dragon complained.
“He’s no different from us when we were his age,”Sasha said.“Remember?”
“Oh. Yeah. We still tell our mother no.”
“The difference being that we’re no longer a child.”
“We are in dragon years,”her dragon pointed out.
“True, but we’re not on Perfume Isle at present, so the rules don’t apply. I hate the thought of worrying our parents and brothers, but I love the freedom we have to make our own decisions.”
Sasha made a cheese and pickle sandwich for Noel and another for herself.
“What did you do at kindy today?”
“Teacher told story about mean boy and girl. Didn’t like them.”
“I see. Did you draw pictures today?”
“Painting with fingers,” Noel said. “Wore smocks over clothes. Used fingers.”
“That sounds like fun, and it also explains the red and the purple paint under your fingernails, young man.”
Noel giggled, and Sasha smiled.
“Surprise?” Noel asked.
She tweaked Noel’s nose. “You have a one-track mind, mister. Okay. Let me clear the table and put everything away.”
Five minutes later, Sasha steered Noel outside. “I made you a labyrinth,” she said. “It’s different from the one at the castle. Do you like it?”
When Noel didn’t comment, she said, “Let me show you how it works.”
Sasha took his hand and led him to the starting point. “The short grass is the path, and the long is the boundary. Do you see?”
He clapped his hands in clear approval and started ambling, using the same focus he had the previous night when walking the labyrinth with Max.
“It’s a win,”her dragon said.“He still limps, but he seems stronger from the daily exercise.”
