“A huge win,”Sasha agreed.“Do you sense the spy?”
“Yes,”her dragon replied, her tone unhappy.“If we didn’t have to guard Noel, I’d confront the man and tell him to go away.”
“We’ll keep watching, but we’ll fool him. I’ll face Noel and keep an eye on him while you resettle and spy above my collar.”
“Plan,”her dragon said and resituated herself on Sasha’s back.
“Can you see anyone?”
“Not clearly. He’s hiding behind a bush and is inspecting us through one of those camera things.”
“All right. We’ll check him out once Noel is having his nap. We’ll pretend to work in the garden and sneak up on him.”
“That will be easy. All we need to do is follow his smell. It’s obvious he has no close acquaintance with soap.”
Noel walked the labyrinth three times, and Sasha strolled with him.
“Do you like your surprise?”
“Yes.” He beamed at her. “Walk again.”
“One more before you go for your nap. I thought I might teach you a new swimming thing at the beach. Would you like that?”
“Yes!”
“If the sun goes away, we’ll collect driftwood and shells instead. We can make a picture out of them.”
“Okay,” Noel said.
“That was easy,”her dragon said.
“He enjoys doing new things. Although it takes him a while to learn to do something, he gets bored if we repeat an activity too many times in a row.”
After Noel’s nap, the journey to the beach was slow because they came across a plant covered with ladybirds.
“Someone is still observing us,”Sasha said.“I haven’t spotted them, which is most frustrating.”
Her dragon issued a testy growl.“I can’t see them either.”
“Well, they’ll slip up, eventually.”
“What will we do when we catch them?”
“It depends on their purpose.”
Her dragon sniffed.“If our gorgeous form attracts them, they should come out of hiding and speak to us.”
Sasha bit back a grin.“I like Max.”
“I like Max too, which is why anyone else can look but not touch.”
Sasha cackled aloud at that one.
“Why are you laughing?” Noel asked.
“Because I’m happy. I don’t think we’ll swim today since it’s cooler, but we can paddle. And we can make a sandcastle or collect shells and driftwood.”
“You turn into a dragon today?” Noel asked.
