“Too slow!” Aaron darted around a hedge, he leapt at Octavia and Henry, and he slapped Henry on the arm as he reached them both. “Got you.”
“Not fair,” Henry pouted. “Octavia –”
“Miss Finch, thank you,” she corrected her little brother.
He pouted. “Miss Finch…”
“My turn, my turn!” Aaron demanded, getting ready to run. “Chase me.”
“Easy now…” Octavia released her brother and rested a hand on Aaron’s shoulder. “You have a game to win first, don’t you? Unless you want Henry to beat you?”
Aaron snorted. “He won’t. I’m too smart.”
She scoffed. “That sounds like giving up to me.”
Her words had the desired effect. Aaron was not a naughty child by nature. He did not misbehave because he enjoyed it. Whathe wanted was attention, and challenging him like this was the perfect way to give it.
“I am not!” he cried. “I only have one more to go.” He whipped out a piece of parchment from his pocket, one of the clues. “See!”
“And why are you standing around here, then?” She raised an eyebrow at him. “Or do you need Henry’s help?”
His eyes turned wide, he looked about to object, then his brow furrowed, he glared at Henry, and he took off. As he did, she saw him reading the clue, just as she saw him already on the way to the next one.
“And how are your clues?” Octavia said to Henry.
He grimaced and fumbled in his pocket for a little slip of paper. “I… I think I understand it.”
“Do you want some help?”
“No.” He furrowed his brow with determination. “I can do it.”
She laughed. “I believe you can. Just as I believe you can beat Aaron.” She winked, and her brother beamed. “How is Aaron? You two seem to be getting along.”
“He’s fine.” Henry shrugged. “He just has so much energy.”
“He does,” she agreed with a chuckle. “But I think he likes you. And he looks up to you.”
“No, he doesn’t.”
“You’re older than he is,” she said. “One year might not seem like a lot, but it is. Half of what he says and does is him trying to impress you.”
“Really…”
“Use that information wisely,” she said with another wink. “Now, hurry along. You can’t have him beating you.”
Henry jumped on the spot, his eyes wide as if with worry, then he took off across the garden.
She watched the two boys eagerly decipher their clues as they moved around the garden. No doubt, Aaron was better at this, just as he was likely going to win. But it did not matter who won, and Octavia would be sure to tell them both at the end of the day. What mattered was that they had fun… and that they learned something in the meantime.
It was twenty minutes later when Aaron sprinted toward her. He had a piece of paper in his hand, and he waved it excitedly in the air. “I won! I won!”
“Do you think so?” She folded her arms and looked down at him. “Then what are you coming to me for? Why aren’t you racing to the finish line?”
He came to a sudden stop, suddenly hesitant. “I think… You are the finish line?” A glance at the piece of paper in his hand. “Isn’t that what this means? It’s you?” He held the piece of paper out to her. “Dask… daskalos,”he sounded out the word. “It means teacher.”
She beamed. “Right you are!”
As Arron stood proudly, no doubt thrilled that he had won their little game, Octavia noticed something out of the corner of her eye. It was movement, coming from the topmost window of the mansion. She thought it was a curtain billowing in the window, but a quick glance confirmed that it was the Duke watching them in the shadows.