Page 71 of Property of Crypt Keeper

In a manner that belied her young age, she gestured vaguely. “People.”

I opened my mouth. Closed it. Opened it again. The child wasn’t wrong.

That was deeply irritating.

A little while later, she discovered my braid. This somehow led to her sitting behind me on the couch. I wasn’t entirely sure how that happened either. Tiny fingers worked carefully through my hair.

I sat frozen. Not because I minded. But because I didn’t know what the correct response was.

“You’re very serious,” Zara informed me as she dipped her upper body around me to look at my face.

“I’ve been told that,” I confirmed.

“Crypt is serious too.”

“Mm.” I had no clue what to say to this young… thing.

“But not all the time.”

I wasn’t sure where this conversation was going. Neither was I prepared for the next question.

“Were you lonely before you came here?”

I went still. Completely still.

The child’s hands paused briefly in my hair. Then resumed.

The question hit harder than it should have. Because it wasn’t asked maliciously. Or curiously. Just… honestly.

For a moment, I stared across the room, contemplating my answer. “Sometimes.”

A beat passed. Then Zara quietly said, “Me too.”

Something painful tightened in my chest. I suddenly understood why Gideon looked at her the way he did. Not because she was strange. Or powerful. Or possibly engineered.

Because she was a child. A lonely one.

And despite all the sass and teeth and attitude—that was still quite visible underneath.

“Most people don’t know what to do with me,” Zara murmured softly.

I swallowed. Because suddenly she didn’t sound at all like a five-year-old.

She sounded like me.

Years and years ago.

“Most people don’t know what to do with me either,” I admitted.

Zara considered that. Then smiled.

“See?”

“See what?”

“We’re both weird.”

At that, I couldn’t help it. I laughed. Actually laughed. The sound startled both of us.