Bennett smiled. “I haven’t traveled without an entourage in over three centuries. It’s just not one I advertise or acknowledge to Max or the council. If I did, the jig, as they say, would be up.”

“Holy crap,” Lisa said, gaping at Bennett. “Holy, holy crap.”

Bennett snorted, and then she did it again. “You knew there were more.”

“Yeah, but…but…”

“Let me guess? Holy crap?”

“Well, excuse me for being a little surprised,” Lisa said, playfully swatting Bennett’s arm. “How was I supposed to know?”

“You weren’t, and that’s the point. Just like us, those you mentioned, plus a few more that will be on the plane, live as mortals every day. They meld into their surroundings, going unnoticed and doing what’s expected of any run-of-the-mill mortal,” Bennett said, lowering her voice as a man walked by.

“But why are you telling me this? I thought no one was supposed to know their identities except for you.”

“You’re right, except I now have you in my life. There’s no way you wouldn’t have recognized some of them eventually, and since Ruby has already connected one dot, I’m sure once she’s out and about again, she’ll connect a few more.”

“What do you mean she connected a dot?”

“When we were in the concourse, do you remember seeing a woman with a lot of hair decorations and…um…brightly colored clothing? She most likely would have stood out.”

“Sure, she was wearing clunky platform shoes and had a huge purple Hawaiian Orchid stuck behind her ear. She was kind of hard to miss.”

“Her name’s Doreen, and she’s been Ruby’s best friend for several years.”

“Wait. What?”

“Believe it or not, neither of them knew the other was a daywalker. Ruby, as we know, hid her true self flawlessly, and Doreen is an expert at it as well, but Ruby recognized her as one of the daywalkers who assisted us at Napoleon’s.”

Lisa’s mouth dropped open. “You mean…you mean those people in the terminal were the ones who helped us that night?”