Chapter 5

Did Dewey have a point? Maybe Devon was one of those nice guys who would turn out to be a serial killer. Maybe his good looks helped lure his victims.

Paige shook her head, dismissing the ridiculous idea.

"And why, pray tell, should I steer clear of Devon?" Paige asked as she stared up at the waxing gibbous moon partially obscured by a cloud. "He seems very nice. He helped me when I fell. He didn't complain when I stepped on his foot. He wasn't upset when my suitcase ran him down. And he even helped me repack. He seems like an all-around nice guy."

"You're just saying that because he's hot. If he was ugly and helped you pack, you wouldn't give him a second thought."

"That's so not true, Dewey."

"It is, Paige. I'm telling you. There's something wrong with that guy."

Paige rolled her eyes as they wandered down the street past the still-bustling coffee shop. "You're goofy. You just don't like him because he's good-looking."

"Not true!"

"Agree to disagree. Devon seems like a nice guy."

"Oh, really? If he's such a nice guy, why is he single?"

Paige wrinkled her nose at the question. "We have no idea that he is, actually. He may have a super-hot girlfriend that I've never met. It's not like I know him well."

The hoodie-clad individual approaching Paige furrowed his brow before crossing the street away from her.

"I'm talking on my phone!" she shouted after him.

"Nice going, Paige. Why don't you just announce that you have a talking dragon?"

Paige turned the corner. The library rose in front of her. Warm lights lit the front as the fall trees danced in the gentle breeze, sending orange and yellow leaves floating to the stone steps leading to it.

"Well, maybe if you were quiet instead of rambling on about how my hot neighbor is an issue, people wouldn't think I'm crazy."

"I doubt that. You do a pretty good job of proving you're crazy on your own."

Paige widened her eyes and shot an unimpressed glance at the carrier as she ducked into the alley leading to the back entrance. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I'm not traveling. Yes, I am. I'm going to Mexico with my cats. No, not with my cats. Just me," Dewey mimicked as Paige rolled her suitcase to a stop and dug in her bag for her keycard.

"I'm an introvert. I'm nervous, okay? It's normal." Paige waved her keycard in front of the reader and tugged the door open, rolling her suitcase ahead of her into the dim hall.

"Well, I'm just saying that you make yourself sound crazy enough without my help."

Paige blew out a long breath as she wound through the main library and entered the Hall of Former Librarians. After wrangling her luggage down the steps, she unlocked the archives and shoved her suitcase onto the metal platform.

She slouched Dewey's carrier off her shoulder and unzipped it.

The little dragon flew from within the bag. "Come on. Let's dump your stuff and get the mattress."

He flew toward his nest while Paige descended the circular, metal stairs, her bag clanging off them while she dragged it down to the cement floor below. She wound her way to the stairs leading to Dewey's nest and dragged the suitcase and duffel up while the remaining cat carrier banged off her hip with every step.

She reached the top, huffing and puffing as she wheeled the suitcase across his threshold and to her armchair. Dewey flew backward, struggling to drag a chair away from the fireplace in the corner.

Paige dumped the cat carrier on the floor and hurried to help him.

"I figured we'd put you here by the fireplace. You can turn it on if you get too cold." Dewey gasped as he tugged at the second chair.

"It's out of the way, too," Paige agreed as she scurried around to the opposite side and gave the chair a shove.

They cleared an area, tucking the chairs against the wall separating the living space from Dewey's bedroom.

"Okay," Dewey said, rubbing his paws together, "let the little monster out, and we'll get going."

"He'll be okay in the carrier. Come on. Let's head out."

Dewey waved a paw in the air, flying toward the carrier. "Don't be ridiculous. This is his home now, too. Let him out to explore."

He tugged the zipper open, and the tabby cat popped his head out, giving an annoyed grumble before leaping from the carrier.

"Have fun, buddy!" Dewey said with a grin before he zipped across the room and climbed into his own carrier. "Come on, Paige. Let's get your bed."

"Gosh, I think you're actually excited to have us stay here, Dewey," Paige said with a grin as she hefted the strap onto her shoulder and zipped the carrier closed.

"I am. Hey, while we're at the SmartMart, can we pick up a few things? Now that you're here, I'd like to do some baking."

"I won't say no," Paige answered as her feet hit the cement floor. "What do you have in mind?"

"Oh, I figured I'd bake some snickerdoodles, maybe a pie. We should grab hot chocolate mix. Oh, and spicy nuts. I make a mean spicy nut mixture."

"Careful, Dewey," Paige said as she pushed through the door and climbed the steps to the main library. "I may not leave."

They chuckled over the statement as Dewey detailed a list of ingredients on their way to the SmartMart. Within an hour, they'd loaded a cart with food items and an air mattress, checked out, and returned to Dewey's nest.

Paige dropped the air mattress box on the floor inside the door before delivering the other bags to the counter separating the kitchen from the living space. Dewey buzzed around the kitchen, stowing his baking materials in the cupboards.

Paige flipped open the box and tugged the flocked blue rubber from inside. She tossed the box aside and unrolled the mattress near the fireplace before pulling the inflating pump from another bag.

"Does it fit?" Dewey called over his shoulder as he shoved cayenne pepper into the cupboard and swung it shut.

"Yep! Just need to inflate it and get my sheets on, and I'll be all set."

She stuck the tube into the fitting on the air mattress and turned on the pump. A loud buzzing filled the air as the blue rubber rose from the floor. Paige stood, pushing the legs of her sweatpants down farther.

"So, what are you making for breakfast?" she asked as she leaned her elbows against the counter.

Dewey glanced at the clock on the oven. "Wow! What a party. We stayed up almost all night."

"Yep. We can get a few hours of sleep in before we report to work. But I'm hungry."

Dewey flitted across the kitchen and tugged open the stainless steel refrigerator. He set out a carton of eggs, a package of bacon, and a loaf of bread.

"How do you like your eggs? I always like them fried in bacon grease, but that's me."

Paige's jaw dropped open, and her eyes went wide. "Really?"

"Sure. I keep a jar of bacon grease at all times." He peeled open the package of bacon before flitting across the room to tug a frying pan from under the cooktop.

He set it on the black glass and tossed several slices of bacon into it before swiping at the controls to set the bacon frying.

Paige wandered back to the mattress and tested it before shutting off the pump and wrapping the cord around it.

She snapped a fitted sheet onto it before fluttering a sheet over it. "So, what references should we be looking at to find a cure for this incurable wound?"

"I've got a few ideas on where we should look. The reference I looked at to make the first salve was quite old. And I only checked a few other places. We can start with a more exhaustive search of the magical archives."

Paige tucked in the corners and stretched a comforter over the queen-sized mattress before tossing two pillows at the top near the fireplace. "Those are the floating books, right?"

"Yep, the floating bookshelves in the center near the BookTron." Dewey pushed around the crackling bacon with a large fork as it cooked.

"Mmm," Paige said, sniffing the air as she wandered back over and collapsed on a stool across from Dewey. "That smells delicious."

He perched on a stool, adding more bacon to the pan.

Paige glanced around the room. "I can't believe Dickens isn't in here begging for some."

Dewey scanned the living area. "Maybe he fell asleep in my nest. Gee, I hope he didn't get fur all over my velvet blanket."

"He probably did."

Dewey wrinkled his nose. "I'll need to bust out my handheld vac."

"Are you allergic?" Paige asked, her brow crinkling as she rose to her feet in search of the cat.

"No. I just don't know how I feel about cat fur clumped on my beautiful velvet weighted blanket."

"I'll clean it off," Paige promised as she stepped onto the burgundy rug. "Dickens? Dicky?"

She squatted down to glance under the chaise, finding nothing. She tugged up the skirt around the barrel armchair she used.

"Find him?" Dewey called.

"Nope. I bet he's curled in a nice warm ball in your nest." Paige climbed to her feet and headed to the door, waving a finger at it. "Do you mind?"

Dewey motioned for her to head in. "Not at all. Go ahead."

Paige stepped through the door. "Dicky!"

"Clean up any fur he got on my velvet blanket, please," Dewey called after her.

"Dickens?" Paige called again as she scanned the space.

She lifted her chin to peer into the nest, not finding the fur ball anywhere. She puckered her lips, skirting the circular bed and tossing a few pillows aside. She lifted the blankets and peered underneath in search of the feline.

She sank to her knees, peering across the floor, under dressers, and the nightstand.

No sign of the cat existed.

Paige wrinkled her nose as she straightened, tossing her ponytail over her shoulder.

She shambled back into the living room, shrugging as she entered. "Not there."

"Was there fur on the blanket?"

"I didn't see any," Paige answered as she slumped onto the stool and sank her chin into her palm.

After a second, she let her arm slap against the countertop. "Where could he be? I wonder if he got out into the archive."

"Oh, maybe," Dewey said as he cracked the eggs into the bacon grease.

They crackled as their edges curled, turning crispy and brown.

"I guess I should go find him."

"Wait until you finished your breakfast," Dewey said, buzzing toward the toaster to butter the toast before he darted back to the pan.

He spooned hot bacon grease over the top of the egg yolk, cooking it without hardening it.

With a flick of the spatula, he scooped two eggs out of the grease and slid them onto a plate before he glided the plate across the counter toward Paige.

She grabbed a fork and dug in as he cooked his own eggs, polishing off a few slices of bacon and one egg before he joined her at the counter to eat.

"Okay," Paige said as she bit into a slice of bacon. "So, we need to consult the magical archives."

Dewey nodded, dipping a slice of toast into the runny yolk. "Yep. With any luck, we'll find an enchantment that'll just cure this thing once and for all."

"And if we don't?"

Dewey's fork rocked back and forth on the plate as he cut away a slice of egg white. "We'll need to cobble one together."

Paige choked as she swallowed some of her orange juice. "What?"

"We'll have to take bits and pieces of one and create a new enchantment."

Paige stared at him, her jaw gaping open. "Uh, no. We're not trying some experimental enchantment on me and hope it works. Pass."

"Consider the alternative," Dewey said as he tore another slice of buttered bread in half.

"What if it goes wrong? I don't want to be worse off. Or forever changed somehow."

"We'll be careful."

"Right," Paige said with a curt nod. "Just like when you made me the slime and estimated my weight at 250 pounds, and I got high. Or the time your hand slipped, and you gave me too much Seepy Sap, and I melted into a puddle. Forgive me if I'm feeling less than confident."

"Relax, Paige. Both of those were accidents that will not happen again."

"I'll relax when I'm cured and not turned into a toad."

Dewey wrinkled his nose, his horns wiggling. "What's wrong with being a toad? Some of my best friends are toads."

Paige froze as she mopped up the last of her egg yolk with a piece of toast. "Seriously?"

"Yes, Paige," Dewey snapped, "way to think humans are just the end all, be all."

He shook his head and rolled his eyes.

Paige collected her plate and utensils and sauntered to the sink to wash the dishes with her lips pressed into a thin line. "Sorry. I'm still getting used to this whole magical world stuff."

"Maybe try not judging other creatures to start with. Just sayin'."

Paige shot him a look over her shoulder as she dumped her plate into the dish drainer and moved on to the pan. She finished the cleanup while Dewey flitted over with his dish. She washed it while Dewey dried the other dishes and put them away.

"Now to find Dickens. I can't believe he never came in with that bacon cooking. He must be really deep in the archives," Paige said as she dried her hands on a dish towel.

"I'll help you look," Dewey said, shoving the last plate onto the stack in the cupboard.

They crossed the room, and Paige dug through her duffel bag in search of a bag of treats. "He loves these. Maybe they'll help lure him back."

"Good idea."

They stepped out of the nest. Paige scanned the archives below in search of the small animal.

"I don't see him," Dewey noted as he flew alongside her.

"Me either," Paige said with a sigh. "I guess I'll go that way, and you take the other direction."

"Okay. Meet back in the middle in fifteen?"

"Sounds good," Paige said.

Dewey buzzed off in the direction he'd agreed to search as Paige circled her way around the nest, descending to the floor below.

She hit the smooth cement and wandered in the opposite direction from Dewey, shaking the treat bag. "Dickens! Here, kitty, kitty!"

She shoved her glasses farther up her nose as she wandered into the stacks, glancing up and down each aisle when she passed it.

"Dicky! Come on, kitty! I have your favorite treats!"

She rounded the corner and continued into another section of the archive. "Dickens!"

She shook the treat bag again.

A loud noise echoed throughout the space.

Paige clamped her hands over her ears, squeezing her eyes closed at the thundering sound.

"What was that?" she asked herself as she slowly lowered her hands. She wandered a few more steps into the offshoot of shelves. "I wonder if a storm blew in."

She took a few more steps down an aisle before she rounded the corner. She stopped dead, her eyes growing wide as her neck craned upward.

The treat bag fell from her hands, and she swallowed hard at what stood in front of her.

Paige stumbled back a step. Her jaw fell open, and her heart pounded against her ribs. She swallowed hard as her limbs turned to jelly.

Another loud noise rumbled the chamber, and she clamped her hands over her ears as she attempted to back away from the scene and backtrack into the archive in search of Dewey.

She squeezed her eyes closed for a moment until the noise stopped reverberating. She lifted one eyelid then the other and stared up.

Dickens licked a paw and raked it over his face. Except this wasn't a normal version of Dickens. A massive, oversized cat stood in front of her.

The tips of his ears grazed the top of the ceiling as he sat with his tail swishing and groomed himself.

"Oh no," Paige murmured as she tried to back away again.

Before she could clear the corner, Dickens spotted her. He meowed, the sound so loud it pierced her ears and shook the containers on the shelf.

"Dewey!" Paige screamed. "I found him, but we have a problem!"