Page 72 of Fiendish Delights
Otis flapped his wings in delight and executed a perfect mid-air tumble. ‘A bookworm!’ He clapped his hands. ‘That’s a bookworm!’
‘That it is. Hello there, you,’ Hugo cooed at the creature. He gave a series of tongue clicks and the creature licked him again.
‘You, uh, speak bookworm?’ I asked.
‘I’m a bit rusty but I think I can manage well enough to get us what we need.’ He clicked his tongue again.
‘Amazing,’ Otis breathed. He looked at me. ‘Isn’t Hugo amazing?’
I was certainly surprised by him. ‘Um…’
‘It’s alright, Daisy,’ Hugo murmured. ‘You can express your wonder later.’ He stroked the back of the bookworm’s body. ‘These glorious little beings helped me immensely when I was young, but with the advent of the internet they’re rarely used nowadays. They’re probably quite happy about that – they don’t like new books or the chemicals used in modern paper. But they love old parchment and old books.’
He smiled. ‘And sometimes they’re more useful than Google. There are some corners that even the internet can’t get to but as long as you know the right questions to ask, you can get almost any information from these little guys.’
He held the bookworm up to his face and clicked his tongue again. Bafflingly, it seemed to understand. It tilted his head, appeared to nod then leapt away and vanished.
‘This won’t take long,’ Hugo said. ‘It’ll seek out the information we need and come back to tell us.’
‘I thought bookworms carried nasty diseases,’ Hester said. ‘And were vicious.’
‘Not true. They’re sweet, helpful creatures – once you get to know them. They’re usually quite reticent and prefer to stay hidden. It took me a lot of trial and error to learn how to talk to them, but it was worth it in the end.’
‘Was it?’ I asked. ‘Would it not have been faster to study the normal way like everyone else?’
He grinned. ‘Sure. But it would have been far less fun. And anyway, who wants to be normal?’
Just when you thought you knew a guy… ‘You have hidden depths, Hugo.’
‘Stick around, Daisy,’ he told me. ‘There’s no telling what you might find out.’
Chapter
Twenty-Three
Hugo’s confidence was merited: the bookworm came through and returned within twenty minutes. With the help of an old map spread out on the table, it pinpointed three separate locations all close to Strata Florida Abbey by tapping each spot carefully with its antenna. Alright, I admit it: I was impressed.
‘I gotta get me some bookworms!’ Hester crowed. ‘Imagine a whole army of them, seeking out all the knowledge that I require. The world will be mine for the taking!’
Hugo, Otis and I gazed at her. ‘What?’ she asked, innocently.
‘I didn’t realise you had plans to take over the world, Hes,’ Otis said mildly.
Hugo nudged me. ‘If I’d known we had a super-villain in our midst, I might have stayed at Pemberville Castle.’
‘What will you do once you’re queen of the world?’ I asked her.
She waved a tiny hand at us in irritation. ‘Whatever I want.’ She paused. ‘But there will definitely be dragons. Lotsof dragons.’
I’d heard of worse plans. ‘Well, until that glorious day let’s focus on the existing dragons and find the one who’s got our magic chess set.’ I pointed at the map. ‘We can drive to this village here and hike to each of the three sites to check them out.’
Hester started to tap dance. ‘Bring it on!’
I returned the books to Sandy and thanked her profusely while Hugo clicked his tongue some more at the tiny bookworm, presumably to express his gratitude.
The four of us headed out of the huge library with a noticeable bounce in our steps. This was good, very good. We were making excellent progress. There was still the tiny matter of persuading the dragon to hand over the chess set before she decided to turn us all into ash and cinders, but I’d worry about that later. It was important to celebrate every win, no matter how small.
Even Gladys seemed thrilled. The closer we got to Hugo’s Jeep, the more she hummed. By the time the battered vehicle was in sight, her blade was thrumming and sending tiny vibrations down my leg.
