Page 61 of Legends and Librarians
But the knight was still standing behind my arm like a barricade as he fought the air, muttering curses. The writer hadn’t noticed at all, barely deigning to look at the knight like a real person. Nyssa had though, glancing at us with a concerned crease in her forehead.
“This has been fun,” she said to the writer, “but we’ve got a lot to do still. I hope you tell all your friends about how wonderful the Misty Mountain Library is though!”
My shoulders relaxed. Of course she wouldn’t have asked a guy like that to help us, I’d been worried for nothing. The knight climbed onto my shoulder as we got up to leave, but the guy grabbed Nyssa’s arm.
“Don’t you want a writer to sponsor your library?” he asked.“That’s why you’re here, right?”
Okay, he’d crossed the line now. Grabbing two people without their consent right in front of me was just too much.
“We don’t need somebody as handsy as you.” I glared at his tight grip on Nyssa’s arm. “If you don’t want to revisit that duel scenario, I’d think twice about who you touch.”
“Agreed,” Nyssa said, moving a bit closer to me. “Sorry, you’re not the right fit for us.”
He dropped his hand. “Fine, whatever. I bet the books don’t even come to life and this was all a joke anyway.”
“Oh, they come to life,” I said, “but a guy like you doesn’t deserve to meet them. Not after how you treated Sir Reginald the Third.”
The knight gasped. “Sir Roan, you finally know my name?”
As the writer walked off, Nyssa leaned in close to whisper to the knight. “I caught him reading your book earlier.”
“It was just sitting in front of me,” I said, scratching the back of my head. “It doesn’t mean anything.”
“Oh, it definitely means something.” Nyssa laughed, linking her arm through mine. “I think you secretly love the knights.”
“Is it true, Sir Roan?” the knight asked. “Do you want to join our knightly ranks? We’ve been searching for our long-lost King and many think you might be him.”
“Whoa, nobody said anything about that,” I said with a laugh. The sun was beginning to set, casting the festival in a warm glow of oranges and yellows with just the barest hint of pink. We should get back before nightfall. Ghosts might not inhabit the Misty Mountain like the townsfolk thought, but that didn’t mean trudging through the forest in the dark would be fun. “Let’s head out for today. We can try again tomorrow.”
Nyssa nodded. “Maybe bringing a story spirit was a bit too much.”
The knight sighed so softly it wouldn’t have been audibleif he wasn’t on my shoulder. Being small was probably already tough enough, but feeling useless had to be way worse. Nobody deserved to feel like that, especially when they tried as hard as the knight did.
“Sir Reginald the Third played his part admirably,” I said. “If not for him, we wouldn’t have known what a total creep that guy was.”
The knight puffed up a bit.
“He was kind of weird,” Nyssa said, frowning.
“Man, I was really worried when I thought you might ask him to sponsor the library,” I said as we walked out of the festival courtyard.
“Really? Why didn’t you say something then?”
I shrugged, glancing away from her. “It’s your library, figured you should decide.”
Nyssa gripped my arm a bit tighter. “It’s your library too, you know. I see how much you care about the story spirits, whether you want to admit it or not, so you can speak up if you feel like something’s off.”
The story spirits honestly had been growing on me. From playing fetch with Cerbie, to the knights secretly training beside me, to Mochi always ready with a heartfelt snack. They were all so kind and genuine. Heck, even the Demon Lord had his good points, defending the library whenever he thought somebody might harm it. I might not like the guy, but I could respect that.
“Okay,” I said slowly. “I’ll say something next time something feels off.”
“Good.” Her smile was like the sun peeking out on a rainy day, bright and full of hope. “Now, let’s head home.”
Home.
I liked the feel of that word far more than I should.
Chapter 22
