Page 65 of Legends and Librarians
First, I had some patrons to win over though.
“Why don’t you join Theo on the golem and see if that view is really worth it?”
Isolde grinned. “I think I’ll do that, thanks.”
She hurried over to where Anya was already being lifted up and the golem picked her up too.
“Room for one more?” I asked the golem, wanting to be close in case there were any more misunderstandings.
“You too?” The golem asked, bouncing happily. “Roan too!”
Then my feet left the ground as it whisked me into the air. The artists laughed as the golem took us around the mountain, showing off all the wonderful things they might never have noticed from the ground.
Chapter 23
Nyssa
The golem stood in front of me, regaling me with the great story of how he reprimanded the thieves who tried to steal his flowers. The three thieves in question didn’t really look ashamed though, their cheeks were rosy and their eyes were bright. They’d showed up at the library on the golem’s shoulders, looking like they’d just taken the ride of their lives.
“Care to explain?” I asked Roan.
“Well, let’s just say the golem showed them a whole new world,” he said, sheepishly rubbing the back of his head. “One full ofhisflowers.”
“Was that the whole mountain?” I asked softly and when Roan nodded, I sighed. “Golem, we’ve been over this. You can have some gardens, but not the whole mountain.” The artists perked up at that, so I turned on them next. “And you, this is a library. You can’t just steal from the grounds. Didn’t anyone ever teach you manners?”
“Sorry,” one of the women, Anya I think, said. “It won’t happen again.”
The other woman, Isolde, glared at Theo. “Definitely won’t happen again.”
I stared at the three of them, bracing my hands on my hips. This was a great opportunity to get their help with our PR issuesif we handled it properly.
“Golem, if they help us get patrons to the library, would you mind showing them where to pick flowers without disturbing the land too much?”
“Patrons? Library wants those...” The golem stared at the great book tree before letting out a raspy breath. “Fine. Golem will share.”
“Excellent,” I said with a smile. “Then will you three help us out with a little project in return?”
“Of course!” Theo said. “How can we help? A portrait maybe? Or a sculpture for the entryway? Maybe lawn art?”
Roan made a calm down motion with his hand. “I think the golem’s got the lawn handled. I’m guessing she wants help with those.”
He nodded at the so-called wanted posters they’d brought with them and at the ones Roan had gathered from town while the golem was giving them a tour. We’d been working so hard to repair the library so everyone could enjoy it, but we just kept running into new roadblocks. It was so frustrating.
“I can’t believe the adventurers’ guild would stoop that low,” I said, shaking my head. “What did we do to deserve that?”
The Demon Lord glared at one of the posters of himself. “Right? How dare someone make me look so...unsettling.”
My lips twitched. That particular poster made the Demon Lord look like he belonged on the cover of a dark romance novel, terrifying but handsome at the same time. It was the only one with enough detail to show that the artist had actually come face to face with the Demon Lord.
Before I could ask about that situation, he picked up another poster. “Now this one shows promise.” He pointed at the big sharp teeth drawn on his face like children’s art. “It has a fearsome aura, just like I deserve.”
I almost laughed, but his face was dead serious. He reallythought that was a better poster than the other one. Which made me a little sad for him. Why would he feel better about looking scary? Especially when it did nothing but hurt the library at this point.
“Why would anyone make these?” I asked softly. “Was it because of those scare tactics you guys told me about earlier?”
The story spirits froze, like I’d caught them doing something bad, then glanced away from me.
“Was what you did really that awful?” I asked. “I won’t judge you. We just need to know what we’re dealing with.”
