Page 64 of Legends and Librarians
Nobody except the forest golem who was looking at them like they were termites devouring his trees. Seriously, how clueless and inconsiderate could this guy be? The golem took another step toward them, reaching out its long arm as if to snatch one of them. Memories of the golem lifting Nyssa into the air like a ragdoll came to mind.
“Don’t even think about it!” I ran to catch up, headingstraight into the pond to shoo Mr. Clueless out. “Remember what Nyssa said. No scaring patrons!”
The golem sighed. “No patron. Thief.”
“I know,” I said, “but you still can’t scare him away.”
Isolde’s mouth dropped. “It talks?”
The golem ignored our conversation, grabbing Theo’s shirt and lifting him into the air. I winced. Nyssa was counting on me to be able to handle the story spirits when she wasn’t around and she was counting on them to behave for the good of the library. Right now, we were both failing miserably…
At least the golem had never actually thrown anyone off the mountain, just moved them somewhere away from what it cared about, so as long as they didn’t upset it more we should be fine.
I pulled out my sword anyway, just in case I needed to climb the golem like a mountain again, but paused when the other two artists stormed over.
“Wait, we’re not thieves,” Isolde told the golem. “Or we didn’t mean to be. What can we do to make it up to you?”
The golem glanced down at her as Theo hung limply in its grip. Oddly, he wasn’t screaming or trying to get away. He was gazing out at the mountainside in wonder, excitement filling his eyes like he’d never seen something so cool.
“I need some paper and a pencil,” he called down. “Paints too. All the colors we have. You should see the view from up here.”
Isolde groaned. “He’s gone mad. He’s literally dangling from a golem’s hand and all he wants to do is paint.”
“He’s amazing, right?” Anya said with a wistful look up at Theo. “But first you need to apologize before you get thrown off the mountain!”
It sounded like these two had their hands full with Mr. Clueless. He probably did things like this all the time, too oblivious to realize who he was upsetting until they pointed itout.
“Sorry,” Theo said softly. “I won’t do it again.”
I shook my head, sighing. Artists were so intense when they got inspired.
“Ask the golem for help,” I said. “It’s the only onewho can show you where to find good clay and plants that aren’t in its gardens. It will probably show you the best views too if you ask nicely.”
“Really?” Theo gasped. “Golem, you’re the only one who can help us.”
“I am?” the golem asked, then its eyes glowed brighter. “I am!”
As the golem lifted Theo to its shoulder,Isolde smiled just a bit. “So the golem isn’t really that dangerous then?”
“Not unless you take its flowers,” I said ominously. “But even then, the worst I’ve seen it do is gently set a librarian outside.”
“I see.” She pulled some paper out of her bag and handed it to me. “Then what are all these about?”
Terrifying drawings of the story spirits covered the pages along with detailed information of all the terrible things they’d do to you. Not that I believed any of them.
“Where did you get these?”
“They’re posted all around town,” Isolde said. “That’s why we avoided coming here for so long until we got desperate.”
The posters looked like badly drawn wanted posters for criminals and half of them didn’t even look remotely like the story spirits. But apparently people still believed them because everyone we’d met so far was terrified of the story spirits. If we wanted to save the library, we had to get the real story out there instead of the one these posters told.
“None of these are true,” I said before folding them up. “Do you know who put them up? Was it the adventurers’ guild?”
It was probably Jade, but I didn’t want to assume the worstof her. I wished we could go back to a time when we were friends, when we understood each other, but I wasn’t sure how to do that anymore.
Isolde shook her head. “Sorry, it might have been the adventurers’ guild, but I’m not sure.”
I really should go talk to Jade soon. If she had put up those flyers, it meant she was determined to undermine us. She was stubborn and never gave up on something she believed in, so until we won her over, she’d keep scaring the town away. There had to be some way I could reason with her, make her see the beauty of this library.
