4. Paige
Paige
M y head is throbbing by the time I close out of the application submissions program and lean back in my—Hoc’s—chair.
It’s just past lunch time, and my stomach is already growling.
But, knowing I have only so much time in a day, and since I’d really love to get to bed before midnight, I reach into the drawer and pull out a granola bar.
I’ve no sooner torn into the wrapper than someone is knocking at my door.
“Come in,” I call out, setting the granola bar aside with a disappointed glance.
Blossom breezes in with a cardboard box, and the aroma of hot pizza fills my lungs. My mouth fills with saliva, and my stomach burns with hunger.
“Hello, fearless leader,” the unicorn shifter greets with a smile.
Her stark white hair is up in a high ponytail, and she’s wearing the same black combat boots I’ve come to know as her signature look.
Blossom is one of two keepers assigned to patrol the Athenaeum’s most volatile shelves, and she’s damn good at her job.
That is until I came along and screwed everything up.
Truth be told, the library should have chosen her instead of me.
Not that she’d want the position since she’s here by force and not by choice.
I shove those thoughts aside. “Hey, Blossom, I was just about to dive into—”
“This hot, cheesy, double pepperoni pizza? Yes, I thought so. But not in here.” She turns to leave, waving the box as if to lure me with it.
“Blossom, I can’t—”
“Yes, you can,” she interrupts. “Even Hoc had a life outside of this office. You can take a thirty-minute lunch break.”
“I really can’t,” I shoot back, agitation creeping up my spine. “I have to go through the incident reports, create catalog entries for the new submissions, and—”
“That crap might work with someone else, but we both know I am not so easily shoved aside,” she says, tone flat.
“You have to eat. You can come with me willingly, or I’ll shift and poke you with my horn until you listen.
Either way, you are bending to my will and coming to eat pizza.
After that, you can bury yourself in work if that’s what you choose to do.
For the record, it’s not what I think you should do, but I’ve come to understand that you have to process things on your own time. ”
I stare at the pizza box, and my stomach lets loose a growl I imagine would rival Aries’s dragon. It’s been so long since I had a meal that didn’t come out of a wrapper. “Fine. But you’re helping me shelve new books when we’re done.”
“Deal.” Blossom grins in victory and shoves the door open farther as I stand and make my way toward her. The closer I get, the more my stomach rumbles.
Food. Real, hot, delicious food.
We’re just pushing the break room door open when Fred, one of the gnomes, jumps off the counter, does a somersault, and lands on Kitty’s back.
The racoon couldn’t care less given that her face is currently buried in a half-empty bag of sour candy.
Ted, Ned, and Zed are all sitting on the counter, each with their own pile of sour gummies.
“Hey, guys,” I greet.
All four of the gnomes turn to look at me and narrow their gazes. “Let’s go,” Ted snarls.
“We don’t need the negativity,” Fred adds, standing and stuffing the candy into his pockets.
“Yeah,” Ned interjects as he and Zed gather their candy and head for the door.
Guilt lands square on my shoulders. Clearly, my short temper the other day has upset them. “Look, I’m sorry, okay? I’m stressed.”
None of them spare me a single glance as they push out of the break room, leaving me staring at a closed door.
“They aren’t still mad about you summoning your own book boyfriend, are they?” Blossom asks.
I shake my head. After my visit with the library herself, I’d wanted nothing more than to tell them all about her, but she swore me to secrecy.
Instead, I told them everything else. Blossom, Mag, the gnomes.
..even Bingo—they all know the story of how I accidentally summoned a dragon king with nothing but a spilled pumpkin spice and my own dumb luck.
The gnomes were mad at first, trying to make me promise to summon them three more Kitties—one for each of them—but when I refused, they forgave me anyway.
“No,” I say on a sigh, “This is something else.”
“Don’t take it personally,” Blossom says as she sets the pizza box on the table in the center of the room. “Mag told me they hated Hoc at first, too.”
“Really?” I ask. It’s silly, but knowing that somehow makes me feel closer to Hoc. He’d been a brand new head librarian when Mag was sentenced here. The gargoyle had actually been Hoc’s replacement after his promotion.
She nods and opens the lid. “You know they were here before all of us—even Bingo. I think one of them expected to be promoted to head librarian, so when Hoc got it, Mag said they were pissed. ” She barks out a laugh.
He said that eventually, they came around.
That is until Hoc tried to cut off their candy addiction. ”
“Really?” I try to think back through the memories I’ve been given—memories I’ve yet to tell anyone I actually have—but they’re all about the library’s systems. Nothing about his personal relationships with the residents here.
Though, there are several memories revolving around staff meetings where the gnomes attempted to play practical jokes on Hoc—every single one of which was thwarted by the clever troll.
“Oh yeah. Apparently, they snubbed their noses at him for a long time after that. Fred even tried to push a stack of books over onto his head.”
I chuckle, the image of a tiny gnome trying to push books onto the head of a troll a surprisingly happy one. “I imagine that was quite a sight.”
Blossom hands me a piece of pizza, the cheese dripping off the end.
I don’t hesitate before taking a bite, and the moment it hits my tongue, I moan like it’s the best thing I’ve ever tasted.
Warm, cheesy, salty goodness dances in my mouth.
“That is a sound I did not need to know you made,” she says.
I grin, the first uninhibited smile I think I’ve had since Hoc disappeared. “Then you shouldn’t bring me such amazing food.”
Blossom laughs and takes a bite. “Speaking of amazing, how are things with your dragon king?”
And those words might as well have been a bucket of cold water.
My smile slips. Since the moment she learned our whole story, she’s yet to miss an opportunity to ask me about my future plans with Aries.
I thought she’d be angry at me for keeping more secrets from her, but instead, she seems only more determined for me to find a way to be happy.
“That good, huh?” she asks, brow arched.
I sigh. “He expects a lot of me right now, and I want to give it to him, but I don’t know how. Not with everything else going on.”
“Does he expect a lot of you? Or do you expect a lot of you?”
I shrug. “Both maybe?”
Her brows go up. “The guy wants you to eat and shower on a regular basis; you can’t be too mad about that.”
“Eat and shower.” I laugh, but then another thought dawns on me and I look at her sharply. “He ask you to talk to me?”
“Nah, but I know men.” She takes another bite then gets up and walks to the mini fridge where she retrieves two bottles of water. “And they typically appreciate it when you shower.” After offering one to me, she cracks hers open and takes a drink. All while maintaining a knowing smile.
It hits me.
“Wait a second. You’re seeing someone!” I accuse.
“What?” Blossom’s eyes widen almost comically. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You are. I can tell. You have that ‘getting laid regularly’ look about you.”
“Oh, so what? You get in one serious relationship and now you’re an expert?”
I laugh. “Something like that.” After finishing the last bite of crust—no carb left behind—I reach in and grab another slice.
“Fine. If you must know, I am casually seeing someone in the wee hours of being away from this prison.”
“Well. I’m happy for you.”
Blossom smiles. “Thanks. Now, moving on from me, we need to address the dragon in the room.”
I turn, half-expecting Aries to be behind me. “What dragon?”
“The fact that you’re not eating, sleeping, or getting any kind of relaxation. You do realize that, if you keep going at this rate, the library is going to need yet another new head librarian, right?”
“I can’t slow down, Blossom. I can’t let this place go to shit in Hoc’s absence.”
“It’s not going to.”
“I want him to just be able to slide right back into his role the second he gets home.”
Blossom’s broken look tells me that she doesn’t see that as a possibility. “Paige—”
“No.” I hold up my hand. “I will not lose hope, and you better not either. Hoc is coming home.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure of that.”
We both turn, and Blossom lurches to her feet, a dagger in each hand. She moved so fast I didn’t even see her draw weapons. My attention refocuses on the two strangers standing in the doorway of the break room, and my heart pounds as I try to determine how much of a threat they pose.
The woman is a few decades older than me, her silver hair in tight curls around her face.
It doesn’t fall past her jaw, and there’s not a strand out of place.
She studies us with hard, dark eyes. Her mouth, painted a light pink that matches the long-sleeved dress she wears, is flattened in a tight, unapproving line.
The man beside her is another story altogether. His obsidian hair is styled neatly, but his bright green eyes lack all hardness. He smiles softly at both of us, hands shoved into the dark jeans he wears. That is until he spots the pizza.
“That for everyone?” He starts toward it, and Blossom holds her blade out.
“Take another step and you won’t ever eat again.”
“Who are you?” I ask. The fact that they got in here without the alarms blaring is a huge red flag. “And how did you get in here?” Memories of Constantine sneaking around fill my mind, kicking my adrenaline into overdrive.