Chapter 19
“This needs to be stopped immediately,” Percy demanded in the library foyer. His face had become blotchier and more scrunched
as the minutes of explanation continued. Now Stella feared he might self-combust.
“We have it under control,” she said, which wasn’t a complete lie. With Hook no longer lurking and plotting doom, the remaining
library inhabitants were harmless.
“This is under control?” Percy barked. “A dead, not-dead pirate tried to murder you with a sword tonight. Look at your arm!
You’re in way over your head. We need to tell Arnie.”
“No way!” Stella argued, raising her voice for the first time that evening. “He’s recovering from a heart attack. We’re absolutely,
100 percent not telling him anything. Do you want to send him into A-fib?”
“Then send all the characters back now,” Percy said. “Including Jack.”
Stella inhaled sharply. Jack moved in her periphery, and Ariel’s body tensed beside her. “Why would we do that?”
“Because this has gone too far, Stella,” Percy said.
“This whole paranormal thing you’ve got going on here has to stop.
You don’t need to be involved in something so dangerous.
Tonight is a prime example. You can’t handle this.
What gives you the right to bring fictional characters to life?
” He pointed straight-armed at Jack. “Who’s next? Genghis Khan?”
“Don’t be absurd, Percy,” Stella said, laughing. “We’d never do that, and you can’t bring out nonfiction people anyway.”
“This isn’t funny!” His voice pinched like that of a child on the verge of a tantrum. “This is too much power for you. Or
for anyone. I can’t believe Arnie has been doing this all these years. It’s irresponsible and unsafe. Why would he let you,
of all people, bring out a murderous pirate?”
“Well, to be fair, he didn’t,” Stella admitted. “I didn’t think any of this was real, but”—she laughed uncomfortably—“surprise!
It’s all legit. Arnie would have advised against Captain Hook if he’d been here.”
“So even you admit you don’t have enough responsibility or the intelligence to have this kind of authority,” Percy said. “Send
everyone back now. Right now, Stella.”
Stella stared at her brother. She didn’t have the intelligence? Did he realize how offensive that sounded? He’d always been
the supportive older brother, the responsible sibling looking out for her best interests. But now she saw him as someone who
didn’t even know who she was anymore. That was clear by his persistent urgings to sell their home and his recent insistence
on her taking an accounting job in Miami. It was no secret she wasn’t excelling at life in Blue Sky Valley, but half a dozen changes had already happened in less
than a week. Her life was starting to resemble something exciting and adventurous. Working in the library had taken on new
meaning and importance for her.
Percy wasn’t completely wrong about how dangerous the situation with Hook had been, but with the pirate returned to the pages where he belonged, the threat of danger was doused.
After experiencing Hook, Stella didn’t want to bring out characters who would cause her or anyone else harm—if she ever used the ink pad again.
She frowned at Percy and said simply, “No.”
Percy puffed up and his cheeks reddened, and she thought, This is it. This is the moment Percy implodes. His polo shirt had come untucked on one side, and his curls had gone rogue from all the times he’d shoved his hands into
his hair in frustration and disbelief.
“No?” He looked and sounded so much like their father that for a moment Stella backpedaled in her mind. Was he right? Was
she out of her depth? Was it time for her to give up on the idea that she and Jack could actually handle the rest of the weekend,
including the festival? That all her forward momentum with the words and the library was just a fantasy and not a life she
could possibly live every day?
“No,” Stella repeated, more to herself. She refused to go back to the life she had before she burned the journal, before she
found the magic hidden in the library, before she kissed Jack Mathis.
“I get it, Percy. You want me to be safe and you’re trying to protect me. I get how shocking all of this must be for you.
Believe me, I do. But I’m not sending anyone back early. Not Darcy, not Crusoe, and definitely not Jack.” She slid her gaze
to Jack’s quickly before returning it to Percy.
Jack walked to stand near Stella. His closeness strengthened her resolve.
“Do you even know what that would mean for them?” Stella continued. “Or for me? I’d have to kill them. I’m guessing you don’t want that job either. So unless you have something supportive to say, you should go home.”
Percy stared at her. Then he walked away from the desk toward the back door. Halfway there, he turned to look at her. “You’re
making a mistake. Be sensible. Take the job in Miami. Start over. You can leave all of this behind. Don’t you want to get
your life together?”
Stella found Jack’s hand and entwined their fingers. “That’s what I’m finally doing. Getting my life together.”
Percy shook his head and pushed open the back door, then disappeared into the darkness. Stella exhaled and leaned her head
against Jack’s arm.
“That was a disaster,” she said.
Ariel shrugged. “He’ll come around.”
Stella looked at her best friend. “What makes you think that? He’s furious with me.”
Ariel shook her head, and her dangly star earrings twirled at her neck. “He’s not furious. He’s worried, and that won’t last.
Not once he sees you’re happy, because really that’s what he wants. Your happiness.”
“And he thinks my happiness is in Miami?” Stella asked. “It’s like he thinks he can find my happiness somewhere for me.”
“He does,” Ariel said. “Most people do. They think they can find your happiness for you. But if you’re not satisfied in Blue
Sky Valley, then you aren’t going to magically find contentment in Miami.” Pillowy white words puffed out from the fabric
of her shirt. Inner peace. Self-love. Resurrection.
For the first time Stella spoke someone else’s words out loud to them. “Inner peace, self-love, and resurrection. If I don’t
find those in myself, I won’t find them anywhere else.”
Ariel smiled. “Exactly! It’s like you read my mind.”
“I did in a way,” Stella admitted. “Those words just came out of you.”
Ariel looked down at her body as though she might see them herself. “Wow.”
Stella hugged Ariel. “Thank you for being here tonight. I’m sorry about the whole Hook-falling-from-the-balcony bit.”
“That was terrifying and horrific,” Ariel admitted, “but more like watching a movie that I can turn off now. Don’t worry about
Percy. Give him some time.” She yawned. “Time for me to skedaddle. I want to be refreshed for the festival.”
“You and me both,” Stella said. She walked Ariel to the back door and waited for her to climb into her car before waving good
night. After Ariel drove out of the parking lot, Stella returned to Jack.
He waited for her at the circulation desk. “You’re staying at Arnie’s, right?”
Stella nodded. “Definitely. Percy’s at the house, so I’m not going there.” She reached for his hand. “Walk me home?”
He smiled. “Of course.”
“Then come inside and stay awhile?”
Jack wrapped his arms around her. “You want me to stay with you?”
“I don’t want to be alone tonight,” she admitted. “But that’s not the only reason I want you to stay with me.”
Jack pulled away so he could kiss her. “As long as you need me, I’ll stay.”
Even though that wasn’t actually possible, she liked the idea that it was possible. She liked the seed of a dream that was planted in her heart. What she wouldn’t give to have that seed
grow, steady and strong, within her. Maybe Arnie had answers to how Jack could stay indefinitely.
Until tomorrow, though, she wanted to be as close to Jack as possible and squeeze as much as she could out of the time they
had left.