Croakies Monster, page 10
“Okay, I’ll go get Sebille. I hope you’re flush with cash, though, because the sprite and I can put away a lot of egg rolls.”
“Egg rolls?” he looked like he’d never heard of the things.
“Oh, you’re in for a treat. I’ll write out an order for the food. Then we’ll need frosted brownies for dessert, at least a dozen.”
To his credit, Pudsnecker didn’t look appalled by the sheer size of my food requests, so I decided I’d add an order of shrimp to our order for Wicked. Slimy was on his own. There was no way I was requesting bugs with my Chinese food.
But I did have some crickets in the cupboard. He’d be just as delighted with those as the rest of us would be with our food. “I’ll go get Sebille.”
Pudsnecker nodded. “Make sure to bring the book.”
That stopped me in my tracks. I turned back to him. “Book? What book?”
He stared at me for a beat and then slowly blinked. “Ah. So you haven’t actually figured it out.”
He didn’t sound smug, so I didn’t take offense from his observation.
Much.
“I don’t know about that, but maybe you and I are on different pages.” Speaking of books.
He stared at me for a moment and then nodded. “Very well, let me tell you what page I’m on.”
I turned back to him, crossing my arms across my chest. I was well aware that it was a defensive posture, but I was okay with that. There was a soft thump as Mr. Wicked jumped down from the sill and trotted over, his round, orange gaze locked on Pudsnecker with decided coldness. I realized in that moment that my cat hadn’t come over to greet the man when he’d come inside either. That was mostly unheard of.
“Ribbit!” sayeth the frog. He’d been abandoned, and I needed to go get him. But first, I wanted to hear what page Pudsnecker was on so I could rip it out of the book. Okay, so I might not be fully in a cooperating mood. “Go ahead,” I told him.
The man eyed Wicked thoughtfully and then glanced up at me, his gaze filled with concern. “Your most useful Keeper’s tool has been compromised.”
I narrowed my gaze. “What’s that, now?”
“The Keeper’s Book of Possibilities.”
When I continued to look confused, he waved a dismissive hand in front of his face. “Sorry. I believe you call it the Book of Pages?”
“Ribbit!”
12
I thought my Job Sucked Lemons
My heart thumped once hard against my ribs and then seemed to stop working. My lungs clenched down on whatever air I had left in them. My blood ran cold. And I reached down to scoop up my cat, whose fur had lifted all along his back. “I…”
“I know this is probably a shock…”
“That’s impossible,” I finally wrenched out through stiff lips.
“I assure you it’s not.”
“Why? How?” I glanced toward the table and saw the book lying there, though I was certain I’d put it away earlier to keep it safe.
“Your friends recently misused the book to find you in another dimension and bring you back, correct?”
I grimaced. “I wouldn’t say they misused it.”
“You might not say it, Naida, but it would still be the truth.”
I sighed, my fingers digging into Wicked’s soft fur, kneading it to calm my nerves. “Okay, they might have used it in ways it wasn’t supposed to be used, but…”
“And then a Seer from that dimension meddled further to create a space in time where you could utilize the magics Rustin the ethereal witch created to find and bring you back.”
That time I didn’t even argue. Gus, the Seer in Plex, had indeed used his antique watch thing to give us more time. “Yes,” I said, my voice cracking with emotion.
The monsters were all my fault.
My knees buckled and I dropped into the nearest chair, still clutching Mr. Wicked against my chest. It was a testament to how upset I was that he hadn’t smacked me with a partially exposed claw and jumped down yet. “What have we done?”
Archibald sighed. “I don’t tell you this to make you feel bad. Sometimes we must use magic in ways it isn’t meant to be used. We twist. We shape. We manipulate in the hopes it will give us what we want. There is always a cost to such manipulations. But there are times when the cost is worth it.”
I shook my head, unable to verbalize my emotions. Poor Devard. It was all my fault he’d lost the battle with his Naga.
Archibald walked over and gently clasped my shoulder, giving it a squeeze. “We will make this right, Naida dear. You and I and your friends.”
I sniffled, realizing too late that tears were sliding down my cheeks. “I’m the world’s worst Keeper.”
To my surprise, Archibald chuckled. “Not even close, dear. Remind me sometime to tell you about Reggie Wayne. Reggie was far and away the worst Artifact Keeper ever to hold the title.”
“Is that supposed to make me feel better?” I sniffled again and scraped tears off my cheeks with the heel of my hand.
Wicked rubbed his head under my chin and started to purr.
“I don’t expect it should,” Archie admitted. “But it’s true. You are not a bad Keeper. In fact, you have the potential to be very good. You just haven’t been given all the resources you require to do your job properly. I’ve put in a request for your trainer to be recalled. She did a terrible job and must be made to remedy her mistakes.”
The idea of being a student again after years of bumbling along on my own was both terrifying and comforting. Because I was too emotional to form a definite reaction, I said nothing.
Having a sudden, horrible thought, I looked at Archibald. “Has this fissure been there since we got back from Plex?”
He frowned. “Probably not. Your friends most likely weakened the Book’s void energies performing their magic, but if you haven’t noticed the monsters until recently, I’m guessing that was when the breach occurred.”
I nodded, feeling marginally better.
“Now, let’s get some food ordered and begin planning. The sooner we can remedy this monster situation, the sooner you can get back to your other work.”
Again, that didn’t make me feel better. I was almost afraid to go into the library and look at the stack of new orders which had come in since I’d left that morning. But I simply nodded, too drained to push back, and carried my cat through the dividing door with me.
Are you forgetting something? a snotty voice asked in my mind. I screeched to a halt, turning back. “Would you do me a favor and put the frog into his terrarium?” I asked my guest.
“Certainly. I’ve heard a lot about your Mr. Slimy. I look forward to getting to know him better.”
Well. That didn’t give me pause. No, it did not.
Archibald sat back with a look of wonder on his face as Sebille and I polished off a dozen egg rolls between us. Wicked had long since finished his grilled shrimp and was back on the windowsill, cleaning his paws and keeping one ear cocked toward Devard’s place.
Hobs had a chocolate mustache from his dinner of four fat, gooey brownies and was sitting atop the bookshelves feeding bits of bread to his army of songbirds.
We were like a Hallmark flippin’ special. Supernormal style.
The sprite had been understandably reticent with my new best pal, but the offer of food had gone a long way to soften her up. And when he started to explain his theory about the Book of Pages, she looked extremely interested. Since I hadn’t been there when she and Rustin had “manipulated” the book’s magics to find me in Plex, I couldn’t add much to their astoundingly complex magical conversation.
My sole contribution was the occasional, “Wow,” or “Yikes!” Not very helpful, but they seemed satisfied with my level of discourse. I was mostly just interested in stuffing food into my face as fast as I could.
“So, Archie,” the sprite said, her brow knitting, “you think the Book sprung a leak?”
Archibald blinked in surprise at her use of the nickname, but then a smile twitched his lips and he nodded. “In a manner of speaking, yes.” He picked up his fork and stabbed it into the mound of fried rice on his plate, seeming as uninterested in eating as Sebille and I were ravenous. “The book retains the collective imaginations, memories, and experiences of the inhabitants of each dimension, holding them in a structured repository of carefully labeled folders whose contents can only be formed into specific items or areas upon request. Normally, the contents of the abyss must be requested by a Keeper. But, there is likely a breach in the magics near the folder for fictional monsters. The breach is allowing monsters to leak out rather than offering them to you as it normally would, by request only. When you manipulated the seeking magics, I believe you inadvertently tore the magic, leaving it open to random suggestion.”
I frowned. “Random suggestion?”
He shrugged. “A child down the street watches that children’s show with the big blue monster on it, and the big blue monster becomes reality.”
Sebille nodded, getting excited. “Someone’s afraid of spiders…”
“And a long-forgotten spider monster from goddess knows where appears. Yes.” Archibald agreed.
“I’m guessing Theo’s been admiring his Dance of the Monsters clock recently,” I said, finally understanding. “So, how do we fix a tear in the book? Slap some tape over it?”
Archie laughed. “I truly wish it were that easy, child.” He pushed his rice away. “No, the fix will be more involved than that. And more dangerous.” He lifted a tidy brown brow. “Are you up for it?”
I shrugged. “It’s my job.”
My response seemed to please him. “Yes. Of course.” He looked at Sebille. She appeared offended. “It’s my job too.”
“Excellent! We’ll need your ethereal friend too,” he told me.
“Rustin?”
“Yes. And that roughhewn police detective as well. It will be all hands on deck for this one.”
The way he grinned, I wondered if he wasn’t enjoying the idea of my friends and I plunging into danger just a bit too much.
I had a sudden thought and frowned at the sorcerer. “You’re the one who closed the order on the monster artifact, weren’t you?”
Archie sighed. “I had to do it. If it became known at the Société that your Book of Possibilities is the culprit, you’d be seen as having lost control of one of your most important Keeper tools.”
And I’d be toast.
I didn’t like it, but I understood. “Tell us what we need to do to fix this,” I urged again.
“Yes, the details. Of course.” He gave it a moment’s thought and then leaned forward, placing his forearms on the table. “The trick is finding the breach. There’s only one way it can be done. When it’s open and active.”
“What does that mean, exactly?” I asked, feeling stupid.
But Sebille had been following more closely than I had. She caught his meaning right away. “While there’s a monster present.”
“Precisely,” Archibald said, clapping his hands.
The birds lifted off the shelves in alarm, fluttering around over our heads for a beat before settling back around Hobs, who still had bread in his hand.
“While the monster is active, we’ll need the detective and your Rustin to contain it while you two enter the book to plug the breach.”
“How will we find the breach?” Thinking of the angry witch we’d trapped there, I didn’t relish the idea of wandering around the abyss looking for a small hole in the magic.
“While the monster is active, the Book should open to the exact spot he came from. Or it should, at the very least, be near the breach.”
“And if it doesn’t?” Sebille asked.
“That would be unfortunate indeed. Let’s focus on the better outcome for now. We’ll have to adjust on the fly if it doesn’t work.”
I had a terrible thought. My gaze skimming to Sebille, I put words to my horror. “Jacob Quilleran!”
She paled, her abundance of freckles like glowing dots on her colorless face. She skimmed a look toward our guest. “We trapped a powerful witch in the abyss. Is it possible he could get out through this breach?”
Archibald pursed his lips, looking uncomfortable. He didn’t even need to respond. I read his concern in the way he shifted in his chair. “We’ll want to work as quickly as possible to avoid that outcome.”
Putrid Pixie pustules! “We can’t let him escape,” I told Archibald. “He could cause so much more trouble than any of these monsters ever could.”
Sebille nodded her agreement. “If the breach has been in place for a couple of days now, isn’t it possible he’s already gotten out?”
Our new friend stared at his rejected rice for too long before giving us a sigh. “I’m not going to lie to you. I know about Jacob Quilleran. He’s smart and he’s not the type to just sit in the abyss and feel sorry for himself. I can all but guarantee that he’s been actively searching for a way out since the moment you trapped him there.”
Sebille and I shared a look. My heart slammed against my chest in instant panic. Silvery stars beat against the front of my eyeballs with violent enthusiasm. The sprite didn’t look much better.
“But, having said that, the abyss is an endless space without time. It’s why we call it the abyss. The chances of him finding this one, small breach in the amount of time he’s had available to him are slim. Extremely slim. So why don’t we just focus on closing the breach as quickly as possible? Hopefully, that will take care of the Quilleran problem.”
His response was calm and it was logical. I knew he was right. I also knew there was nothing we could do to fix it if Jacob Quilleran had already escaped.
But none of that made me feel any better.
“How do we get a monster to come through when we want it to?” Sebille asked him.
Archibald placed a hand on the Book of Pages, which was sitting in the center of the table, where it had been safe from flying food while Sebille and I had chawed through the existing egg rolls like termites through decaying wood. “That, my dears, is the easy part. All we need to do, I believe, is to try to use the book as usual, thinking of a monster.”
“Preferably one that’s not too scary,” I offered.
Archibald looked at me, but he didn’t laugh.
Dithering dingo dung! “You have more bad news for me, don’t you?”
He sighed. “I am sorry. But you have no control over the monster that comes through. The very nature of this flaw in the system is that it is random. And, with every creature that comes through, the creatures it sends next will be worse and harder to vanquish.”
His words were terrifying, but they brought a question to my mind. “Wait a minute. The last monster we dealt with was the Naga. It didn’t come from the abyss. The Naga is part of our friend Devard. It’s his magical side.”
Archibald shook his head. “Devard Othco was cursed by a wizard many decades ago. His Naga is not part of him. It’s not his magic to call. His curse lives in the abyss, and only his extreme control over the triggers that bring it forth keep the monster away most of the time. That, and his one concession to its existence.”
“Concession?” Sebille asked.
Archibald sighed. “One month out of every year, Devard allows the monster to reign supreme. And, in order for the world to be safe from the creature because he has no control over it once it rises to the surface, he goes into the abyss for that month.”
I frowned, thinking about Sebille once telling me that Devard took a yearly vacation for a month, spending it at some undisclosed location. Sebille speculated that he went to some beach somewhere, soaking up the sun and drinking fruity drinks.
Knowing the truth of that month made me want to give Devard a hug.
I saw a similar sentiment blossom on Sebille’s long, freckled face.
“How sad,” I said.
Archibald nodded.
“But then, how does he get back from the abyss?” Sebille asked. “And how do you know all this?” Her second question was filled with suspicion. She looked upon Archibald Pudsnecker with a narrowed gaze.
Archie shook his head. “Unfortunately, the answer to both questions is, me,” he told us. “I’m a sorcerer, and my magic to call is geared toward management of voids.”
“Wait,” I said. “Your job is to monitor vacant areas in the Universe?”
He nodded.
I reached over and patted him on the shoulder. “And I thought my job sucked lemons.”
13
Hasta la vista, Baby
After further discussion, we decided to attempt the breach repair first thing in the morning. When Archie had left, I called Grym and Rustin. They agreed to come to Croakies at dawn to do their part against whatever nightmare emerged from the abyss.
Then Sebille and I stood in the bookstore, looking at each other.
It was the moment of truth. I had to go up to my apartment, and I feared what I’d find there. The last time Sebille had stayed with me, I’d needed a GPS tracker to find my way through all her furniture to my bed. Forget making it to the bathroom to sing the Make me a Magic Muffin Mister song.
I was tired and wired at the same time. Making a sudden decision, I said, “I think I’m too keyed up to sleep. I’m going to see if there’s an artifact order I can tackle.”
Sebille nodded. “I was thinking the same thing. Let’s go see what we can find.”
As she reached for the dividing door, I realized I hadn’t heard the clanging in a while. My heart soared. Maybe the orders had finally stopped! I shared my hopes with Sebille.
As usual, she slammed a virtual fist into them.
“I inserted a noise dampening spell between the library and the store.” She tugged the door open, and the first thing I heard was a muffled, Clanggggggggggg.
