Chapter 7

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It was a short walk to the library, and there they were able to get one of the small group study rooms so they could talk without risk of being overheard. It had the added bonus of having chairs, unlike the sidewalk outside. Unfortunately, Ted and Belinda insisted on coming with, and Molly was too tired to argue anymore. Robby, surprisingly, didn’t say anything when they grabbed a chair in the room before he could close the door to keep them out.

They had barely settled in when Robby leaned across the table and glared at Molly. “What’s going on?”

She pressed herself as far back in her seat as possible, wishing she could get further away from Robby—he was a in a bad mood and she was afraid of what he might do. She didn’t think he would actually hurt her, not intentionally anyway, but he was scaring her. She’d never seen him this upset.

She furrowed her brow and concentrated on where to begin. “I’m not really sure, exactly, what’s happening,” she started slowly. Robby sighed and rolled his eyes, and she tried to get to the point. “Belinda, the pixie, is from out of a book about Peter Pan. Ted’s from a book too. I’m not sure how it’s happening.”

There, she thought, proud of herself. That was a halfway decent summary of what was going on, and she didn’t know much more.

“From books?” Robby asked, and he leaned back in his seat. Clearly that had surprised him, and he must have needed a moment mull over it. It was a long minute before he spoke again. “You’re sure they’re from books?”

Molly shrugged. “I’m pretty certain I know who Ted is. And Belinda told me—”

“Yes, she’s fucking sure,” Belinda snapped. “They cast me as fucking Tinker Bell. Do I look like I should be Tinker Bell? Fucking insulting.”

Molly looked down at her hands clasped in her lap. She didn’t want to look at Robby anymore—he would be disappointed in her, not only because this was happening, but because she hadn’t told him about it already. She didn’t like it when he was disappointed.

“When did this start happening?” Robby asked.

“I’m not sure. I met Belinda this morning right after you left my room. I don’t know when she got there.”

“It was yesterday. I followed you home from the library,” Belinda said, settling in on Molly’s shoulder. It was the cleanest sentence she’d ever heard the pixie say.

“I showed up this morning,” Ted offered. Molly had almost forgotten he was there. He had a tendency to sit quietly.

Molly sighed. “And I haven’t read anything Ted was in since I was in high school. I at least flipped through a fairy-tale book yesterday.”

“So, what, characters out of books are coming to life and following you around? With no apparent pattern?” Robby asked, shaking her head. “There has to be a theme. Not sure what Ted is from, but did you put whatever book you think he’s in away yesterday? Maybe just touching it is enough.”

She scrunched up her face while she thought about it. There had been about four racks of books she’d handled in total, and she honestly didn’t remember most of them. “I’m not sure,” she said, shaking her head in defeat. “I filed too many books yesterday to keep track of them all. And since Sarah…” she trailed off. “Well, I don’t remember all that much from yesterday.”

“You mostly work in the fantasy section, don’t you?” Robby asked. When Molly nodded, he put his face in his hands with his elbows propped on the table between them. “Molly, this could get dangerous. These two are relatively mundane, but who knows what could come out of those books.”

Her face paled. She hadn’t thought about that. “Th-they’re just fictional. They can’t really do anything, can they?”

“I want you to stay with me until this is handled,” Robby said, standing up in a gesture of finality. He clearly felt there was no room for argument. Molly had seen him like this before and she’d never been able to make herself heard.

“Robby—”

“No, Molly. You’re staying with me so I can protect you.”

She slumped lower in her chair. She wasn’t going to fight with Robby, but she didn’t want to go with him. She wasn’t sure why she was so reluctant to stay with Robby—they’d been dating for almost a year, after all—but some instinct told her it wouldn’t be very smart. “If you really think they’re going to be that dangerous,” she started, her voice soft, “is there all that much you could do to ‘protect’ me from them?” She didn’t snap, and she didn’t yell. But she wanted to. Today was shaping up to be an interesting day. If she didn’t watch out, she was going to lose her southern charm.

Robby was dumbstruck as he stared at Molly. Apparently she had surprised him too. She was vaguely aware of Belinda letting out some kind of humming sound on her shoulder, and she knew Ted had stiffened where he sat across the room, but she kept her attention on Robby, waiting to see how he would respond. She had a suspicion she was going to regret her boldness.

His voice was low and gravely when he finally spoke, and his hands were clenched into fists at his side. “You will come with me until this is sorted out. I will protect you, and you will fix the problem you started. You have no idea how much danger you’ve put me in.”

“The problem I started?” Molly asked, offended for a reason she couldn’t quite explain.

Robby took a step toward the edge of the table, clearly intending to move towards her, but Ted stepped in front of him, blocking his path. “Molly doesn’t want you to touch her right now. I suggest you stay away from her,” he said.

“Molly,” Robby said. His face was turning red by now, and she was afraid of what would happen if he got to her. “Tell Ted to step away so you can come with me. We don’t need to get violent right now.”

“No,” Molly said, trying not to let a quaver into her voice. She hoped she didn’t sound as afraid as she felt.

“Molly, you’re going to get both of us killed. Come with me to my apartment and we can try to fix the mess you made.”

“I didn’t do anything!” she shouted, letting her anger flare at last. Her voice cracked. She was standing now, and Belinda took flight.

Robby tried to push past Ted, and Belinda let loose a stream of red dust over him.

“Shit!” he shouted, stepping back to stare at the patch of skin on his arm where the dust had settled. It looked like there was a rash forming, but Molly was too far away to tell if that was the case, or if it was just the red dust.

“It’s not Molly’s fault,” Ted said, stepping toward Robby and closing the distance once more. “I think it’s your fault, Robby. The imp only found Molly because of you.”

“Imp?” Molly asked, confused.

Belinda settled on her shoulder to explain. “There was a girl yesterday, I think. At the library. She was an imp. Put a curse on you.”

She didn’t curse very often, but this, she decided, was worth it. “What the hell?”

“Molly, you don’t understand what you’ve gotten yourself into,” Robby said, making an effort to keep his voice calm.

She shook her head. “Robby, just leave me alone. I need some time to process all of this, and you aren’t helping.”

Ted looked over his shoulder at her. “Do you want me to help him leave?” he asked.

Molly hesitated a moment, then nodded. “Please. Thank you Ted.”

Then Ted closed the distance between himself and Robby, grabbed Robby’s arms just above the elbow, and walked him through the door that Belinda had somehow managed to open. Belinda flitted after them, leaving Molly alone at last.

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