As the days passed, Penryn became more acquainted with the library. Marcy had, after all, made it a habit to visit the library almost daily, and wherever Marcy went, Penryn was sure to follow.

He still hadn’t seen any evidence of healing from her but knew she couldn’t hold out forever. In the meantime, his revenge took precedence, and he didn’t have to wait long for an opportunity to present itself.

One evening, Marcy returned a book before finishing it. She’d been running late for her shift at the inn--something that happened frequently, Penryn noticed. As soon as she left, he found the book and brought it to the librarian.

The librarian was a tall, slender woman with beady eyes and a sharp nose. Penryn couldn’t help but feel like a birdwatcher discovering a new species as they spoke.

“Do I need to pay for this to take it out of the library, or… I don’t know how this whole thing works,” he said, gesturing to the book-filled space behind him.

The bird woman took a few seconds before answering.

“Is this your first time using a library?”

“Um, yes, actually,” confessed Penryn.

“Mmm,” she hummed disapprovingly. “You can take it with you, but you need to make sure you return it in a timely manner. I’ll record your name and address so I can keep track of where the book is.”

Penryn gave her his usual fake name, Dragon Blade, but a correct address. He didn’t like being easily traceable, and, to his relief, she didn’t give him a hard time about it like Marcy had. Once he had the book out the door, he made a beeline for his room at the inn, opened the cover, and did not stop reading until the last word had been read.

It had been a good book with lots of unexpected twists. He could see why Marcy would be interested in such a story. As he finally laid down for the night, he thought about the parts of the book that excited him the most and let his heavy eyelids glue themselves together. Just as he began to drift into sleep, he heard the faint sound of a rooster crowing in the distance and his bloodshot eyes shot open. The first glimpse of light was just visible through the curtains.

He groaned, slithered out of bed, and begrudgingly got ready for the new day. The temptation of the warm sheets was almost too overwhelming to resist, but he knew that if he climbed back into bed, he’d miss his window of opportunity, and all his efforts would be for naught.

After returning the book and filling up on several cups of artificial energy, Penryn eagerly waited for Marcy to head to the library. The surplus of coffee kept him awake but turned against him as it built momentum in his bloodstream. The directionless energy was all-consuming. He nearly tapped a hole into the floor with his foot when he sat and paced every which way when he wasn't in a seat.

Finally, Marcy made her way to the library, and Penryn followed behind, barely bothering to stay hidden. Marcy turned to face him.

“Not even trying now, are we?”

“What do you mean? I’m very sneaky.”

He followed his statement up with a giddy giggle.

“What is wrong with you today? You’ve been acting weird. Well, more so than usual.”

Penryn sighed a shaky sigh, but it made no difference to the pace of his heart.

“I had too much coffee and my heart feels like it’s going to fly out of my chest.”

“Yep, that’ll do it. Well, keep up.”

She spun around and continued to her destination with Penryn trotting behind like a puppy following his master.

The library looked the same as it always had that time of day. The sunlight through the window highlighted the floating dust particles. The smell of old pages assaulted his nose, just like always. This time, though, it felt as if the library were alive. Penryn could sense an invisible wave of electricity in the air as Marcy returned to the place where she’d left her book.

As she settled into her corner, he waited for her to find her previous spot and read a few more pages before leaning in and delivered the most satisfying blow:

“Robert has a twin,” he nearly giggled.

“NO! You can’t be serious!” she exclaimed as she looked up from the book to Penryn’s wide grin.

“SHHHHH,” the librarian spat.

Marcy mouthed “sorry” to the vigilant guardian and dropped her voice down to a whisper.

“You’ve read this one before? I thought you were just reading to pass the time in here, but are you actually interested in this genre?”

“Well, that wasn’t why I started reading it, but it wasn’t too bad, if I’m being honest. Do you know how much violence is in these things?” He pointed to Marcy’s book. “Sir Jonathon literally stabs his best friend in the back. I couldn’t ask for a more satisfying story line.”

Marcy grimaced. That wasn’t anything like her favorite scene of the book so far, but to each their own. She sighed as she tossed aside the book.

“Well now I don’t want to finish it.”

“I don’t care what they say: revenge feels amazing,” Penryn gloated as he leaned back into his own cushion.

Marcy sat in silence for a moment before getting back up.

“Stay,” she commanded before disappearing behind the bookshelves.

Penryn obeyed, curious as to what she had planned. She re-emerged with a small stack of books that she plopped into his lap.

“Oof! What are these?”

“Books, obviously.”

“How dumb do you think I am?”

Marcy only smirked in response, deterring further questions in that regard.

“I thought you’d like these ones. Since you enjoyed the violence in ‘The Plot’. The three at the top are action, there’s one thriller, and I threw in a non-fiction about fighting styles. You seem like you like that sort of thing.”

Penryn looked at the stack of books. He was a little overwhelmed thinking about reading again after it had consumed his entire night, but he was also impressed. He just ruined a book for her, yet after her initial reaction, Marcy chose to hand pick book recommendations for him instead of retaliating. Of course, she had started the whole thing, he reminded himself.

“Thanks,” he said slowly. “I do like that sort of thing, actually.”

Then he picked up the top book and turned over its pages. Marcy put back ‘The Plot’ and sat down with a new book. The two sat there together, reading in silence, until it was time to leave for her shift once more.