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“Sorry,” he whispered as she sucked in a breath with a wince, her skin turning to gooseflesh.

Dewey circled around her, returning his attention to the BookTron. “Without treatment, I’d say you have a few weeks.”

“Weeks!” Paige shouted. “Oh no.”

“Calm down, Paige. We’re going to treat the wound. But we need to determine the best way to do that.”

Paige leapt from her seat and paced the floor, her hand pressed to her forehead again. Dewey clicked away from another entry and tried a fourth. He eyed Paige’s pacing.

After a moment, he tossed away the mouse and twisted to face her. “Paige, stop.”

“Stop what?” she questioned as she continued to wander back and forth. “Stop worrying about my impending death in a few weeks? Or stop worrying about how I even got marked by a beast to begin with? And whether or not even if we fix this, if they’ll mark me again, and I’ll still die!”

Paige let out a worried groan as she spun to amble in the opposite direction.

“This isn’t helping.”

“Sorry, I’m failing to see what will help this situation.”

“Approaching it calmly and rationally. We need to determine if we can narrow down the origin of the beast. And then we need to create the remedy and apply it.”

Paige let her arms hang limply in front of her as she shambled in the opposite direction. “And all while we find magic mercury and steal a mirror off of werewolves before they take over the world.”

Her lips formed a pout as she stuck her hands on her hips and spun to tread in the opposite direction.

The little dragon buzzed across the room and flew into her path. She firmed her jaw and sidestepped him. He zipped in front of her, blocking her way again.

With a frustrated huff, she stepped in the opposite direction. He flicked his small body in front of her, holding out his paws.

“Just let me pace in peace,” she exclaimed.

Dewey shook his head and balled his paws into fists. “No. Stop wallowing in self-pity and help me.”

“Help you? I barely know what a beast is. How am I supposed to help you? I’ve spent the better part of the day thinking this was just a scratch from my cat. I can’t do this!” She choked out the last four words, covering her face with her hands.

“You’re panicking. Perhaps it’s understandable, but you have to snap out of it. You’re a librarian. You can’t fall to pieces every time we encounter a problem.”

Paige pulled her hands away from her face, her eyes wide and her mouth hanging open. “A problem? This is my life!”

“And it will be your life next week and next month and next year. Your mother disappeared while doing this job. It’s dangerous. This will not be the first time you will face danger. Sure, it’s unlucky for it to happen on your first day, but it’s not the first time you will fight for your life. If you can’t handle that, you should quit.”

“Maybe I will, then!” Paige said as tears fell to her cheeks.

She wiped them away hastily with the back of her hand as she spun on her heel and darted across the room.

“Paige, wait!” Dewey called after her. “I didn’t mean that literally. I meant it as a challenge.”

Paige stormed away from him, heading for his nest to retrieve her things.

“This is the part where you get mad at me for suggesting you don’t have what it takes to do the job and vow you’ll be the best librarian Shadow Harbor’s ever seen.”

“No!” she said, spinning back to face him, her fists balled. “You were right. They picked the wrong person. I don’t have what it takes to do this job.”

“Yes, you do. Now, get yourself together, and let’s find the solution to this so we can start tracking down the mirror!”

Dewey raised his chin before he spun in the air and flitted off toward the BookTron.

“I expect you to follow me,” he shouted over his shoulder.