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Paige sniffled, wrapping her arms around her midriff. Dewey was right. Being a librarian took guts. And Ronnie hadn’t selected her because she pitied her or thought she’d fail. She picked her because she believed in her. Dewey believed in her. She needed to believe in herself.

She rubbed at her damp cheeks again with the backs of her hands and sniffed before raising her chin high and striding toward the BookTron.

“Sticking around, are you?” Dewey asked as he flicked through another two entries.

“Yes,” Paige said with a crisp nod. “I couldn’t leave you.”

Dewey’s horns wobbled as he answered. “Leave me?”

Paige wiped at her nose and squared her shoulders. “The way I see it, I’m the first friend you’ve had here. So, it would be terrible for you if I left. That means I have to dig deep and find my backbone so you don’t lose your only friend.”

Dewey froze for a moment, his eyes narrowing and his ears wiggling. “How selfless of you. Just like a librarian.”

Paige offered a coy smile as Dewey returned to his research.

She placed a hand gently on his scaly shoulder. “On a serious note, thank you for believing in me.”

“You’re welcome,” he said, his eyes never leaving the screen. “And on a serious note, thank you for saying you’re my friend.”

“Of course I’m your friend! Now, have you found anything?”

A puff of smoke wafted from Dewey’s nostrils as he forced a breath out and gave a small shake of his head. “Unfortunately, nothing helpful. This beast could be anything from a banshee to a shapeshifting zygone.”

Paige furrowed her brow as she processed the two odd creatures he’d just mentioned and pondered the many others he’d left out.

“We’re stuck with the general-purpose remedy for now until we find more information.” Dewey balled a fist and slammed it on the desk. “If I only could search for clues!”

“I could search for clues if you tell me what to look for.” Paige pursed her lips and slid her eyes sideways, cocking her head. “Although I’m almost afraid to go home now.”

“I can imagine,” Dewey said with a nod. “And I’m not certain it would do much good. You may miss the clues anyway. Let’s go study the formulation of the general concoction and go from there.”

Paige bobbed her head in agreement, and they threaded through the shelves and back to Dewey’s nest. He flew over to the book and ran his claw down the page, murmuring as he scanned the list of ingredients.

“Okay, we’ll need several things. A few I know we have in our possession. We may be able to find another few things from other libraries. Some are common ingredients that you can pick up here in Shadow Harbor. Since this is general, there’s nothing too tricky to find here. Although…”

“Although what?”

He squashed his lips together and shook his head as he flitted across the room for his pen and paper. “Never mind. I’m going to give you a shopping list. While you retrieve these items, I’ll research what we have and what we can request from a fellow library.”

“Okay,” Paige said. “Depending on what’s on it, I may be able to run out now.”

“You could grab it in the morning if you’d like to rest.”

Paige stared at him as he jotted notes on his notepad. A pained expression crossed her features, and she offered him a pleading glance. “I’m not sure I want to go home.”

Dewey studied her face for a moment. “Oh, right. Of course. You’re welcome to stay here. You can have the chaise.”

“Thanks,” Paige said.

“I’d offer you the bed, but…”

Paige raised her eyebrows when his voice trailed off.

“There’s a reason it’s called a nest.” Dewey darted to a door across the room and flung it open.

Inside, a large, round, bowl-shaped bed filled most of the room. Fluffy pillows lined the interior, and a large velvety blanket spilled over the edge.

Paige adjusted her glasses as she peered at it. “Oh, wow. That’s some nest!”