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“You’re welcome to sleep there, though I doubt you’d like to curl into a ball and stuff yourself inside. At your height, you’d hang out of it a bit lying flat.”

“Chaise’ll be fine. I guess I do have to brave my apartment though. I’ll need a few things, and I’ll have to feed Dickens eventually.”

“But you don’t have to go back tonight if you don’t want to.” Dewey tore the paper from his notebook and handed it over. “And there’s no need to run out for this until morning if you don’t feel safe.”

Paige scanned the list of common items ranging from hydrogen peroxide to salt. “I could probably get this at that twenty-four-hour SmartMart over on the corner of Moonlight and Crescent.”

Dewey waved a clawed digit in the air. “If you’re going to go, take this.” He tugged open a drawer of his side table and passed off a small device resembling a handheld video game. “You can contact me with it any time, even if cell service is out.”

Paige toggled it on with a button. A phone icon rattled around on the screen. A buzzing sounded from inside the drawer that remained open. Dewey dug inside and pulled out an identical device.

The picture of a grumpy-looking older man appeared.

“Still has the old librarian’s name and picture,” Dewey murmured as he tapped the answer button.

An image of Dewey formed on Paige’s screen.

He grinned, his fangs showing as he waved at her. “Perfect. Just have to change the picture so I don’t have to see Atticus’s ugly mug anymore.”

“Atticus, huh?” Paige said as she stowed the item in her tote and tugged her sweatshirt over her head. She slung the straps over her shoulder. “He sounds like a jerk.”

Dewey’s teal lips pulled back in a smile at her words.

“I’ll be back soon.” Paige folded the list in half and shoved it into her hoodie’s front pocket before she pushed through the door and descended the spiral stairs. Then she crossed the archive and climbed up the metal stairs to the main library.

A flashlight moved through the stacks on the far side of the massive space.

“Otis,” Paige called, her voice echoing.

“Heading home?” Otis answered.

“No, heading out for a few things. I’ll be back, okay?”

“Sure thing, Paige. I’ll watch for you on the monitors.”

Paige thanked him, darted down the dark hallway, and pushed through the back door and into the chilly night air. She glanced up and down the alley, swallowing hard. Given the latest developments, nervousness crept over her.

She sucked in a deep breath and strode toward the front entrance. She stopped after a few steps and twisted to glance into the darkness behind her. A lone bulb lit the library’s back entrance. Shadows consumed the rest of the alley.

With her hands shoved into her hoodie’s kangaroo pocket, she scanned the blackness in search of anything moving. Or a pair of red eyes.

She found nothing and pressed on toward the building’s corner. She stopped after another few steps, glancing behind her.

Were the footsteps echoing in the alley her own? No, those weren’t her footsteps.

Someone was following her. Or something…

CHAPTER 16

Paige hurried into the well-lit street in front of the library. She hastened along the sidewalk, glancing behind her as she puffed with exertion. With her eyes trained on the alley opening, she tripped over an irregularity on the curb and toppled forward.

Her arms flailed as she struggled to stay upright. Moments later, she lost the battle and crashed to her hands and knees on the rough pavement.

She cried out as pain jolted through her, and her glasses flew from her face and skittered toward the yellow center line. Paige winced as she recovered, pulling her hand within inches of her face and studying the angry red scratches emblazoned across it.

With a huff, she squinted her eyes ahead of her, searching for her lost glasses. The streetlight glinted off something in the middle of the road.

Paige set her foot on the pavement, pushing upward, when two headlights blinded her. Her face twisted as she held her hands up in front of her, as though it would stop the impending crash.