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Paige huffed out a breath, tapping her fingers against the granite counter. “So, he’ll just keep marking me.”

“I’ve been doing some work on that, too.”

Paige arched an eyebrow, scanning the ingredients Dewey lined up. “Oh?”

“Yes. There’s a talisman we can use. You’ll wear it around your neck, and it will essentially mask you from the beast.”

“Any beast?”

Dewey gave her a nod. “Any beast. Universal protection. Highly useful. Even if he knows where you live, he won’t be able to see you. It’s essentially an invisibility cloak for beasts.”

“Wow!” The corners of Paige’s lips turned up at the prospect. “Wait, is it an actual cloak?”

“No, just a small talisman that you’ll wear around your neck. Very discreet.”

“Great. Well, where is that?”

Dewey winced as he measured salt and poured it into a silver bowl. “It’s at another library.”

Paige closed the salt carton and slid it to the side. “Oh, good! So, do we just call them and ask for it or what?”

Dewey squashed his lips together, adding a blue powder that glowed to the bowl. “That’s where things get tricky.”

“Tricky?” Paige asked. “Is there lots of red tape or something?”

“No,” he answered, drawing the word out, as he ground up an odd-looking feather and added it to the bowl.

“So, what do we do? Make an interlibrary-loan request or what?”

A harsh chuckle escaped from Dewey’s lips while he poured an unidentified substance into the bowl. A cloud of smoke billowed up toward the ceiling as the liquid mixed with the powder.

She followed the rising puff with her gaze, twisting her features as fear struck at her core. “Is this safe?”

“This?” Dewey inquired, jabbing a blue claw toward the bubbling substance in the bowl.

“Uh, yeah. You’re going to put that on an open wound, and it just exploded.”

“It didn’t explode,” Dewey argued with a roll of his eyes. “Just…reacted.”

He grabbed another unmarked vial, screwed off the lid, and retrieved a black, gelatinous ball from inside. He tossed one in from a distance. Sparks flew from the bowl, and a small flame shot upward.

“Now it exploded,” he said with a nod.

“Very funny, Dewey,” Paige said, crossing her arms over her chest and setting her jaw. “Like I said, you want to slather this all over my back after it just exploded. I’m a little concerned that this may make things worse.”

“It won’t,” Dewey promised. He flicked his gaze to her. “Trust me.”

Paige shrugged and flung her arms out to the side. “Oh, sure. That’s easy. I’ll just trust a tiny dragon that I’ve just met and never knew existed before yesterday.”

“Don’t call me tiny!” Dewey shouted as he stirred the concoction.

It glowed purple-red as the ingredients blended together.

“Sorry, sorry,” Paige said, rubbing her temples. “I’m just a little stressed out over this weird remedy, the beast following me around, and how quickly we can retrieve this talisman so he won’t mark me again.”

“The thing with the talisman is…” Dewey continued his slow and methodic stirring of the thick goop.

“Yeah? What? It won’t get here for a few days by the time they send it or what?”