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“I won’t say no,” Paige answered as her feet hit the cement floor. “What do you have in mind?”

“Oh, I figured I’d bake some snickerdoodles, maybe a pie. We should grab hot chocolate mix. Oh, and spicy nuts. I make a mean spicy nut mixture.”

“Careful, Dewey,“ Paige said as she pushed through the door and climbed the steps to the main library. “I may not leave.”

They chuckled over the statement as Dewey detailed a list of ingredients on their way to the SmartMart. Within an hour, they’d loaded a cart with food items and an air mattress, checked out, and returned to Dewey’s nest.

Paige dropped the air mattress box on the floor inside the door before delivering the other bags to the counter separating the kitchen from the living space. Dewey buzzed around the kitchen, stowing his baking materials in the cupboards.

Paige flipped open the box and tugged the flocked blue rubber from inside. She tossed the box aside and unrolled the mattress near the fireplace before pulling the inflating pump from another bag.

“Does it fit?” Dewey called over his shoulder as he shoved cayenne pepper into the cupboard and swung it shut.

“Yep! Just need to inflate it and get my sheets on, and I’ll be all set.”

She stuck the tube into the fitting on the air mattress and turned on the pump. A loud buzzing filled the air as the blue rubber rose from the floor. Paige stood, pushing the legs of her sweatpants down farther.

“So, what are you making for breakfast?” she asked as she leaned her elbows against the counter.

Dewey glanced at the clock on the oven. “Wow! What a party. We stayed up almost all night.”

“Yep. We can get a few hours of sleep in before we report to work. But I’m hungry.”

Dewey flitted across the kitchen and tugged open the stainless steel refrigerator. He set out a carton of eggs, a package of bacon, and a loaf of bread.

“How do you like your eggs? I always like them fried in bacon grease, but that’s me.”

Paige’s jaw dropped open, and her eyes went wide. “Really?”

“Sure. I keep a jar of bacon grease at all times.” He peeled open the package of bacon before flitting across the room to tug a frying pan from under the cooktop.

He set it on the black glass and tossed several slices of bacon into it before swiping at the controls to set the bacon frying.

Paige wandered back to the mattress and tested it before shutting off the pump and wrapping the cord around it.

She snapped a fitted sheet onto it before fluttering a sheet over it. “So, what references should we be looking at to find a cure for this incurable wound?”

“I’ve got a few ideas on where we should look. The reference I looked at to make the first salve was quite old. And I only checked a few other places. We can start with a more exhaustive search of the magical archives.”

Paige tucked in the corners and stretched a comforter over the queen-sized mattress before tossing two pillows at the top near the fireplace. “Those are the floating books, right?”

“Yep, the floating bookshelves in the center near the BookTron.” Dewey pushed around the crackling bacon with a large fork as it cooked.

“Mmm,” Paige said, sniffing the air as she wandered back over and collapsed on a stool across from Dewey. “That smells delicious.”

He perched on a stool, adding more bacon to the pan.

Paige glanced around the room. “I can’t believe Dickens isn’t in here begging for some.”

Dewey scanned the living area. “Maybe he fell asleep in my nest. Gee, I hope he didn’t get fur all over my velvet blanket.”

“He probably did.”

Dewey wrinkled his nose. “I’ll need to bust out my handheld vac.”

“Are you allergic?” Paige asked, her brow crinkling as she rose to her feet in search of the cat.

“No. I just don’t know how I feel about cat fur clumped on my beautiful velvet weighted blanket.”