Page 25 of A Spark of Something (A Librarian’s Guide to Witchery #1)
A s Noble walked into the library, he felt both freer and more screwed. To be honest, it felt right to be there, just as it had felt right to let the witch go, but the ‘now what’ kept hitting him in the face.
Mikael would be coming, along with whatever assignment Samuel had for them. The obvious option was to tell them he wanted out. He wouldn’t be the first, or the last, who had walked away from the life, but Noble wasn’t sure the interrogation that followed would go well for him once he did.
In fact, he was positive it would end violently, as while he could prove he wasn’t under some sort of spell, he wouldn’t be able to lie. No one else had been able to before him, and he doubted he’d have much better luck. They did something to make sure of that.
It was stupid that it had taken him so long to realize that as much as they hated witches, so much of what they did was arcane, magic. Hell, Noble was only still living because—he shook the unfinished thought away as he reached the circulation desk.
He eyed the woman sitting there. Jahla, her name was, and she was someone Ollie had always seemed close to. The woman looked oddly stressed today. Her locs seemed slightly out of sorts. They were laying over each other, not as if they’d fallen that way, but as if she’d been twisting them together nervously. Her eyeliner was overly smudged as well, while her mouth was pressed into a firm, grim line.
When Jahla looked up from her phone, the woman didn’t even try to hide her disdain, her lips twisting slightly in disgust. “Can I help you?”
Noble’s brow rose at the tone of her voice mixed with the look she was giving him. While Jahla had never been super friendly, as far as he was concerned, she also hadn’t been openly hostile.
“I was wondering where I could find Ollie?” he asked hesitantly.
Her eyes narrowed. “You know, I had a moment to think over the whole—” Jahla’s nose wrinkled. “—ghost thing that Ollie has told me, and apparently, you about. I don’t know what game you are playing, but if you hurt him, I swear on?—”
“I’m not trying to hurt him,” Noble cut in.
“I don’t believe you.” She took a deep breath. “But just so it’s clear…if you hurt him, I’ll make sure you regret it.”
There was a whole lot of doubt being aimed his way lately from various people and creatures. He’d take offense to it if he had been a trustworthy person. But as he wasn’t, there was no point.
“Warning received. So?” He raised a brow in question.
“As if you don’t know.” She huffed. “You’ve secretly watched him enough over the last year. Where else would he be at three in the afternoon?!”
He smirked. “Right, nice talking to you.”
Noble heard her grunt as he walked away, heading left into the Young Readers section. He heard Ollie before he saw him. Noble’s smile widened when he heard the gasps of the children as Ollie made a fierce roaring sound. His smile slipped a bit at noting the bags under the witch’s eyes. The man looked tired.
His smile slipped further when their eyes met. Before Ollie managed to cover it up, for a brief second, there had been a look of panic in the little witch’s eyes.
Fuck…he thought he still had time. Noble supposed that was what he got for trusting a familiar to keep its word.
Ollie forced himself to shove down the panic as he locked eyes with Noble, doing his best to continue reading the story he was telling to the children. He had completely forgotten about the man after everything that had gone down, and he frankly didn’t know what the hell he was going to tell him.
Like, they barely knew each other, and yet, he had slept with him. Ollie had LITERALLY slept with someone he did not know.
Was it bad that he couldn’t really say he regretted that part too much, as it possibly was the best sex he had ever had? Probably. But damn, he could handle a bit of the judgment—cause it was worth it. Also…the man’s thighs! But, oh God, he knew absolutely nothing about Noble.
Yet, the man knew that he saw ghosts, and possibly believed him. And despite not knowing anything about Noble, he did want to get to know him, but now there was the whole added problem of talking cats and witches.
Not that he was accepting the witch thing. Nope—no acceptance on that one. He just had to ignore the used-to-be-glowing book that only he could read, that randomly changed what it said, because that was TOTALLY normal. So normal. Yeah, witches were not real at all. Fuck…fuckity fucking fuck! Shit…DAMMIT—AHHH!
Ollie somehow managed to finish reading his story, and answered questions, while having a meltdown in his head. Score one for untreated ADHD!
Plastering a smile on his face as he got up off the floor, he winced as his head spun. Oh…food, he needed to eat something. Shaking his head, he slowly approached Noble. The man was smiling too, but it looked as strained as his felt.
Great , he thought sarcastically. The man was probably here to tell him he was insane, and that he wanted him to lose his number.
Ollie cleared his throat. “Hello.”
“Hi.”
“Yeah, so umm, do you want to…go to my office and talk?”
Noble blinked. “Uh, sure?”
He nodded and started walking without saying another word. A yawn forced itself out as they reached his office.
“Tired?” Noble asked.
“It was a long night,” he stated while he found the key to unlock the door.
“Did you…see another ghost?”
“Yes.” He sighed. And so much more. Opening his office, he walked in and froze, stumbling slightly when Noble ran into his back.
“Ah, sorry, Ollie.”
Ollie didn’t respond, he just stood there staring at his grimoire, which was sitting open where he usually sat new acquisitions.
“How…” he rasped.
The book should have been in his house, his locked house! Ollie had left it on his bed! A witch… He was…a witch.