Page 34 of A Spark of Something (A Librarian’s Guide to Witchery #1)

“ T here they are!” Ollie gasped, as he crouched down under his desk.

Stretching, he snagged his ball of keys that had somehow ended up all the way underneath. Leave it to him to manage to unclip his keys from his lanyard and NOT notice that the heavy weight was missing.

Clipping them back on as he stood, he frowned on finding Red on the table, staring down into his asshole-ish grimoire. Not bothering, or wanting, to read the book, Ollie looked away, peering into the antique mirror on the wall behind his desk.

“What are you doing?” he asked while he straightened his clothes.

Ollie had paired dark-brown boots with a button-down that had long, puffy sleeves and tiny dark-red stripes. Wrapped around his neck, beneath the collar of his shirt, was a blood-red scarf that he'd tied into a bow, which matched in color with his red corduroys. And the red suspenders he had on had green vines twisting around them. Piercing-wise, Ollie had people-eating plants dangling from his bottom lobe piercings, and blood drops in the upper ones, with a gold hoop in his helix. While everything wasn’t completely on theme, it matched enough, and Ollie personally thought he looked very cute for his second date!

It was October 3rd already, and said date had been delayed like a week and a half. Though they had talked on the phone since, alongside the texts Ollie got three times a day, everyday, to eat. He had to be honest, they had helped a little.

Either way, while Noble had still visited, their next date had been delayed. Mostly due to him, as too much had been going on. October was always a busy month for the library, with all the spooky Halloween programs. And September happened to be a big prep month for both October and December. It was funny how only a few days of being out of it, plus missing work for a date, would end with a mountain high pile of work for him to do.

“You know, your grimoire has to be the rudest one I have ever come across in my many years of existence.”

Giving himself one last look, he turned to Red. “Exactly how long are those many years? Also, I thought only I could read it?”

Red tilted his head. “A long, long time.”

“And you outlived your other witches?”

The cat flinched. “Those early years were…brutal, and the ones that followed weren’t much kinder.”

“I’m sorry.” He moved closer to the desk, gently running his hands over Red’s fur. “You cared for them all, didn’t you?”

His cat stared up at him as his eyes became glossy. “I loved them all… Not in a romantic way, mind you, but…”

He would hope not. Ollie would rather not think about any of his past family members sleeping with a cat…ugh. His nose wrinkled at the thought.

“So, you can read it?”

“I can. I’m your?—“

“Familiar, yes, yes, so you have said.” Still not looking, he asked, “What does it say now?”

Red snorted before reading aloud. “ Chapter One: A Witch in Heat .”

“What in the hell is wrong with it?!” Ollie sputtered, his face instantly burning up.

The familiar shrugged, an action that he still found odd seeing a cat do. “My guess is that it’s annoyed by the delays.” Red frowned. “But I wonder if part of it is less about the delays now, and more about the delay overall. As your awakening was put off for likely over ten years.”

“Well, that’s not my fault! Nor is it my fault that it’s taking me so long to adjust! It’s not like I purposely remained ignorant before this! Things were kept from me.”

“I know. And no, it’s not your fault, any of this. But it doesn’t seem to care.”

Ollie sighed and picked up his small leather purse, pulling it across his body.

“Ollie?”

He looked over. “Yes?”

“You will read it soon, right?”

“Yes…”

“Thank you…” Red sighed. “Enjoy your date.”

“Thank you.” Ollie petted him again, hesitating before giving him a brief hug. “I’m not super mad anymore. And I don’t hate you or anything. I don’t think I ever could. I was just…scared.”

“I know, Ollie. Go, before you stand up that…human.”

He rolled his eyes. “Going!”

Swiftly walking out of his office, Red followed.

Ollie couldn’t help but glare at the line of people he found leaning against the circulation desk as he reached it. The line of people being every single one of his librarians, all of them with big ass grins on their faces. Well, all except for Jahla, who looked irritated.

“All of you, get back to work!” he huffed.

His face heated again when they laughed and collectively said, “Have fun,” before walking off to hopefully head back to their desks.

Rolling his eyes, he turned to leave.

“Be careful,” Jahla said with a sigh.

He waved without looking back. “I’ll be fine, bye!”

Ollie hurriedly left, not wanting to risk being stopped by anyone. He let out a happy hum once he was in his car.

Starting it, he headed off to the Rosewing Playhouse. The place was forty minutes from the library, but only ten from Noble’s house, so they decided it would be better to drive separately. Well, the man had offered to pick him up, but it just seemed silly to make Noble drive so far out of his way.

Ollie had to say, he was excited. He hadn’t been to a play in so long! It wasn’t like he hadn’t gone due to a lack of interest, more just a lack of time. Ollie actually loved musicals. And now he had someone to share that love with!

Well, he wasn’t sure if Noble liked them or not, but the man hadn’t balked at the idea, even after admitting he had never seen one before. Which was surprising. Or maybe it wasn’t. Did they go to see plays in public school? Not that he knew if Noble went to public school. Or that he knew the ins and outs of public school, as he had never gone.

Whatever, Ollie was sure the man would have fun! Like, they were watching Little Shop of Horror, what was not to love?!

Humming as he pulled up to the stoplight, his smile dropped with a sigh as he caught sight of a flicker of movement to his right. “Can’t a guy get a little privacy?”

He eyed the ghost, and the ghost eyed him back. The man had short black hair, he assumed, as again, ghosts were colorless, white skin, and oval glasses that looked pretty thick. Face-wise, his nose came to a sharp, slightly upturned point, while his jaw was smooth and slightly round, with a dimple on his chin. The ghost was medium build, from what he could tell, and the man must have died when it was much colder out as he had on a rather thick sweater, jeans, and snow boots.

Ollie didn’t know how to feel about the fact that even in death one needed glasses to see… Or maybe they were stuck there since he had them on when he died. Wait… Would he not be able to see as a ghost if he died without his glasses?!

“You can really see me. Interesting,” the ghost mused, his voice deep yet floaty.

“Yeah, that stopped being interesting for me at least two ghosts ago.”

The man tilted his head. “I think this is the first time I've been able to speak aloud.”

“I have a feeling you won’t be the only one.”

It appeared this was going to be his new norm, talking to dead people, and dead people talking back. Oh, happy days…

“Why are you here?” Ollie asked.

“I don’t know.”

He blinked. “Y-you don’t know?! You do realize this is my car, right?”

Ollie looked away as the light changed to green, driving forward.

“I don’t know who I am.”

Ollie started to glance over, and almost swerved into the other lane with a start as he caught a glimpse of blood dripping down the man’s face. It was the only color on his ghostly body.

Pulling off to the side of the road, to avoid crashing, Ollie turned fully to face the ghost, but the blood was gone.

“You…” he trailed off as the ghost disappeared too. “Huh…interesting.”

With his hands in his pocket, Noble leaned against his truck, his eyes locked on the road. He couldn’t help but smile as he spotted Ollie’s little ladybug coming down the road. The car was so…Ollie. Just adorable and whimsical.

Noble walked over while the witch parked. When he got out, he said, “You know, I really could have picked you up.”

“No need!” Ollie smiled brightly, but there was something off about his expression. Not bad, but as if the man’s mind was elsewhere.

“What’s wrong?”

Ollie frowned. “Wrong?”

“You seem distracted.”

“Ah, well, the ghosts are talking now.”

His brow rose at that. “Are they?”

What an incredibly rare gift to have. Usually, one had to use some sort of spell to give them the ability to speak, which wouldn’t even cover being able to understand them. But if they were just talking… Unless Ollie had already learned how to do both…

Probably not. It was too soon for that, and the spells would be advanced magic…

“What are they saying?”

“Well, the first ghost turned out to be the one from that diary.”

Noble’s eyes widened. “The witch who was murdered?”

Ollie blinked and then hurriedly said, “Ah, I mean, she really wasn’t a witch. Witches… Witches aren’t real.”

He just smiled at that and helped the man hold his lie. “Of course not.”

“Anyway, on the way over here, I talked to the one that apparently is attached to my car. He was why I was distracted. The man seems confused.”

“Confused?”

“Yeah, he didn’t know who he was, or why he was there. I was just wondering if maybe I could help him? I mean, I know if it was me, I’d hate spending all eternity in someone’s car, while not knowing who I was or what happened to me. It just honestly makes me—” Ollie sniffled a little, “—sad.”

His smile spread. God, every time he talked to Ollie, his resolve became clearer. Clearer yet deadlier. But that was fine. If things ended badly for him, it would only be a fraction of the atonement he owed. But after meeting Ollie, spending time with him, there was no way he could ever kill another innocent witch.

“You are unbelievably kind, Ollie.”

Ollie pursed his lips. “I don’t know. I would say I’m average kindness-wise. I’m just an empathic person. And really, it’s the right thing to do.” The man hummed happily and grabbed his hand, lacing their fingers together. “But enough about ghosts, we should head in and find our seats!”

“Maybe afterwards, we can head to your library and see if we can find anything to help your ghost friend in your books?”

“I—” Ollie cut off on a groan. “Oh, they are really going to make fun of us if we both show up.”

Noble threw his head back with a laugh. “Let them.”

The little witch giggled. “Well, I suppose I’ll have to, as I can’t bring myself to decline the offer, since I rather like the idea of spending time with you surrounded by books.”

“Do you?”

“Mmhmmm, books and a sexy man, what’s not to love?”

He chuckled. “Come on, let’s head inside before it starts without us.”