Page 83 of The Prince and His Stolen Throne

At least we could outrun it if we changed our minds.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” I asked as I gathered an armload of books.

“Do you have a better one?” She tossed another book at it. It smacked the creature’s torso and disappeared into the black depths.

“Nope.” I chucked book after book, taking a step back with each one.

The sword-hand stretched forth and swept a row of books from one of the shelves into its gaping maw. The other hand reached its long claws toward us.

The librarian had finally extinguished the fire and realized she had a much more destructive problem on her hands. She shrieked in dismay, “Stop eating the books!”

It ignored her, greedily swallowing the next book I threw at it. The ink surface bubbled and bulged, ready to burst.

“You want us to stop it?” I called. “Then release our friends.”

By now, all her hair had fallen loose from her bun. It hung in scraggly strands around her shoulders and stuck to the side of her face. The buttons of her blouse had snapped and started to come undone. Her glasses had fallen off and hung on a chain around her neck. At some point, she’d lost a shoe.

Delilah underhand tossed another book into the beast’s eager mouth.

The librarian grabbed her hair, head swiveling back and forth like a distressed owl as she looked between us and the monster.

I hefted another book.

“Stop! I’ll free your friends, but you have to stop it before it destroys the whole collection!”

I lowered the book in my hand. “Can’t you call it off?”

“No! Once our words are out in the world, we no longer control them!”

Wonderful, then how were we supposed to defeat it? I scanned the creature’s bubbling surface. Although it had absorbed my sword, the blade hadn’t lost its shape. Maybe the creature could only digest ink.

Fuck, I really hope this works.

I shoved my books into the librarian’s arms and dove toward the monster. It reached for me at the same time, but I dodged its grasping hand and aimed right for the biggest bubble. I shoved my arm into it up to the elbow. The bubble burst, splashing my face with ink, blinding me in one eye. More ink seeped into the cuts I’d received from the catalog cards, setting them aflame with new pain. I gritted my teeth and pushed past it all, digging my hand in deeper, searching for the source.

My face pressed against the monster’s chest. Ink filled my nose and forced its way past my lips, sour and metallic.

Finally, my fingers closed over something wet and crumpled. I yanked on it and the ink monster howled in protest. It stopped trying to absorb me and tried to expel me instead, grabbing my shoulders and pushing as hard as it could.

With a wetsquelch, I popped out of the ink creature, a wad of black paper clutched in my hands.

The ink creature pawed at its chest, seeking what I’d stolen, before turning its attention back to me.

I dropped the clump of wet paper to the ground and held out my hand. Without me having to articulate what I wanted, Delilah smacked a bottle into it. I popped the cork and poured the contents onto the black lump.

The creature lunged at me, hand outstretched, as liquid fire poured onto its heart.

The ink lost its shape an inch from my face. It splattered over me, coating me head to toe in black. Delilah and the librarian had also gotten a good splash. It covered Delilah’s right side and the librarian’s left. They stared at me with similar expressions of shock.

“It’s done,” I said through clenched teeth, “Now release our friends.”

“Fuck me!” A loud shout came from behind us. Fitz stumbled out from between two bookshelves, holding onto one to keep himself upright. He blinked at me from behind his filthy glasses and whispered, “I can speak.Holy shit, I can speak!”

Footsteps approached slowly from behind us, but I never took my eyes off the librarian.

Maximus appeared, head bowed in repentance, olive skin flushed. He glanced guiltily at the librarian and whispered, “I finished that section …”

“Thank you, Maximus,” she replied without looking at him. “You were a great help. As for the rest of you.” She pointed an imperious finger toward the front doors. “Get the fuck out of my library.”