“That would be more helpful if we were playing a trivia game instead of trying to find a way to break a curse.”
“Okay, we’re like Hansel and Gretel right now.” Marcy turned to face her, getting more excitable as she told her story. “But instead of being abandoned in the woods and getting fat on gingerbread houses, we’re following a trail of fragmented clues. And these clues will lead us to a muse or Demeter or somebody who can actually fix this shit, and that’s way better than going back home with Hansel and Gretel’s lame parents.”
“You really suck at analogies,” Harper said.
“Nah-ah,” Marcy disagreed. “You suck at getting the point I’m trying to make.”
“No, I get it. And you’re right. I know we can do this.” She sighed. “But it feels like we’re running out of time.”
“It’s ’cause summer’s ending and you’re going to school,” Marcy said, trying to cheer Harper up. “But you’ll be home all the time, I’m sure. It’ll be almost like you never left. Except that I’ll have to actually start doing my job. Which is kinda lame.”
“Yeah, it’s gonna be you and Edie all the time until they find a replacement for me. Do you think you can handle it?” Harper smiled up at her.
“Well, it helps that she takes incredibly long lunch breaks now. Do you think she’s having quickies with Gary?”
“Ew.” Harper wrinkled her nose. “And she’s been gone for an hour already. I wouldn’t exactly call that a quickie.”
“Oh, Harper, gross. Way to take it up a notch.”
“Anytime.”
“Hey, look.” Marcy pointed at the door. “It’s your handsome steed.” Harper lifted her head to see Daniel walking toward the library, an old brown box under one of his arms.
She was a little surprised to see him. Yesterday she’d called him a few times, but hadn’t heard from him, other than a text confirming that he was okay—just busy.
“Steed?” Harper asked, glancing back at Marcy. “You do realize that a ‘steed’ is a horse.”
“Really?” Marcy asked, but she didn’t sound swayed. “I thought it meant, like, knight in shining armor.”
The chime above the door jingled, and Daniel strode over to the front desk.
“No, that’s what knight in shining armor means,” Harper informed Marcy.
“You must be talking about me,” Daniel said. “Continue. Pretend I’m not here.”
“I don’t know if you noticed, but we’re working, Daniel.” Marcy did her best to sound bitchy, which was hard to do when she was so monotone. “This is Harper’s last day, and I need her to focus and finish all the work she’d ordinarily be doing over the next nine months. So we’re pretty swamped.”
“Marcy,” Harper chastised her, but she was laughing.
“Sorry, Marcy,” Daniel said. “I’ll only take a couple minutes. I promise.”
“Fine.” Marcy sighed dramatically and got off the desk. “I’ll just go back in the office and eat Edie’s snacktime yogurt.”
“Why are you doing that?” Harper asked.
“Because when she eats it, she gets really graphic with the spoon, and it’s gross. Do you think I like peach yogurt? No. I don’t.” Marcy shook her head emphatically as she backed toward Edie’s office. “But I eat it for all the patrons of this fair library. They should thank me. I am a hero.”
Harper turned her attention back to Daniel. “Anyway, what can I do for you?”
“I know that you have that dinner with your family tonight, and I don’t want to intrude on that.” He’d been holding the box so it was hidden from Harper on the other side of the counter, and now he lifted it up and set it down in front of her. “But I wanted to get this to you before you left.”
“You didn’t have to get me anything,” Harper said.
Daniel laughed and looked ashamed. “Now you’re making me feel bad, because I didn’t get you anything. I found this.”
“What is it?” Harper asked, but she was already lifting off the top to peer inside.
“I’ve been cleaning out the cabin, and I found this little secret attic compartment in the top of my closet,” Daniel explained. “There were a few mice living up there, and then this box, containing some memorabilia.”
On top were stacks of old pictures. Some of them had been chewed at the corners, probably by the mice that Daniel had mentioned, but most of them appeared to be in fairly good shape.
“I thought we’d gotten all of Bernie’s stuff out of the cabin. I was wondering why he didn’t have any pictures of his wife in his old photo albums,” Harper said as she sifted through the pictures.
“No, he has quite a few,” Daniel said.