Dead To Me

Cyrus moved aside and gestured for us to enter. “Good luck, gentlemen.”

“Don’t wait around on our account, Cy,” Co

Cyrus chuckled at that. “I’ve got a first aid kit up front should anything…unfortunate happen,” he said as he wandered back to the front of the shop. “It’s at your disposal. For a nominal fee, of course.”

“Of course,” I said and pushed my way past him also, but with less force than Co

As I passed the threshold, the familiar smell of brimstone hit my nostrils. It was a tried-and-true stereotype, like cops in a donut shop, but brimstone always seemed to permeate the air anywhere the dark arts hung around in any great concentration. And let’s face it-the dark arts didn’t get more concentrated than here. The smell was still hard on the nose, though. “Well, that was unpleasant,” I muttered as I turned to Co

“Is there anyplace specific I should be looking?” I asked, feeling guilty.

Co

“Don’t call her that,” I snipped back, surprised at my own reaction. “She’s…”

Co

I didn’t know what I felt for our newest case, but I wasn’t about to let Co

Co

“They don’t teach that anymore,” I said peevishly. “All you get now is a pamphlet on it in your welcome kit.” I felt like some sort of necrophiliac pervert just thinking about Irene, ashamed that Co

“Oh,” said Co

I nodded. I started walking farther back into the Stacks.

“But I meant what I said, kid. Forget any foolish notions you’re entertaining. You’ll only hurt yourself.”

Co

When I found theDirectory of the Dearly Departed, I pulled it from the shelf. It weighed a ton.

“You’d better watch out down there,” Co

His words were drowned out by a sudden resounding roar that sprang up all around me. One second I was looking at what I thought was an ordinary bookcase-tall, ornate, carved from a thick, dark, polished wood. The next I was ru

“Wrong way, kid!” he shouted. “Don’t stop, though!”

The bookcase tore after me down the cramped aisles, spilling books to the floor as it went. Occasionally, I caught a glimpse of Co

The aisle before me came to an abrupt end so I juked left down another. The stomping bookcase followed suit, but now I had lost sight of Co

“What thehell is that thing?” I shouted, nearly breathless. I hoped hearing my voice would help Co

“Just keep moving!” Co

“Whatis that thing?” I demanded again. My legs ached and I feared they would cramp up.

“Explain…later,” Co

At the next intersection, I threw myself down an aisle on my right, but with horror, I realized that it continued on only a little farther before coming to a dead end. No side aisles, no turnoffs. Just ceiling-high shelves on all sides, not to mention the living, breathing one closing in fast behind me. Giving in to total panic, I found a burst of speed that only marathon ru

This is not going to be pretty,I thought. In a last-ditch effort to save myself, I threw open my coat and pulled the retractable bat from its loop on my belt. It extended with a satisfyingshhhhkkt, and I raised it into classic batter’s stance, prepared to swing. I might die a stupid death-death by library-but I was determined to go down swinging.

As the bookcase thundered toward me, I spied a single arm popping over the top of it and then Co

Bless us,I thought,we’re going to Butch and Sundance this one. We’re both going to be terribly crushed by this bookcase, but we’re going out in a blaze of ridiculous glory.

Co

I rushed forward to Co

“Are you all right?” I shouted into the mass of books and limbs.

“Of course I’m not all right,” Co