“Perfect!” she said, and the worm bowed. “You got a name?”
The worm nodded and flipped open a stray book on the desk, tapping its nose against the name of the author—Matthew.
“Pleased to meet you, Matthew.”
The worm bowed again and inched away as Hailey headed to Mysteries.
She’d only just climbed the ladder with an armful of books when Fin appeared.
“Too bad you’re not wearing a skirt,” he called up to her with a broad smile.
“Fin!”
“Hai—ley!” Mrs. Spitz called out.
She pumped her arms high as she took ridiculously long strides.
Fin gave her a wide berth.
“There are only six hundred and eighty-fivebooks on that shelf!” She pointed emphatically toward Reference.
“I’ll add another two when I’m finished here.”
“You’ll add another two right now,” Mrs. Spitz countered.
“I’ll only be ten minutes longer here…”
“Fix it now!” She stamped her foot.
“But…I’m on the tenth rung of this ladder…”
Like a three-year-old in a tantrum, Mrs. Spitz gnashed her teeth, balled her fists, and let out an ear-piercing screech until Hailey climbed down and headed to Reference.
Fin followed, smirking, his shoulders silently quaking.
“Sometimes with Mrs. Spitz, you just have to shut up and color,” he said once the librarian was out of earshot.
“That woman is three kinds of crotchety.”
“That happens to zombies,” Fin said nonchalantly, and Hailey froze.
“Is she…?” Hailey couldn’t bring herself to say the word.
“Yup. Mostly dead most of the time and all the way dead some of the time. She might be late to her funeral, but she’s never late to work.”
“Bear Towne has a zombie librarian?”
Fin stepped back, looking sly. “You know how hard it is to find a good librarian these days?” he asked, and Hailey shook her head. “It’s a dying profession,” he told her with a wry smile.
Hailey threw her arm out and pointed toward the circulation desk.
“Is she going to eat my brains?”
He shook his head. “You watch too much TV. You still wanna go into town with me tomorrow?”
“Yes, definitely.”
“Alright, we’ll hit whatever stores you need to pick up your…necessities. Like a razor.”
