The Library Was Alarmingly Tense
Gideon
I hadn’t planned on attending the brewers’ panel, but it was the perfect opportunity to have all the brewmasters in one place so I could ask them some questions.
The panel was set up in the library’s meeting room. It was normally used for hosting book clubs and community meetings, but this was the first event since the pipes had burst and they had to close it for repairs. It looked nice, but it still smelled like fresh paint. Most of the people attending probably wouldn’t even notice. For this event, the room was set up with rows of folding chairs facing a long table at the front. A banner that saidGet Hopped Up: Meet the Brewers!hung on the wall over the table.
I arrived twenty minutes early. Not because I was eager to hear Roy Pruitt discuss the merits of cold fermentation, but because I wanted to see who else arrived early, and why, and how they arranged themselves in the room.
The chairs were already maybe a third full. Festival-goers, mostly—a few couples, some older men who looked like they knew what they were talking about, and a woman in the back row with a notebook already open. I noted her without looking at her directly. She was probably a journalist or maybe a blogger. They had the same energy.
I found a spot along the side wall where I could see both the entrance and the panel table. I wasn’t going to sit.
“You look like a bodyguard.” Azar materialized beside me with a glass of water.
“You’re supposed to be at your bookstore,” I said. Most of the stores in town were staying open later than usual this week, hoping to capitalize on the festival crowd. Besides, it wasn’t like Az to attend something like this, so I wondered what he was doing here.
“Sandy is watching the bookstore.” He took a leisurely sip of water. “Sandy’s very responsible.”
“Sandy was trying to convince a tourist that the history section was ‘basically the same as fantasy’ just a few days ago.”
“And he wasn’t wrong.” Az tilted his head toward the crowd. “How is our winner this evening?”
“He’s here,” I said, pointing over to where Nadia and Roy were standing over in the corner. They were having a pretty intense conversation. She was doing all the talking while she adjusted his collar, getting him all ready for his big moment. He nodded and blew out a long breath. He turned and took his spot at the table in front of the room.
Az studied Roy for a moment, looking at something only he could see. “He’s worried about something.”
I’d thought the same thing. Roy was normally good at putting on an affable performance, back slapping, telling jokes, and laughing in all the right places, but there was somethingdifferent today. He was still smiling and laughing, but none of the smiles reached his eyes.
“The Beckett situation,” I said.
“Mm.” Az didn’t disagree. “Or something else entirely. Worry has a specific scent. His is layered.”
That was the thing about demons. They didn’t just smell emotions. They read them in ways I didn’t understand but for sure appreciated.
Tessa Morland took her seat at the table next and seemed completely unbothered. She had her silver-streaked hair pinned up against the heat. She looked more relaxed than Roy did, which made sense. Third place with a clean conscience sat easier than first place with a complicated one.
Ivan entered from the side door. I should’ve known he wouldn’t be able to stay away, but I’d hoped. He took a seat right in the front row, looking furious. I wasn’t sure why he was here. He’d promised Declan and Elwood that he’d give them time to investigate, and hopefully, he would keep his word. It couldn’t have been easy for him, knowing there was something wrong with the contest results and not saying anything.
Hopefully, Declan would know more when he and Elwood finished with the growlers.
Az finished his water and set the glass on the nearest empty chair. He looked at me sideways. “Something else is bothering you.”
“This whole situation is bothering me.”
“No, something specific.” He tilted his head. “Something you haven’t said out loud yet.”
The thing about having a demon for a best friend was that lying to him was technically possible but not particularly efficient.
“What makes this community work is that we all follow the rules. We all treat each other respectfully, even if we aren’t thesame type of supe, and here we are just a few weeks after a vamp was murdered and some rogue witch is out there hexing people. I just don’t like it.”
“I hear you on that.” He accepted that in the easy way he accepted most things. He looked around and then said, “I figured Arthur would be here. First big event in the meeting room and all.”
I might not be a demon and have his spooky ability to read people, but even I could tell that wasn’t as casual a comment as it sounded.
I shrugged. “He was here when I got here. I think I heard him tell Leon he would be back in the children’s area if he needed anything.”
Az rolled his eyes. “I’m sure he is. That’s where bad habits start, you know. The other day, one of those little rugrats actually said he preferred the library to my store, if you can believe that. Said the librarian encouraged them totouch the books, of all things.”
