“Oh yes, wonderful. I smell tea, which is exactly what I had hoped for. What good lads, having the tea ready to go just like that.” The monster’s smile revealed a mouth full of sharp teeth.

  “Yes, please take a seat right here. Bill has brewed up a nice batch, and let me get you a cup.” Serilina said as she led the creature posing as a man to the seat facing the mirror. As soon he sat down, she produced a teacup from her belongings and had Bill fill it. She walked towards the creature and presented it to him.

  His smile dropped slightly as he sniffed loudly. “Oh good, I don’t smell any poison. You can’t be too careful these days. Especially someone so rude as to reflect my image without asking first, but I suppose I can forgive your lack of manners this time. You are sharing your tea, after all.” Its smile had turned into something predatory.

  Andy forced himself to ignore the feeling of dread the creature was causing in him. He had looked at the reflection in the mirror, and instead of an older mustached man, he was greeted by the image of a leathery bat-like creature. It had claws on each of its hands, and the sharp teeth of its human form were much more pronounced. He understood why Serilina had asked about vampires before. This certainly was the closest thing to one he had ever experienced.

  “‘Ey tea boy, knock off the scary aura. It’s not fooling anyone, and it’s starting to get annoying.” Twonger yelled at the monster unexpectedly.

  “I suppose, though I’m surprised you noticed.” It said.

  “Yeah, I’m plenty familiar with annoying monsters like you. Ya, love to cover for your actual weakness by trying to manipulate the people around you. Scared people are more likely to break and run letting you pick us off one at a time. Hell, I’ve worked with a few people with similar powers, but let me make this clear. I ain’t afraid of you.” Twonger walked up to the man and, stood between him and the mirror, and stared him directly in the eyes.

  Andy felt his fear nearly vanish and realized Twonger had been right. It had been an outside force from their guest causing it. The creature was squirming in its seat now. Twonger had reversed the table on it.

  “Fine, but I don’t like you. I will be eating you first once our deal is done.” Its voice quivered, giving away the fear in it.

  “Ya won’t be eating shit what you will be doing to helping us repair this Librarian here. Andrew bring it over. I don’t want to have to deal with this scum any longer than we need to.” Twonger taking charge of this entire interaction wasn’t part of the plan, but it seemed to be working, and Andy preferred it to Serilina.

  This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

  “Well, now that’s something. Why didn’t you lead with this? I’d have looked completely past all the rudeness to get a look at a Librarian. They aren’t allowed in the stacks anymore, so this is a special sight.” It said.

  “Yeah, why aren’t they allowed in the stacks anymore? Also, do you have a name?” Andy asked, finding his voice.

  “Many, you can call Bartholomew if you wish. Back before the expansion wall was breached, the Librarians generally freely roamed the stacks, helping to maintain order. They operated as guides and sometimes as teachers. Once the wall buckled and the abyssal energies began to flow, things quickly became too dangerous for them to be allowed outside the safety of the reference desk. I believe all the exits broke when that happened as well, but my memory from before I first drank is a little hazy. Now, let me see the puppet body. I can still smell the soul, so that’s a good start.” Bartholomew demanded after finishing his short history lesson.

  “So I can tell where the pieces are assembled, but I wasn’t sure how safe it would be to take it apart to try to find out the inner workings,” Andrew said as he brought the puppet over.

  “Yeah, good choice. If the soul had escaped, there wouldn’t be any way to fix this, plus we’d have a nascent Librarian soul festering in the wing. Now, that would be a monster once it grew.” He followed up, removing a panel on the Libarian’s back. His hands glowed as he did so.

  He looked just as focused in his reflection as he did outside it. Bill was focused on the scene, and Andy hoped that meant he could later explain just what mana types he was working with. In one hand, he was now holding a small swirling vortex. He had plucked it from inside the Librarian. The other hand was still inside it, fiddling with something.

  “Ah, I think I have it. Yes, there it is.” There was a loud clicking sound, followed by Bartholomew inserting the vortex back inside. He then sealed up the back.

  “So, is it good now?” Andy asked, hopeful.

  Their guest snapped his fingers, and the Librarian sprang back to life. “Looks like it,” He said.

  “Ah, stewards, thank you for bringing me back online. I was worried that by answering your questions, I would be permanently expelled from the Library. I am glad that didn’t happen.” The Librarian said.

  “Wait, you all are the stewards?!” The voices of both Bartholomew and Serilina came at the same time.

  “Not all of them, but yes, the stewards have finally returned to the Under Library, and I have thrown off the shackles of my updated firmware in order to better serve them as the founder would have wished.”

  “Hrm, if the founder wished anything, I think they’d have stuck around and perhaps stopped the flow of the abyss from feeding on us all,” he responded.

  “Perhaps Bart, if you had remained true to your purpose instead of succumbing to the corruption as so many others have, you would feel different. Though I do thank you for fixing me, so perhaps there is hope for you yet. Now, though, I believe it is time for a long-needed discussion.” For the first time Andy had seen, the Librarian’s puppet face smiled happily.