The girl sighed, then repeated word for word what she’d told Evin about the gnolls. He was right. She had recited it before.

Jorick’s eyes grew wider and wider. After the last bit about gnolls eating humans, he recoiled.

“They really are going to eat everyone? Are you serious?” He spun around and grabbed Evin by the shoulders. “Evin, we’ve really got to go now! We can’t waste our time in libraries with weird elves!”

“Weird?” the girl said, her voice rising.

Jorick turned to her. “Well you are! Doing your light show and acting all mysterious. We don’t even know your name.”

The girl sniffed and crossed her arms.

Jorick snorted and shoved past the girl to head deeper into the library. “It doesn’t matter anyway. Evin said that when we find this Zendric person, he’s going to help us kill all the gnolls and then we’re going to save everyone.” Placing his hands around his mouth, Jorick called out, “Zendric! Hey, Zendric!”

“I told you!” the girl said, her voice sharp and loud. “He’s not here.”

Jorick spun to face her. “Well where is he, then? We need to hurry! Everyone is going to die!” Throwing his hands up in the air, Jorick slumped into one of the plush chairs. “Can anyone tell me why everyone in the world has gone crazy since yesterday? My best friend makes me let my dad get taken by gnolls, a batty old witch goes shopping in smoldering ruins in the dead of night, and now this elf girl wants to act all snooty and, yes, weird.” Jorick slammed his fists against the chair’s armrests. “You are all insane!”

The last words of Jorick’s rant echoed between the distant, unseen rafters of the library as all three fell quiet. Evin felt a pang deep in his chest.

“I didn’t make you leave anyone behind,” Evin said. “You heard Marten. Those gnolls had already taken everyone. We needed to save ourselves so we could save them.”

Jorick glared at Evin. “You didn’t even try to save your brother. You just ran. He was lying there and we left him.”

“I …” Evin didn’t know what to say. It was true. But he’d only been doing what was best: running and hiding and living to fight another day.

He remembered Marten lying on the soot-stained cobblestones, motionless, with the salivating gnoll hunched over him. He remembered the heat of the flames threatening to engulf them. He’d been so scared. Maybe he should have fought back his fear rather than run away. He didn’t know anymore.

“My name is Betilivatis.”

Evin jerked his head and looked over at the elf.