Blood-red lips were pressed together, forming a thin line, and dark sunglasses, huge ones, covered her eyes. Like before, her hair was pulled back in a tight bun, but I could tell that her hair was super curly. Excitement flooded me as I stared at the tall, slender woman.

The librarian stood in front of me.

Chapter 20

Chapter 20

Afraid the librarian would disappear if I blinked, I gaped at her. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you for, like, weeks, and that probably sounds super weird, but—”

“I know you’ve been looking for me,” she replied coolly, her chin lifting a fraction of an inch. “But you were not ready to find me.”

Any doubts I’d had that this librarian was normal, or whatever the closest thing to normal was around here, faded away. And the fact that she knew I was looking for her was more than just a little creepy, but I had to play it cool. I didn’t want to scare her off or say the wrong thing. My father had told me to find her, and that meant she had to be very important.

“There is something you need to see.” She pivoted around smoothly, not even waiting for me to agree to follow her. She lifted a hand and with a flick of her wrist motioned me to follow. “Come along, now.”

Trepidation walked alongside me. I had no idea where we were going or what she was, but I was relying on the fact that my father had told me to find her. So I was hoping she wasn’t going to kill me.

“So¸” I said, clearing my throat as I followed her. “How did you know I was ready now?”

“I sensed the bloodletting,” she replied, gliding ahead. I wasn’t even sure her feet were touching the floor, because her heels made no rapping sound. “That has changed things.”

“Bloodletting?” I frowned. The tiny curls pinned back in a bun almost seemed to . . . vibrate. Or squirm. I blinked. I was totally seeing things. “What does that mean?”

She looked over her shoulder. The sunglasses shielded her eyes, but the flat press of her lips was not exactly warm. “You are no longer a virgin, correct?”

I tripped over my feet. Throwing out my arm, I knocked a book off a shelf in the process of steadying myself. The heavy tome smacked off the floor. “What?”

“You engaged in fornication? There was penetration of—”

“Oh my God, I totally get what you mean. I don’t need an explanation.” My face burned. “How do you . . . ?”

“I can sense these things.”

I almost asked how, but figured this was one of those things I didn’t want to ever know about. “I . . . I don’t know what is weirder. Talking about this with you, or the fact you can sense that.”