Page 63 of Grave Danger

“Nicely done, doc,” Cody said.

“Thanks.” Zenona looked pleased with herself before turning serious. “We haven’t seen anything unusual in the morgue, but I’ve treated a few people with human bites, and several with some deep scratches, like what Jugs received.”

Demetrius looked at Cody. “Bites and scratches always pass the virus on.”

“Virus?” Zenona, Amelia, and Otis exclaimed.

“That’s how it’s always explained in books and movies,” Demetrius said. “I’m not saying anything as a fact.”

“What’s he’s saying,” Cody said. “Is that other than the mayor, the old woman who came after Ollie and me in the woods, and the mechanic who attacked Demmy, we don’t know if there are others out there.”

Amelia turned in the seat to look back at Demetrius. “Has there been any more information about the man who attacked you?”

Demetrius shook his head. “All we know is he started to feel ill after he was bitten by some woman he caught going through his trash can. And the autopsy came back inconclusive, saying he’d been dead two days before he attacked me.” He looked at Zenona. “Is that what you’ve heard?”

“I really can’t comment on any of it,” Zenona said, making a face. “Sorry.”

Amelia shook her head. “Just seems so apocalyptic.”

“Just like the last time the town was overrun by monsters,” Cody said. “Hey, have you paid a visit to our favorite librarian who hates me?”

“Tracey?” Zenona leaned forward to look past Demetrius at Cody. “Why would Demetrius go see her?”

“She’s helped us with stuff like this in the past,” Cody said. “I just figured he would have jumped at the chance to get inside that little room again.”

Amelia turned around and said in tandem with Zenona, “What little room?”

Demetrius gave Cody a wide-eyed look and shook his head slightly. Cody blinked in surprise and then fumbled for words.

“Um, you know, the, um, the men’s room. There. At the library. He likes the… acoustics of the tile.” Cody pressed himself back into the seat and shrugged, making a face as Demetrius stared at him.

“Demetrius,” Amelia said in an exasperated tone. “For the love of beech trees, I would hope that’s not true.”

“Not entirely,” Demetrius said as his face burned. He reached down and pinched Cody’s outer thigh. Hard.

Zenona watched him a moment. “Huh,” was all she said before she turned away.

In the rearview mirror, Demetrius could see Otis wore a big smile.

After Otis parked in one of the angled spots down the street from Margie’s Diner, they all stepped out and Demetrius immediately approached the parking meter.

“I’ll get the meter since you drove,” he said, and waved toward the diner. “Go on ahead.”

The others started to walk away, but Demetrius called out, “Oh, Cody, do you have any change on you?”

Cody walked back as Zenona, Amelia, and Otis continued off down the sidewalk.

“Dude, you can’t talk about Tracey and the artifacts room around other people,” Demetrius said in a harsh whisper.

“Why not?” Cody plugged a couple of quarters into the meter. “It’s not a secret.”

“Yeah, it pretty much is.”

“Pretty much? What’s that mean?”

“It means nobody else knows about those books.”

“Nobody at all?”