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No doubt the Kangs were friendly with Otto.
We entered the library where Hailey was immediately engulfed by patrons. I cut straight through the crowd and headed to the cluster of computers.
I became so engrossed in my research that I lost track of time. Hailey’s voice cut through my concentration. “Whatcha working on?” She leaned over my shoulder. “Ooh, mythological creatures. I love those. What’s a gwiber?”
I shushed her. “Aren’t we supposed to keep our voices down in the library?”
Hailey gave me a pointed look. “I told you about toddler time.”
I peered over the top of the computer. Sure enough, the other side of the room was teeming with boisterous children. Their adult supervisors seemed to have given up on keeping their charges quiet.
“Tell me about the gwiber. I love learning new things.”
Probably why she was good at her job. “It’s a snake monster, Welsh in origin.”
“I have a whole section on mythology that might help you. Why don’t we bypass Mr. Wikipedia and friends, and check with our old friend, Dewey Decimal?”
Warmth flooded my cheeks. It suddenly seemed like sacrilege to be conducting an Internet search in a library. Then again, I was in a hurry and assumed the Internet would be faster. My mistake.
“That would be great,” I said. “Do I need to switch to a different screen?”
“No need when you’ve got the librarian as your guide.” Hailey made a sweeping gesture. “Right this way.”
I followed her to the stacks. “Do you know if any of the books include a gwiber?”
“That’s what the index is for. I can help you though. I don’t mind. Anything to avoid their sticky hands.” She inclined her head toward the toddler pit.
“I’m surprised you’d let them in the library with sticky hands. Seems like a bad idea.”
“They only touch the board books that can be wiped down during story time. It’s an unofficial rule that, thankfully, most people follow.” She narrowed her eyes at the gaggle of children. “I’m looking at you, Jeremy Flint.” She pulled a handful of books off the shelves. “Start with these.”
Hailey stood behind me, watching as I perused the books. I knew she was there to be helpful, but I felt the weight of her stare pressing between my shoulder blades. It was deeply unsettling.
I plucked the top book from the pile and flipped to the back. I stopped when my finger landed on ‘gwiber’ in the index. “Found something.” I flipped to the designated page. The information only filled two paragraphs and didn’t tell me anything I didn’t already know.
“Thanks for your help, Hailey. I appreciate it.”
“No problem. I love helping our patrons and, bonus, now I know what a gwiber is.” She began sliding the books back onto the shelf. “I found my calling in life early.”
I closed the book and handed it to her. “Everyone should be so lucky.”
“You haven’t found yours?” She sounded vaguely sympathetic.
There was no easy answer to her question. “I know what I’m good at,” I said vaguely.
“That’s a good start. A lot of people don’t even get that far. There’s so much self-doubt and self-criticism.”
I smiled. “Oh, I do that, too.”
Hailey returned the smile. “I think we’re all guilty of that on occasion.”
I left the library feeling a mixture of relief and dread. The gwiber had already taken lives—what if one of those lives belonged to Ashley? What if my ghostly radar missed her for some reason? No, Camryn also determined that she was alive, both here and not here. Of course that could mean that Ashley was bordering on death. And even if she was alive, the gwiber was still at large, albeit without fangs. I’d tell the pack everything I knew about the monster and hoped that would be enough.
“I’ve never heard of a gwiber,” Nana Pratt said. The ghosts had accosted me the second my foot hit the porch, and I allowed them to accompany me inside.
“They’re not common anywhere, even in their home country.”
“What kind of snake are we talking about?” Ray asked.
