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The library was reopened, and I’d wanted to see it the second I came back into town. It had been shut down for a long time, until Wren renovated it. I didn’t know what it was like on the inside, just that it was completely redone from top to bottom.

Maybe I should’ve had Atticus watch the girls.

“Come on, Agnes,” I called. “Let’s go in the library!”

“I hate reading!” she yelled.

“There’s . . . uh, other things in there?” I offered.

“I’m gonna jump!” Agnes said, and she launched off the swing. My heart stopped and I was halfway across the street when she landed.

“Fuck,” I muttered.

“Come on!” Beatrice called. “It’s so hot!”

“Fine!” Agnes ran to us, running in front of a car that had to slam on their brakes. I grabbed her and pulled her out of the way.

“Sorry!” I said to the driver. “Agnes, you need to look both ways before crossing.”

“They stopped!”

“Some people don’t pay attention.”

She flipped me off and ran inside the library.

“Son of a—” I stopped myself when Beatrice tugged away and followed.

I definitely should have left them at home.

Chasing after them, I expected one to be climbing on the shelves by now. Instead, I came face-to-face with a woman I hadn’t seen in years.

“Now who did the cat drag in?” Marjorie asked, hands on her hips. Both girls had stopped. Marjorie wasn’t a scary woman, usually, but this time, she had marker all over her face in different flowers.

Henrietta was behind her, laughing as she capped a pen.

“Are you a witch?” Agnes asked.

“Try that word with a B, kid. Then you’ll have it. I’m guessing you’re our temporary kiddos, right?”

“Hi, Marjorie,” I said.

The older woman looked up with a smile. “Gabriel Sinclair, is that you?”

“It is. You look great.”

“I look like my wife got to me while I dozed off in my chair.” She laughed. “Her art obviously shocked the girls into submission. Are they your kids?”

“No!” both of them yelled.

I nodded.

“All right. Well, welcome, not-Sinclair kids. This is the library.” She gestured inside and I followed her arm’s arc.

It was much different in here. Everything was brighter and there was a massive kids’ area that had Agnes and Beatrice already running. I remembered when this place was darker and barely functioning.

“Wow,” I said.

“Not like the last time you were here, huh?”