T-shirt or Something

Garrow’s eyes went wide. “The Necronomicon? Are you insane?” He reached out and batted Austin’s hand away from the bookshelf. “No. I’m not going to let you do that to him.”

Austin glanced over her shoulder at The Wordsmith, who was obediently holding the book on the flat of his palms, ready for her to pile more on top of it if she so chose.

“Hey, The Authorities’ orders are pretty straightforward, and that’s to get prepped for this next mission. It’s gonna be a long haul, and we need all the background info we can get. It’ll be handy to have the kid absorb everything we need to know.” She tugged her wrist out of Garrow’s grip and continued to peruse the spines of books.

Garrow suppressed a growl of irritation. “He’s a person, Austin, not a damned pocket computer. And we’re supposed to know the background for this mission, not tug it out of him when we get stumped. If you want to get informed, do it the old-fashioned way and read for yourself.”

Austin’s eyes narrowed. “What’s up with you all of a sudden, Mr. Defensive?” She glanced over her shoulder again; The Wordsmith was shivering and doing his best to pretend he couldn’t hear their argument.

“I’m sick of the way everyone around here treats him,” Garrow said.

After a moment, Austin snickered. “Oh, hell no, you’ve got to be joking. You’re sweet on our boy, aren’t you?”

Garrow’s eyes flashed, and he shoved Austin in the shoulder too hard for it just to be play. “You’re being a brat and you know it. Unless it’s something absolutely vital or The Authorities hand down the title of a book specifically, he’s not absorbing a thing.”

Austin tugged a volume - bound in black leather, spine blank of a title but slowly cracking - and spun away. “You’re such a sissy underneath it all, aren’t you?” She thrust the book at The Wordsmith. “Here, absorb this.”

The Wordsmith set the first book aside and accepted the black volume, hands hesitant. He flipped it open - it was the Necronomicon. “Right now?” He bit his lip.

Austin nodded. “Yeah. Right here, right now.”

“Are you sure?”

Austin’s brow furrowed. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

“It’s just...” The Wordsmith shrugged, the motion a little defensive. “The Elders never liked to watch is all.”

Garrow felt his blood run cold. If the Elders of Rosenkreuz couldn’t stand the sight of an inkbearer absorbing a book, it had to be fairly horrific.

Austin gestured carelessly. “Seriously, do it. So Garrow will stop being a sissy.”

The Wordsmith took a deep breath and reached out, placing his palm on the first page.

Garrow caught his wrist, tugged his hand away from the book. He leveled a look at Austin. “No. Come on, kid, let’s get you a t-shirt or something.”

Maybe it was just Garrow’s imagination, but the kid looked relieved as Garrow led him away.

(492 words)