Chapter 21: Bookin' It

CRASH!

"Whoa, easy!"

BANG!

"Stop throwing things, little guy!"

Oakie ducked around a chair, then a plaque. The bear had run out of things to throw and was backed into a corner.

Insistent, Oakie took out his AI assistant. "Allie quick, what do I do? Other than have bad flashbacks about playing dodgeball in high school…"

He looks like he's running a risk assessment on you. I don't blame him, she commented.

"What do I do to calm him down?"

I know what you shouldn't do. Never corner an animal, especially if it's smarter than the average dummy.

Oakie glanced up. The bear was gone.

"Oh, great."

He cautiously wandered into the hall. There wasn't a single sound other than the puppy scratching at the office door. Just overhead Flippy clung to the ceiling, waiting for the human to pass below.

Oakie accidentally dropped Allie. "Whoops!"

As he stooped Flippy made a lunge for him and missed, crashing to the floor. "Wha—" Oakie looked between his legs. "Where'd you come from?"

The bear scrabbled up and fled, knocking Oakie's leg out from under him and making him stumble awkwardly into the wall. "AGH! Wait, come'ere!"

STOP CHASING HIM, Allie warned.

"I'm trying to make friends! That's what the big guy told me to do."

You're talking his advice over mine? Just go ahead and toss me in the trash.

When Oakie got to the living room he felt eyes on him. "Come out, little guy," he called. "I promise I'm not going to hurt you."

He caught a glimpse of his reflection in the shiny surface of the coffee table and leaned over, dissatisfied with his hair. Grumbling, he ruffled it back into place, apparently not catching the pattering of little feet heading his way.

"…gotcha!" Oakie cried, spinning around. Flippy bluffed and scurried off towards the bedroom. This time Oakie made sure to follow him closely and keep the bear in his sight. In his panic Flippy put himself in the same corner he'd been in earlier. He stared up at Oakie, wide-eyed and panting.

"Hey…it's okay. I'm not going to hurt you. Okay?" Oakie said, creeping closer. Flippy crouched to all fours, bristling. "There we go, just take a seat. I'm friendly."

"Grrrrghhh…"

Oakie held back a snicker. That growl sounded like it'd come from a Chihuahua, not a bear.

Aw, all I have to do is show him I'm alright.

There was a gleam in Flippy's eye. Oakie leaned closer.

"…wait, wha—"

He screamed when Flippy leapt up with a roar and dove at his face.

"Ow! Owwww—take it easy, I have bones, you know!"

Flippy ground his teeth together as he sat on Oakie's back, pulling the ropes taut. He hefted the bound-up human over his head.

"Sorry! Is it too late to say sorry?" Oakie cried. "You're too cute and little to be this vicious!"

Flippy ignored him and drug him up into the attic. His basement would've been a better spot but he was in the process of redoing the floor. He dropped Oakie like a sack of potatoes and against his better judgment, went to go check on the Book of the World. He'd left it on an old writing desk.

Flippy gave a start, glaring. The Book was still there but he was sure, almost sure, that it'd been offset by one-and-a-half to two inches. But he hadn't been up in the attic between the time he put it there and now.

"How about I make you a deal?" Oakie cried from behind him. "You can look into my bag and have whatever you want. I ate the rest of your pizza earlier, so, so it's all on me!"

Flippy turned around furiously, cracking the knuckles on one hand as he approached Oakie.

"I thought I was good! The big guy said I-I was in the clear! Hospitality, you know? Okay, maybe I should've asked you for permission to get in bed with you, hah hah," Oakie blathered nervously. "You know where I come from, people sleep with their pets all the time! Uh, not saying you're a pet, it's just that you're an animal but—"

All at once he froze, staring in the distance. Flippy turned around, searching through narrowed eyes.

"…I…I think? I just saw something," Oakie said slowly. "Do you normally have worms in your attic, little guy?"

Blast. That was close.

The lad has bloody awful timing.

Jo was a worm. Not just any worm but a Bookworm, one of the four curators of the Book of the World. She'd barely escaped notice (or so she thought) as she fled from the attic. She carried her black quill tight in the crook of her tail, inching down the hall with a lot on her mind.

Agggh…took me forever to find the damn Book, and now I can't rightly do my job! I hope James and Rookie are keeping their side of the plan steady…I can't seem to find any luck. As for Stan, either the old bastard's forgotten his dues or got in trouble deeper than the ocean…

She inched towards the office to make it her next hiding spot, but changed her mind when a paw started scraping at the bottom of the door.

Ah, great. I'm not taking my chances with Fluffy. Guess it's the bedroom, then.

She slipped into the bedroom. Being a writer, Jo was rather savvy and also possessed a psychic-like intuition.

WHAM!

That was why when Flippy slammed the door open, she was already facing him with a bold grin.

"Morning, lad," she called. "Ah, why the look? You must believe in guilt by association."

He reached down to snatch her up, and that was when he learned that she wasn't just a worm with a writing utensil.

Jo whipped her tail forward. A wind spell rocketed from the tip of her quill and struck Flippy, sending him flying until he smashed through a wall.

"Ah, well," Jo remarked to herself, lowering her tail. "This just might be where it gets dicey…"

Furious, Flippy pulled himself out of the wall. He charged bullishly; Jo braced herself, waiting up until the moment his shadow fell over her, and harmlessly skirted around his fist when he threw a punch. In his rage Flippy violently pounded holes in the floor trying to hit her, but just couldn't for how slippery she was.

"Seeing red?" Jo taunted. "This whole situation's making your head spin, innit?"

She zipped, spinning circles around him before spiriting off. Flippy barreled after her.

Jo crossed over into the hall, squiggling fast, and glanced behind herself. Flippy crashed into the wall before throwing himself forward, pulling his machete out as he steadily gained on her. She swerved left-to-right to evade two stabs of the weapon and then jumped onto the wall to dodge a horizontal slash. She fired a slip-spell at his feet then darted between his legs, tripping him up just by lightly hooking her tail around his ankle.

Jo rushed for the garage, slipping through the crack of the door (as Oakie hadn't fully shut it earlier), and spiraled up the leg of the worktable. She sprang forth to leap onto Flippy's pickup, only for a fuzzy green hand to swipe her out of the air.

"Damn—ow—aargh!"

She bounced against the truck's hood, then onto a toolbox, then to the floor, nearly losing the grip on her quill. She darted underneath the truck and made a break for the garage door. Flippy thudded down in front of her.

She shot a wind spell at the ground and launched herself in the air, whereupon she caught herself on the tracks of the garage door. With a roar Flippy seized his garage door and violently forced it open, causing it to buckle. Jo writhed hard to escape before she got crushed to death.

But her quill got caught and slipped out of her tail. Distracted by that, Jo tumbled down to the pavement outside. She recovered and darted, causing Flippy to miss his pounce and slam into the ground with a grunt.

Jo scaled the tracks along the mangled door, racing to pull her quill out from where it'd gotten jammed. She put too much strength in wrenching it loose and flew back, tumbling to the ground. Flippy was already bearing down on her.

She ducked and conjured a protective barrier. His heel slammed down onto it and she winced, greatly straining to keep herself protected. Flippy forced his weight down even harder. He was bracing himself on his truck, steadily increasing the pressure on her.

It was too much. Jo saw a crack forming on the bend of her quill.

Ah, boy…she thought. This won't be good…

Her quill was different from the others. With it being full of magical tricks and marvels it deserved the label, "Contents under pressure".

Her quill snapped.

BANG!

The both of them were thrown. Flippy crashed into a stack of oil barrels while Jo was sent in a rough tumble along the ground.

"Ohhwwee…" Jo picked herself up, swooning. Her quill was outside, having fluttered away in the blast, and had already repaired itself.

Then the wind picked up, snatching it away into the air. At the same time she and Flippy glanced at each other before taking off.

"That's my property, greenhorn!" Jo shouted, jumping onto his back and knocking his hat over his eyes. He swung blindly, spinning around several times on his heel, and tipped. Jo jumped away before he hit the ground, racing after her quill…right into the open road.

"AH! OH! Hey—WATCH it!" she screamed, dodging around at least five sets of tires. Once the cars had passed and the exhaust cleared, her quill was just within reach, waiting for her!

Then Flippy pounced and snatched her up. He hunched over, squeezing her tightly between his hands.

"Aughh…not goin' to…make it quick?" Jo gasped. "Ha…y…you're…becoming more like…us, lad…"

Flippy was grinning like a maniac as he squeezed the worm to death. He'd caught another one. It was about to be two down and two more to go.

Beep-beep!

Flippy looked over. Mime had suddenly appeared over the hill, blowing full steam towards them on his unicycle. He couldn't stop!

"WHOOF!"

He crashed into Flippy, taking him off his feet and dragging him along. Sorry! Mime expressed. By chance, do you want to join me for breakfast? There's a discount for every couple that goes!

Stunned, Flippy realized that his hands were empty. The worm had slipped away! He threw himself from the unicycle and rolled onto the sidewalk. But by the time he'd raced back she was gone. And so was her quill.

Flippy's head burned red with fury and he absolutely wanted to lose his mind. He stomped his feet and pounded the ground with his fists, heaving through his mouth like a wild animal.

After carrying like this for awhile he finally reeled his temper back in before someone saw him and called in a welfare check. Flippy stormed back into his garage, slammed the crumpled door back into place, and stomped into his house.

She'd been in his attic and he knew why. Other than the Book of the World having been moved slightly, he hadn't noticed anything else off about it. That meant he'd have to talk to it to make sure.

And he still had to deal with that Thing that'd crept into his bed. As if it hadn't been creepy enough before then.

Ding dong!

Flippy stopped, leaning his head to the side in exasperation. What now?