By Adella Chatelaine

6/10- After the strange Rommsbachian man’s warning, I looked to my compatriots. Meriam seemed frightened, and Professor Babin seemed unsure. Nico, who just stirred from his nap, sat up and asked what was going on.

I told them we were getting out of there. I approached the front desk and told the librarian that we needed to leave, and asked if there was a back door. She told us that there was, and proceeded to detail the long bureaucratic process we would have to follow in order to get the door open. Halfway through her monologue, a drawling voice interrupted from the halls outside.

“BOOOOY!” said the voice. “Why are you running? We just want to discuss the terms of your contract. You were, after all, the one who suggested we open negotiations. So come on out, boy. Let’s negotiate and try to reconcile your failure with my profit, shall we?”

The Rommsbachian cursed under his breath and hefted the revolver, and reiterated to us the necessity of vacating the premises five minutes prior. He was obviously scared, but resolute. I asked him who was coming.

“Von Grimm,” was all he said. Professor Babin and Meriam both gasped. I felt every muscle in my body tighten. Doctor Argyle Von Grimm? What was he doing so far east?

I turned back to the librarian to insist that she open the back door, but she was gone. A door at the back of her office hung open, letting in the last of the day’s light. I told the others to follow me as I went around the desk. The Professor, Meriam, and Nico followed, but the Rommsbachian planted his feet, squaring for a fight. I paused and asked him what he thought he was doing.

“Making stand,” he said, and drew a second revolver. “Von Grimm will not stop until debt is paid, or is dead, or I am dead. Better to end it now. If I run, he will burn town looking for me.”

So I told him, get out of town. And he asked me how. I told him to get to the riverboat and lay low.

“And how will Von Grimm know I have left?”

I took a deep breath, and made a choice, a choice that was probably incredibly foolish, looking back on it now.

I told him that I would give Von Grimm a witness. The Rommsbachian nodded and turned to leave. Before he did, I asked him to fire two shots at a window at the back of the library. Without hesitation, he lifted the revolver. It coughed thunder through the stacks, and the bullets hit the window, cracking it. I told him that would suffice and he ran, leaving me alone in the library with a mad man.