Page 21 of How to Accidentally Become the Devil

“That’s what nonfiction means, isn’t it?” Zeph snarks, ducking when Maddy glares at him.

Oz smacks the back of his head and Maddy beams. “Thank you, teddy bear.”

“Anytime, Princess.” He winks in return.

Clearing my throat, I answer Maddy. “Not everything you’ve read about is real, but we’re far from the only magical creatures.”

I stop at the aisle labeledDemonology.Even it’s gained more books since the last time I was here. Fuck. It may take us a while to find anything. I wish Luc would have let me set up the cataloging system. It would have made finding a book on such a specific topic much easier.

“So… what now?” Oz asks, looking around like a book is going to jump out and bite him.

“Now I get to nerd out and read real demon books,” Maddy squeals, grabbing a random book off the shelf. “Unlocking Your Inner Succubus: A Demon Girl’s Guide to Dating Hmmm maybe not this one…” She hastily puts it back and we all laugh as she grabs another. “The Early Life and Reign of Lucifer. This sounds interesting. Do you know Atticav Grimhollow?

“He was Luc’s record keeper. I completely forgot about him. He died a few hundred years ago and Luc never could replace him. The two of them were very close. Maybe he wrote about something that could help Luc now.”How lucky would that be?“We should read through all of his books.”

“I think that may take a while,” Zeph calls and I turn to find him further down the aisle. “I think this whole section is his!”

“Shit. Should have known it wouldn’t be that easy,” I grumble. There have to be thousands of books in this never ending aisle.

“Little help, Princess?” Oz arches a brow at Maddy.

“Me? Help? How the hell am I supposed to help?”

“You’re the most powerful demon here. I don’t know why you’re always so quick to forget that. It’s a good thing you have me here to remind you.” He winks at her. “Luc never set up the catalog system Belz wanted because he didn’t need it. If he wanted a book he just called it to him. You have his powers. You can do anything he can do. Stop limiting yourself. Call the books you want. Bring the ones you need to you.”

“But I don’tknowwhat books I need,” she groans.

“You didn’t know where the hounds lived either. Didn’t stop you from sending them home, did it?” He cocks both brows.

She narrows her eyes and grumbles, “I hate you.”

“No you don’t,” he smirks. “Now, tell your magic you want any book that has to do with Lucifer or out of control powers.”

Maddy closes her eyes to concentrate and we watch as books begin disappearing from shelves only to reappear in stacks around her feet. Her eyes snap open and she squeals as she looks around.

“I did it!”

“I don’t know why you’re always so surprised.” Oz shakes his head with a chuckle.

“Shut up.” She sticks her tongue out at him. “So… what do we do with all these books?” She chews on her bottom lip as she takes in the stacks surrounding her.

“Send them to the tables downstairs and we’ll each grab one and read by the fire,” I suggest.

“There’s a fireplace in the library?” she gasps.

Oz and I laugh as Zeph runs back from the other end of the aisle.

“Guys! Something happened! Books just started disappearing!” He skids to a stop in front of us and looks down. “Oh. I guess that’s what happened to the books.”

Maddy giggles and then the books are gone. “Sorry, Zeph. Oz helpfully reminded me my powers could be of some help.” She bites her lips together and rubs her earlobe as she fights a smile.

“Of course he did. Could have done that sooner.” Zeph scowls at the demon in question.

Oz just shrugs in return. “I wanted to see if she’d figure it out on her own.”

“Ugh. You’re such an asshole,” she grumbles.

“Never pretended to be anything else, Princess.” He smirks.

---