CHAPTER#17

"Oh. That's easy. However, I don't think you want to go down there without something a little heftier than a hammer and a crossbow. Minotaur are warriors - even if you fought one that was unarmed and naked, you would have a tough time hurting it. Your best bet is something with a solid enchantment on it."

Mike sat up. "Like a knife sharp enough to cut through a spirit?"

Sofia was already filling up her glass again. "Yeah, that would do it. I have no idea where you would get one though. A blade capable of damaging an ethereal creature is extraordinarily rare. They have to be made of a non-Earthly metal, and that stuff is extremely challenging to come by."

"The witch had a knife that did that."

Sofia's drink paused on the way to her lips. "I seriously hope you stuck it in the Vault."

"Uh, no." Mike looked down at his feet. "I left it in the greenhouse. With the Mandragora."

Sofia dropped her goblet, wine spilling everywhere on the table. "You left it? You actually had a powerful magical artifact practically in your hands, and you just left it behind?"

"I wasn't exactly thinking properly." Mike looked to Tink for help, but the little goblin was suddenly deeply engrossed in her sandwich. "I'm sure it's where the witch dropped it. Next to the Mandragora."

"I... you... why..." Sofia began massaging her own temples, her eye rolling dramatically. "Zero reason. You had zero reason to leave it behind. Part of the purpose of the Caretaker is to lock stuff like that away. I just..." She stood up, and the floating room dropped out of the air. "You need to get it right away."

"Well, sure, yeah, I can do that."

"I mean right away. Now. We're going now!" Sofia commanded. Mike watched Tink practically inhale the remaining food in front of her, the subtle shift of the ground beneath him signalling a change in direction. The Library spun around them as the flying platform navigated the building, and Mike realized he could potentially lose himself in such a place forever.

They set down in the lobby. Sofia, Mike, and Tink stepped off the platform, and they walked together toward the bookshelf.

"Do you know how to get back?" Sofia asked.

"I assume I just remove the book," Mike told her.

"Oh good. You can actually think for yourself." Sofia pulled the red book from the shelf, and the room spun around them

-

Returning to the house was simple, but retrieving the knife right away had to wait. Upon returning, Mike realized that night had fallen, which meant he had to listen to a disgruntled rant from Sofia about how he was wasting time due to his inability to see in the dark.

Strangely, though Sofia was extremely rude to him, the others were more than happy to see her. Naia and Abella both greeted the cyclops with big hugs, and even Cecilia appeared, greeting the creature with a curtsy. The decision was made to wait until daybreak before setting out for the knife.

Mike didn't sleep particularly well. His mind was on what would happen after he got the knife. Were they really going into a labyrinth to fight a mythical beast? Was he going to have to kill someone? He was still struggling with the idea that he had watched Sarah get eaten by a plant, but he had had no choice in the matter. His midday nap with Tink was the other reason he couldn't fall asleep. Just when he felt his eyelids getting heavy, dawn broke through his window, and Sofia opened his bedroom door.

"Time to get moving," she announced. Tink, who had been sound asleep, practically threw herself out of bed to follow behind the cyclops. Mike was beginning to wonder what all the fuss was about when his nostrils caught a whiff of the scents filling the air.

The home was filled with the aroma of eggs, meat, and bread. He found Tink seated at the table, a pile of bacon, texas toast, and an omelette the size of a frisbee on her plate. Tink had a fork in each hand, demonstrating her ambidexterity by shoveling food into her mouth with both of them. In the kitchen, Sofia moved back and forth in a powder blue dress with an apron tied around the front.

"I fixed you a plate," she informed him, turning toward him with a stack of food in each hand. Bacon, eggs, and sausage in one, and then a stack of waffles in the other. "Tink insisted you liked something called an Eggo. I threw those away."

Mike couldn't even care about the loss of his preferred breakfast, because he also happened to notice that, with her arms apart, the front of Sofia's dress hung perilously low, putting her cleavage on display. Her breasts still had that strange, overtly full quality to them, and he could see that she was practically spilling out of the wrap she had her breasts in.

"Where did you get all this food?" Mike asked.

"The LIbrary. I acquired the raw materials before the sun rose, and made everybody breakfast." Sofia frowned at the amount of food on the counter. "At least, I thought I did. I have a bunch leftover, but it's just the three of us eating."

"Yeah, well, I'm sure that'll change at some point. Thank you!" Mike took the offered plates and joined Tink at the table. She barely acknowledged him.

"You act like I haven't been feeding you," Mike told her, putting a greasy piece of bacon in his mouth.

"Husband tried. Did okay." Tink told him between bites. Sofia joined them, a large breakfast sandwich on her plate. The three of them ate in silence, the dining room louder than usual with the sounds of silverware on plates. She sat with her back to the window, the sunbeams scattering around her auburn braids. Sofia closed her eyes, savoring the food on her plate. Tink, having finished her meal, ran to the kitchen for seconds.