She reached into her large trunk and pulled out what appeared to be a dog costume, with furred feet, a tail, and a headpiece with floppy ears. I might be a former king of Mokia-though I’d only served for one day-but if that was the traditional costume of my station, I’d go without. “Well, let’s see,” she said, obviously disappointed I wouldn’t wear the clown outfit.

If I was right, that silence was about to get a lot worse. Their day of celebration past, the Mokians now mourned in silence to highlight the voices among them that had been quieted. The drums of celebration had stopped, as had the songs of joy. Outside my room, Tuki Tuki-capital city of Mokia-was utterly silent. My jacket had been cut up, and the rest of my clothing had been vaporized in a rather unfortunate incident containing far too much Alcatraz nudity. My old clothing-green jacket, T-shirt, jeans-was gone. “Sure … Uh, that’s … exactly what happened.” That turned it into something ridiculous in the Hushlands, like how they named prisons after famous Free Kingdomers.” “The Librarians took this ‘regal’ costume worn by retired Mokian kings and, where I’m from, gave it to clowns. “Let me guess,” I said, tossing the wig onto the bed. “Obviously,” Janie said, “that is a representation of the varieties of cultures and peoples you served during your kingship.” She smiled. I raised a skeptical eyebrow at her and walked over to the bed, picking up the poofy rainbow clown wig she’d brought for me to wear. “So that you may shower all who approach you with symbolic waters of life.” “A representation of your magnificent footprint upon the kingdom, Your Former Highness.” “White for the purity of the throne, Your Former Highness,” Janie said, “and pink to indicate your magnanimous decision to step down peacefully.” “It’s a white jumpsuit,” I said, “with fluffy pink bobs over the buttons!” It looked nice, making it a complete contrast to the monstrosity she held up for me to wear.

It was more like a dress with a belt at the waist, and had a large bow on one side with stylish embroidery up the sleeves. Technically you could describe her outfit as a tunic-but it was only similar to a tunic in the same way that a high-end sports car is similar to a broken-down pickup. Janie was a perky Nalhallan woman wearing trendy Free Kingdomer clothing. So there I was, standing in my chambers on the day before the world ended, facing my greatest adversary to date.

Evil librarians series