After preparing myself mentally, I pushed the door open and strode inside. Arthur glanced up only as he heard the sound of the door shutting behind me.

"Oh, Jennifer, you came to see me. Is it time to go already? I've barely started learning everything I need. I'm going to need to-"

"The librarians called me." I moved closer and sat down in the only spare seat, the other two covered in yet more books I hadn't been able to see from the doorway.

He stopped reading and looked up at me. I noticed that he didn't just have a toad in one hand that he was petting absentmindedly, but also another on his lap.

"I did think they would. I had to give them your number. I think the more books I asked for from the people here the more concerned they seemed to get. Did I ask for too many at once?" Arthur looked around as if he'd only just noticed the stacks of books around him. There were plenty for sure.

"Well. I think it was more that you asked for so many old rare ones and they had interesting conflicting subjects. I don't think the librarian was very impressed with hearing that you were King Arthur either."

"You accepted it well enough," he replied, sitting back and stroking both toads. It drew my attention to them and I considered where they had come from. As his expression changed and he picked the one on his lap up, their origin dawned on me.

"Please tell me that you didn't turn the security into toads," I said, pretty sure that I already knew the answer.

"They won't remember when I make them human again." He looked up at me like a naughty child might check if they were going to get away with the cheeky thing they had just done. I exhaled, not sure how to respond. It was clear that there was a lot I was going to have to teach Arthur if he was going to fit into normal society.

Sitting back I folded my arms and mentally calmed myself down. This wasn't good. But I had no idea how to fix it. The security guards weren't going to be happy at all and it was likely to have the librarian asking even more questions.

"What have you learned so far?" I asked when my gaze turned to his notes and I noticed there were several pages of them. He'd thought something worth writing down to remember.

"Mostly that this world has changed a lot. And grown. I am not sure where to begin really. That's why I asked for so many books. I would read one and have so many more questions than answers."

I nodded, understanding how it could be overwhelming when so much of history had happened. Even I felt like it was a lot to take in and didn't know all of it.

"What will happen if you keep turning people into toads?" I asked, not entirely sure I wanted the answer.

Arthur shrugged. "I guess it depends if I turn them back or not."

"You need to turn these two back. Promise me you will." I sat forward again, needing him to understand the seriousness of the moment. He put up a hand.

"I will return them to their former state. I promise. But I do not think now is wise."

I deflated a little. He had a point. If he turned them back too soon, even with me here, they would want us to leave and right now we had some time.

The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

"Are there any books you want to leave with? I doubt they will let you check them out, and some of them can't leave with us, but if I vouched for their safety we could take them. Is that something you can cope with?"

"It is you who will be taking a risk by the sounds of this. Are you all right with trusting me with what must be very precious books?"

I considered it. I'd made the offer as much to get him out of here as to keep his access to what he needed, but he had a point. If anything happened to the books, it was me who would have to pay for it and I wasn't wealthy by any standards. Not to be in London.

After a few seconds I nodded.

"As long as they only go back to my house with us and we continue looking at them there, I'm fine with it."

"Perfect." Arthur smiled as if I had just suggested we go for an evening stroll or out for dinner together. And I realised what I had also implied. That he was more than welcome to keep staying at mine.

No wonder he was smug. I was acting like I wanted him in my life. But did I? I still wasn't completely convinced that he wasn't crazy.

As he flicked through the books, shifting some of them around and closing and opening others, I waited, staying in my seat. I felt overwhelmingly tired. I had spent so much of the last few days talking to him and trying to teach him to be normal and I knew I was in even deeper than I'd wanted to be.

Arthur had somehow convinced me to help him with everything and I had no idea where this was going to lead.

"Okay, can you carry any of these?" he asked, creating two piles. Most of them were history books, but one was on weapons and another was on magic. The oldest books he was leaving behind and I could see why.

"This one says that it is only meant to be taken away for a very short time and only on pre-approval. Do you think they will let you take it?" he asked.

I shrugged. "We're only going to know if we ask and at this point I am on the hook for enough, I might as well be for this as well."

"What will happen if you don't return them when they wish?" Arthur asked.

"I will have to pay for them, I imagine. And the fines for these sorts of books can get very large very fast." I took the stack he pushed toward me, grateful that I had parked close and wouldn't have to carry them far and then watched as he lifted an even larger stack. It still left behind a lot of the books and they were all placed neatly and with care, something that made me feel a little better, but even I wasn't sure I could take this many books out of the library at once.

"What about the toads?" I asked as Arthur appeared to be more than ready to leave. He'd placed them both on a chair each.

"Let's get out of the room and a little further away, shall we?" Arthur motioned for me to go first and I led the way, wanting to be both cross and find it funny. If this hadn't been something happening to me I'd have found it hilarious. Assuming I'd believe it, anyway.

Arthur didn't come out far behind me and then he shut the door. He hesitated and looked at me a couple of times.

"Turn them back," I said again, hoping that his hesitation was for another reason.

"Okay... just, I'm not sure they'll be happy about it." I rolled my eyes as Arthur waved a hand and then hurried past me. He didn't look back, but the clatters from the room and the door opening again let me know that he had succeeded at least. I rushed to catch up with him, knowing it only made me look more guilty, but he slowed and I soon fell in beside him.

Although there continued to be noise from behind us, no footsteps caught up with us and I didn't dare to look back to see what might have happened instead. We carried on in silence all the way to the reception. Doris saw us coming as if she had been looking out for us. She appeared to want to give Arthur a piece of her mind until she saw me with a stack of books as well.

"Let me guess, you want to take all of these away with you?" she asked. It was clear she didn't approve, but I was committed. And I got the feeling that this was the best way to keep Arthur out of trouble. If he had everything he needed in my house then maybe I could leave him there.

"I know it's a lot to ask, and there are a lot of them, but I will happily take them out under me and I'll bring them all back again. You can use my ID and everything can be dealt with by me."

Doris looked at me as if she couldn't understand why I was helping Arthur and he simply stood beside me looking more than a little pleased with himself. I could have done several things in that moment to wipe the smug look off his face.