Chương 50: 50 Loop 2, Part 4

Finn didn't say anything at first. I let myself bask in the silence, where I didn't have to do anything. I needed a nap. The knowledge that I'd have one soon kept me going. Whatever Finn had been planning to do died on his lips as soon as Flag spoke.

"Laz?" His voice was no longer carefully controlled; instead, I noticed, a hint of panic in it. I chuckled.

"The mannequin is talking." He took a few steps back, trying to angle behind me.

"Yeah, Flag does that." Finn took a step closer, and Flag turned to track him with a thoughtful pivot.

"Hello?" Flag said again, in case the first hello hadn't been enough.

"Hi." Finn's voice cracked a little. He cleared his throat like that would fix it.

"Hi, uh, I'm Finn."

"Oh. I know you. Laz talked about you. He says you make sandwiches, and you're always worried he's going to starve to death." I tried to remember when I'd ever brought Finn up to Flag. But I couldn't remember. It was a good point, though. He was always doing that. Finn shot me a dirty look. I gave him my most innocent shrug and smiled.

"Golems?" Finn said. Was it really a question? I couldn't tell. Then his training took over. He stepped closer and started checking Flag over like he was a patient. Which was funny to see, honestly. Halfway through, though, he realized there was nothing he could find using standard medical spells.

"You built a golem out of a practice dummy and desk legs. Is that even possible?"

"They're crooked, if that makes you feel better," Flag offered. But he didn't seem put out by it. Instead, he seemed to be smiling broadly.

"One's shorter, but I don't mind. I had a gold body once before, but that was a Thursday. And today is Monday. Is it Monday? It's very hard keeping the days straight now." Finn's eyes flicked to me and then back to Flag, as if trying to gauge what the setup was.

"I told you. Time travel." Finn continued moving around Flag, taking a few moments to look and see how the golem worked.

"What's it feel like?" Finn asked Flag.

"Being a mannequin?"

"Oh, it's better than being a floor." Flag put one of his stubby wooden arms to his chin, as if he was considering things.

"I like the floor, but everybody stepped on me. Nobody thinks about that, you know? Being stepped on. Even when they're gentle, it's still four hundred pairs of feet stepping on me every day. And nobody ever thought to excuse themselves."

"Fuck." Finn looked at him, then looked genuinely upset on his behalf.

"That's awful. I don't like when people step on my toes. I can't imagine what it's like for people to step on my face."

"It's fine. I didn't know it was awful until I had something to compare it to. Well, I didn't like it, but now I hate it." Flag lifted one arm and flapped it like a bird, inspecting the wood grain like it might have changed since he'd last checked.

"But now I have arms. Arms are wonderful. Do you know what I can do with arms?"

"What?"

"Oh, it's the best. I can hold things. Do you hold things? I'm extremely good at holding things. It's basically my whole life. Even when I was a flagstone, I held things all the time."

"What else can you do, besides holding things?"

"Hmm. I guess I can make things warm. I had a mana battery once. It was pretty warm, and then, when it was too warm, I didn't like it that much." He flexed his fingers.

"Oh, and I can see now. I have eyes. Well, I had eyes. Does this mannequin have eyes? I mean, I can still see, but—" He felt his face as if trying to find eye sockets.

"The tops of desks are great. Very different from the bottoms of desks. You wouldn't believe what I saw under the desks."

"Uh…" Finn hesitated.

"I don't think I want to know."

"That's probably wise," I said.

"Is this where you both live?" Flag asked, turning his head to take in Thane's classroom—like he hadn't spent his entire existence inside of it." You live here," Finn said.

"This is your classroom." The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

"Oh. Well, it looks very different from up here. And the last time I was in a golem body, I was too busy with the windows to notice. Have you seen windows? I love windows." Finn gathered his thoughts for a moment. I leaned in closer, reading his face.

"So. Do you believe me now?" Finn straightened up, and something in his face shifted. He looked between us one more time, and my own face fell as I realized he still thought I was lying.

"I believe you bound a soul into a mannequin using desk legs and a spell you probably shouldn't know. And yeah, that's insane and incredible. I have about forty questions I'm going to ask you at some point, because that's genuinely one of the coolest things I've ever seen you do. But—""'But that's not the same as you being stuck in a time loop, Laz,'" I continued for him.

"Yes, exactly," he said.

"There are plenty of reasons why you'd suddenly have the knowledge to create a golem, and a lot of them are more plausible than breaking the rules of fucking time." Of course this wasn't enough. I feel like a part of me always knew it wouldn't be enough. But getting Flag a body—hell, just making it to Flag—it was worth the effort it would save me from carrying things. And in general, having someone who knew about the time loops was nice too.

"Oh. I don't like this feeling," Flag suddenly blurted out.

"What feeling?" Finn said.

"Oh, the feeling of not being believed. On Tuesday, I accused Lazlo of being a liar. I didn't know it would feel this bad."

"Okay," I said.

"What would it actually take for you to believe me? What would actually convince you?"

"Obviously, something you couldn't fake your way around. Something so far outside the realm of normal that even you couldn't explain it away, just because you're clever."

"All right. So give me an example."

"I don't know. Maybe if you found the Lost Library, I'd be more willing to believe this insanity." I snorted.

"The Lost Library? Well. That's easy." I laughed at him.

"I'm serious, Laz. If you could find me the Lost Library, I'll take that as proof." I just laughed at him again. —— About ten minutes later, we made our way to my usual nook in the corner of the library. It was still about an hour before Vex would show up. I dropped into a leather chair and canceled [Stride], since floating all day had started to feel like work. I yawned. I was due for a nap.

"You know, I should have thought of this as proof a long time ago. Could have gotten in some extra naps."

"Thought of what?"

"Vex, the gray guy. The one who arrested Kalin this morning? He comes through here on this particular Monday evening, at around eight o'clock. Should be along in about an hour, give or take five minutes. We could just sit here and wait. Watch him walk by. Free proof, no library required." Finn crossed his arms.

"No." He said it fast, like he was swatting a fly before it landed.

"No, that's not—""I told you. I'm in a time loop," I said, already resigned to the fact that he wouldn't believe me.

"—you just watch people. It's nothing to be proud of, Laz. It's honestly a personality flaw. You've had eyes on half this campus's schedule since the beginning of last year just because you're too lazy to ask anyone anything directly."

"That's slander."

"Is it false?" I opened my mouth to argue, and then just said, "No. Fine, have it your way. We'll find the Lost Library. That will prove things. Now let me nap for a bit. And cast [Wideview], so you don't miss him coming in." But Finn didn't cast the spell. He sat down across from me instead, his arms crossed, and stared at the entrance like he could make Vex not show up through sheer disapproval.

"He's not gonna enter through that door," I said to Finn.

"Okay, then where is he gonna enter from?"

"The faculty entrance, obviously." Finn moved his chair so that he was facing the faculty entrance, and then glared at me like I was the one wasting his time. Flag wandered off toward a bookshelf, and I drifted off and away. Less than an hour later, a hand closed on my shoulder, shaking hard enough to rattle my poor teeth.

"Laz. Laz, wake up, it's him." I cracked an eye open.

"Right. Was it long enough?" I yawned and followed the line of his pointing finger. I had less time to work with than last time, but Vex was right on schedule.

"That's him. That's actually him."

"I told you he'd be here." But I could tell it wasn't enough proof. Not yet, at least. I'd save the look on his face for the next time I needed to mock him. I'd never let him live this down. All this extra effort just to convince him of something. Across the room, Flag was having what amounted to a religious experience with a hardcover he held in his golem hands. He had pulled a heavy book free and was turning it over and over, tilting it toward the lamplight.

His wooden mannequin face was stretched into something between shock and awe.

"What is this? It doesn't do anything. But it has all these weird symbols and lines in it." I didn't have time for this.

"Flag, buddy. It's called a book. Just put it down. There'll be time for reading later."

"Oh. Okay." He dropped the book.

"What do you need?" Across the way, Vex produced his key and let himself through the iron door.

"See that iron door?" I said to Flag.

"I need you to catch it before it clicks shut." As he started rushing across the floor on his weird-ass legs, I cast [Move] on that same poor first-year from last time. And then on the bookshelf. And in an eerie mirror of last time: the shelf lurched forward, books flying everywhere, and the chair scraped back into it at the exact wrong angle. From twenty feet away, it looked like the clumsy student was responsible. I had a bizarre mix of déjà vu and a sense of foreboding. Grimm swore. I nudged Finn.

"Now. Hurry." I grabbed him by his robe and actually ran to the open door. There Flag stood with both mannequin hands wrapped around the edge, holding it open. We slipped through single file, and the door swung shut behind us.