Chapter Twenty #2
Mrs Cook caught Chloe’s eye from across the room, and soon Chloe and Harry had reached her. ‘Did he just . . .?’
‘I think he just did.’ The librarian’s eyes widened. Clementine appeared from the doorway leading to the foyer, streaking past them in an orange blur. Several children exclaimed in delight at the sight of the cat. Chloe was halfway to the door when there was another rumble, louder than the first.
‘Um, should we be worried?’ asked Harry.
Chloe looked helplessly at him. ‘I have to tell you something about the library.’
‘Who wants to try making their very own library card?’ called Mrs Cook.
She nodded to a teacher, who pulled out a box of pencils and coloured paper and glue sticks seemingly from nowhere.
Mrs Cook threw Chloe a look over her shoulder, raising grey eyebrows.
‘Go,’ she mouthed. ‘Eric! Why don’t you help Chloe, dear. ’
It finally seemed to dawn on Eric what had happened as the children ran towards a little table prepared and ready for a build-your-own-library card event.
Clutching the book, Eric ran over to Chloe and Harry, and they ran into the lobby area.
‘Did I do it?’ Eric asked as Chloe snatched the book from him. She flicked through it, taking in the pictures of elephants and tigers and the bright purple monkey.
‘Do what?’ Harry asked.
The sound of books dropping loudly on the floor upstairs made them all jump. Faint echoes of chattering reached them and Chloe exhaled. ‘Well, let’s hope it isn’t the tiger.’
‘The tiger?’ Harry’s confused look would’ve made Chloe laugh if she hadn’t been so worried.
They stopped at the top of the staircase, panting. Clementine’s play area was a mess, his food bowl upturned, his toys scattered everywhere. Books were all over the floor, and sitting at the top of one of the shelves . . .
‘Whoa,’ said Harry.
A purple monkey, comically cartoonish, crouched on top of the bookcase. It stared at them all with big brown eyes, its tail swishing.
‘Er,’ said Chloe. This was really happening. Seeing a human character emerge from a story was one thing, but this monkey looked laughably unreal, as cartoonish and weirdly proportioned as it did in the book in her hands.
‘Chloe, tell me I’m not hallucinating,’ said Harry slowly, backing away and nearly knocking Eric down the stairs. ‘Tell me you’re both seeing a purple monkey on the shelf.’
‘Yeah,’ said Chloe. ‘I’ll explain later. He came out of the book Eric was reading.’
‘How do we put it back?’ said Eric. ‘Oh my goodness. So I can do it.’ He sounded torn between worried and gleeful, while Harry looked like he was having an existential crisis.
‘We have to read his last line from the book to get him back in. Whatever line the monkey says last will send him back.’ Chloe opened the book, but fast as lightning, the monkey tore towards them.
It ran across the top of the bookshelf and landed on the carpet in front of them.
In one quick motion, it had run past and snatched the book from Chloe’s hands.
It tore off with it, giving high-pitched chattering squeaks.
‘Hey!’ she yelled as the monkey chattered, the book in its paw as it bounded away. It disappeared around the thrillers section.
Eric stood with his hands on his cheeks, his mouth open in a big O. ‘Oh no, oh no. We have to get the book back.’
‘You think?’ Chloe asked, recovering. She was appalled at the monkey’s cheek and furious with herself for letting the book go so easily. ‘All right, let’s not worry. It’s only a monkey. Eric, you go that way.’ She pointed to where the monkey had scampered off. ‘Harry, are you all right?’
Harry looked startled, but nodded. ‘Let me help.’
‘All right. You go that way. We can trap it. Hopefully.’
There was no telling what the parents or kids would say if they saw the mischievous purple monkey from the story having suddenly come to life, destroying the fiction section.
They would probably panic. Eric and Harry, who appeared to have shaken off his shock, obeyed Chloe, running for the shelves.
Monkey chatter and the sound of pages tearing reached her.
Chloe screamed. ‘Don’t rip the books, you little monster!’
The monkey appeared on top of a nearby bookshelf, the book still in its paw. It bounded across the shelves, hooting with excitement. Eric and Harry reappeared, panting.
Chloe ran after the monkey. Sometimes it disappeared, only small hoots and chatters betraying its whereabouts.
For a terrifying few seconds they couldn’t see or hear it at all, and Chloe was worried it had gotten downstairs until they saw it swinging from its tail from a nearby curtain rail, the book open in its hands as though reading it.
‘We need something to catch it in,’ she said. ‘A net, or something. Help us!’ she asked the library, desperate now. They had been up here for ages already. It would only take a curious teacher or a child sneaking up here, then it would all be over.
Eric appeared beside her. ‘What if he rips up the book? If we destroy it, will that make him disappear?’
‘Destroy a book ?’ Chloe gave him such a stare that Eric wilted.
Harry had blanched. ‘It doesn’t need to come to that. You just have to read the final line of a page, right?’ He shook his head. ‘This is unreal.’
‘We need to read the monkey’s last line,’ she corrected him. ‘Let’s get the book back. Quick.’
A long net, like one for catching bugs or fish, appeared beside Clementine’s area.
One moment the area was empty, and the next, the net had materialised there.
It was several feet long. Chloe snatched it up, sweat on her brow now.
‘Eric, you go that way. Harry, over there.’ She nodded towards their respective corners.
‘If you go for it from the sides, hopefully it’ll come down onto the floor. ’
‘What if it goes on top of the shelves again?’
‘Hopefully the net is long enough. We just need to tire it out.’ She was already panting herself, the thick wool cardigan and trousers not ideal for running around the library.
She hoped Mrs Cook and the teachers were keeping the kids occupied well enough.
She risked a glance downstairs, but the bottom floor of the archives looked to be empty for now.
They should have thought to barricade the door.
The purple monkey chittered above them in the rafters, almost mocking. It bounded back to the curtains and swung from the rail by its hand, watching them all.
‘All right. Go!’ she cried, and Harry and Eric ran to the monkey from each side. Eric grabbed the curtains and shook them, and the purple monkey gave a scared cry and leaped from the rack, still clutching the book as though it knew they needed it.
It soared right over Chloe’s head. She turned and smacked down the net with full force. She missed the creature by inches and it sprinted off. Its happy little squeaks sounded almost like it was laughing.
Chloe cursed, wiping her damp brow. ‘When I catch him . . .’ She mimed strangling.
Harry chuckled. ‘We only need to get the book,’ he reminded her. ‘Maybe we can knock it out of its hands.’
‘Can I try?’ Eric extended his hand and Chloe begrudgingly handed him the net.
Eric didn’t have much more luck, though it was admittedly quite funny watching him trying to catch the monkey.
The little purple cartoonish creature would stop, looking at the book upside down, tail swishing.
Eric would sneak up to it in silence, then the character would leap out of the way right as he swung the net.
‘This is hard,’ he whined after the fourth attempt.
‘I think we’re tiring him out,’ Harry encouraged them. ‘Just a bit more. Come on, let’s corner him over there.’
The library, aside from producing the net, didn’t seem to want to help them any more. Chloe almost felt its eyes, watching them in amusement as they chased one of its characters.
The other side of the upper floor held the general and contemporary fiction section. ‘I wonder if we can get another character out to help us,’ said Eric, eyes scanning the shelves for more glowing books.
‘Another character?’ spluttered Harry.
‘Sometimes the books glow and a character comes out,’ Chloe explained.
‘That could work, Eric, but it could also make things worse. Besides, I don’t see any lights in the shelves.
’ She made an annoyed noise. There were three of them here already.
She refused to be bested by a cartoon primate that wasn’t even real .
‘Monkey, where are you?’ she called. A small chatter answered her.
It was almost cute. Almost.
Eric still gripped the net in his hands, but Chloe saw in the corner what looked like a laundry basket.
She snatched it up, examining it. Something random Mrs Cook had left up here, or more help from the library?
She spun it in her hands. It was the perfect size.
‘I don’t know about you two, but I’ve had it with this monkey. ’
They spotted the purple creature in a corner, clutching his book to him.
‘Maybe we need a different approach,’ said Harry, laying a gentle hand on her elbow.
‘We’re just frightening him off. Maybe .
. .’ He lowered his voice as though worried the mischievous monkey could understand them.
‘Maybe we should draw him close, then catch him.’ He looked at the basket in her hands.
‘Would you like to do it? Or shall I try?’
Chloe almost handed the basket over, but she smiled at him. ‘Thanks, but I feel like this is my responsibility.’ She wasn’t entirely sure why. ‘But be ready to grab him if I miss, all right?’
Harry stepped back with his arms out, reminding her of a football goalkeeper. She swallowed a giggle and turned back to where the monkey waited for them, still staring with its annoyingly adorable eyes.
‘You like the book?’ Chloe asked, her voice gentle as she stepped forward. ‘Look, it’s got you in it.’
The monkey’s little chest rose and fell rapidly, its big cartoon eyes looking at the ripped page. Chloe felt a glimmer of compassion for the little creature. If it hadn’t just spent the last half-hour giving them the runaround, she’d feel a bit sorry for it.
‘That’s right, read the story,’ she sang, spotting Eric creeping up in the corner of her eye. ‘You’re a great character in that story. All the kids loved reading about you. You’re a cheeky little monkey, aren’t you? Why don’t you drop the book in this basket for me.’ She held it out.
She didn’t think it would work, but she didn’t expect the monkey to blow a raspberry at her. A full-on, eyes closed, tongue out, loud raspberry that left her mouth hanging open. Harry’s laugh echoed behind her.
Eric leaped forward, swinging the net in a wild arc. The monkey shrieked and made to streak past Chloe . . .
‘Gotcha!’ She dived on the monkey, covering it with the laundry basket. The monkey screamed and panicked inside, thrashing as she held it down. She sat on the basket as the monkey screeched. She grinned up at the others, blowing air up her warm forehead. ‘Now, that wasn’t so bad, was it?’