Chapter Thirty
D URING G WEN ’ S URGENT but confused call, Harry promised to get there as soon as he could.
And by the time they arrived at the library, his car was already parked next to Mrs Cook’s little Ford.
Gwen was still firing questions at her as Chloe stopped beside Harry’s car and climbed out.
From outside, the library looked normal. Quiet, even. That was good.
‘But what do you mean , characters come out of the books?’ Gwen demanded as Chloe strode towards the enormous double doors, her heart pounding. ‘Is this some weird book club thing? You aren’t making any sense.’
‘Trust me, I didn’t believe it either at first. But you’ll see what I mean in a minute.’
The blinds were drawn in the front windows, the sign in the nearest one reading CLOSED . That made sense. Chloe wondered if the main door had been locked, too, but it opened at her touch.
She pushed open the doors and stepped inside into the lobby area.
Usually, it was quiet and welcoming, with not much going on except someone manning the front desk with its shelves of files behind it and the one computer, the children’s section to the left and the door to the lower archives to the right.
Now, it was unrecognisable. Bedlam.
Books had been thrown across the floor, a sea of them scattered all over the lobby carpet. An entire bookcase lay on the ground as though a giant had pushed it over. Papers from behind the lobby desk had been pulled out and thrown around, scattered like white leaves.
People ran or walked around in a mixture of clothing – medieval tunics and gowns, battle armour, floral dresses, spacesuits.
A red-haired boy dressed in green flew over their heads, making Gwen scream and duck, covering her head.
Voices, banging, echoes, laughter, animal noises and shouting sounded all over the library.
All Chloe could do was watch in awe and rising horror.
She heard Eric shouting something unintelligible from upstairs. Where were Mrs Cook and Clementine? Were they all right?
‘What on earth’s going on?’ Chloe called over the cacophony of noise.
‘Chloe? Is that you?’ Mrs Cook appeared, breathless and clutching a book to her chest. ‘Thank goodness. We need to get these characters returned to their books.’
‘Can’t you just read their last lines and get them back in?’ Chloe shouted as something crashed on the floor above, making the whole floor shake. ‘That’s what usually works.’
‘We’ve tried, but there are so many books glowing, and the characters need to hear the line being read,’ said Mrs Cook.
‘I’m not sure what’s happening. Eric arrived for his shift, and all the books started glowing, and even though we didn’t read any of them, they all just started to appear.
’ She looked around in dismay at the mess of books and papers.
Among the fallen books, several of them glowed.
They rushed through the lower archives and up to the fiction section, and Chloe’s heart sank as she heard the unmistakable sound of a monkey screeching and chattering. ‘It’s that purple monkey again.’
‘Purple monkey?’ demanded Gwen. ‘What do you mean?’ She kept glancing at the ceiling as though terrified something else would fly over her. Chloe dearly hoped no books about dragons were glowing today.
‘Chloe?’
Chloe’s heart leaped to her throat as Harry appeared at the top of the winding staircase, panting. ‘We have a problem.’
‘I guessed that,’ Chloe breathed. Somehow she felt calmer with Harry here.
The noise subsided somewhat as, despite the chaos around them, he smiled down at her.
Her breath caught in her chest as she took in his face, the bruise around his eye.
Maybe it was the adrenaline talking, but she thought he’d never looked so handsome.
Eric appeared beside him, his hair ruffled, and the spell was broken. ‘Oh! Hi, Chloe. Hi, Gwen. I’ve counted ten up here,’ he said, panting as he pointed. ‘Characters, I mean. There’s a detective smoking a pipe near the window. I asked him not to.’
‘We have bigger problems, Eric,’ said Mrs Cook, striding forward.
Something big and bright dived at Chloe and Gwen from the ceiling. They both screamed this time, ducking just in time to avoid the floating man – a ghost? – who’d appeared wearing a bell-covered hat and a bowtie of bright orange. He cackled as he threw a pile of books into the air.
‘Watch out!’ Chloe pulled Gwen out of the way as the tomes thundered onto the floor, loud as a dozen battle drums.
The poltergeist let out a joyous whoop and disappeared straight through the closed door.
Gwen had paled. ‘Was that . . .?’
‘If you’ve read the book, you’ll know he’s a mischievous one,’ said Chloe. She groaned. ‘Who else is out?’
The answer was, seemingly, everyone.
Men with wings and tattoos, slender elves with pointed ears, and women with long, flowing hair and dresses had appeared in the library, slipping between the shelves, talking or glancing around.
Dogs and monkeys and parrots sat on top of shelves, some of them wearing clothes.
Some of the human characters watched the group with interest, others argued and rifled around bookshelves as though trying to find a way home.
Others sat calmly. It made Chloe think of an absurd fancy-dress party.
‘Oh gee, it’s the cat again!’ A little girl with red hair in pigtails darted forward and scooped up Clementine. She hugged him close. ‘Boy, it’s good to see you.’ She looked at Mrs Cook with big, grey eyes. ‘Ma’am, I sure am sorry. I don’t know how I got here again.’
‘Welcome back, dear.’ Mrs Cook, despite the chaos around them, seemed calm. ‘Are those children being nicer to you?’
‘Kinda.’ The girl let Clementine drop to the floor. He streaked off between some shelves, probably to look for somewhere to hide.
‘Well, they will.’ Mrs Cook winked at her. ‘Trust me.’
‘Madam Chloe.’ A familiar man in nineteenth-century attire appeared, looking panicked. ‘I am awfully sorry to disturb you, but it appears I have landed here again. How do I get back home?’
‘Hello,’ said Chloe weakly. Despite everything, she felt a rush of affection to see the man she had met that night after her bad date – the first time she had discovered the power of the library.
‘We’re having some trouble here. We need your help.
’ An idea struck her and she turned to the others.
‘Eric, Harry, Gwen. We need to get the books these characters are from. We have to read the final line they say in the story. That’ll get them home.
It shouldn’t be too difficult, the books are glowing, after all. ’
‘First thing is that damn monkey,’ said Harry. He shrugged off his jacket, and Chloe tried to look anywhere but at his large shoulders as they moved. ‘He’s ripping up all the books.’
Mrs Cook let out a pained moan. Chloe couldn’t blame her.
‘Don’t you remember his last line?’ Chloe swivelled to Eric. ‘Maybe we don’t need to be holding the book for it to work.’
Eric looked stricken. ‘Oh! Right. Erm . . .’ His face screwed up. ‘Oh, man. It was something about bananas . . .’
‘Think on it while you look for the book in the kids’ section downstairs,’ said Chloe.
She wasn’t about to waste time chasing that mischievous creature around again.
‘Mrs Cook, can you find the book that naughty poltergeist came from? If he’s anything like in the story, we can’t let him out of here. ’
‘I can find it.’ Mrs Cook nodded and strode towards the kids’ section. ‘Out of the way, love.’ She shooed away a confused-looking pirate.
‘Harry, Gwen,’ said Chloe. ‘Come with me.’
They rushed back downstairs, leaving the chaos behind them for Eric and Mrs Cook to sort out, and searched near the doors and windows.
Thankfully, they could still hear the ghost whooping and singing as he swept through the library’s lower floors, knocking over bookshelves.
It seemed like he couldn’t leave the library.
Or he simply hadn’t decided to, yet. Chloe didn’t want to think about what might happen if he escaped. It wouldn’t be easy to explain that.
As they made it back to the lobby, something rumbled in the non-fiction section.
‘That doesn’t sound good,’ said Gwen.
In the next room, between some enormous shelves, two young men, perhaps Eric’s age, were fighting.
One was pale and dark-haired, and when his mouth opened in a snarl, Chloe spotted long canines.
His opponent was handsome with russet skin and raven hair.
As they watched in shock, he growled as his knees hit the floor.
Gwen clapped her hands over her mouth as the young man’s limbs lengthened; he grew, clothing tearing around his growing form.
Fur sprang from his body and his face elongated into a beast’s.
His mouth became a muzzle; his hands transformed into sharp claws.
The vampire and the wolf clashed together in a series of growls and tearing.
Gwen backed up until she was against the shelf, her eyes wide open in terror.
‘I think even you know who they are,’ Chloe said to Gwen, snorting with laughter to combat her fear. The pair fought, snarling and scratching and snapping at each other, knocking over books and overturning tables. The three backed up, getting out of their way.
‘Still think working at a library is boring?’ Chloe asked, half dragging her sister away from the mayhem.
They passed bored-looking scientists, strange-looking monsters from kids’ books, and skidded to a halt when they saw a woman in a glittering white dress, her hair the colour of moonlight and swept up in an elaborate hairstyle. Pure hatred burned in her eyes as she raised a long, glittering stick.
‘Get down!’ bellowed a powerful male voice.