Chapter Thirty #2
The three of them turned and Gwen screamed, cowering and covering her head. An enormous, real-life lion stepped onto a nearby upturned bookshelf. He was the size of a car, with a shaggy mane and enormous paws. Golden eyes looked over them all. ‘I said get down!’ yelled the lion.
The three of them ducked, Harry’s arm wrapping around Chloe’s shoulders as he shielded her with his body.
They fell to the carpeted floor, landing clumsily on fallen books.
Magic soared above them, narrowly missing them and making goosebumps spring up on Chloe’s arms. The wave of silver hit a window and it shattered.
Icy air swept inside the library, glass thundering to the floor as the woman laughed and laughed.
‘Was that a lion? This is insane!’ Gwen scrambled to her feet and bolted for the main doors of the library.
Chloe and Harry jumped up and ran after her.
Chloe’s mind rushed as they left the lion and the witch to battle each other.
They rushed past the children’s section, the soft flooring taken up by magical creatures and talking animals who seemed content to sit around and watch the forming battle with interest. Clementine was nowhere to be seen, or perhaps the orange cat had simply blended into the crowd of animal characters.
Could they really get all the characters back into their books before they destroyed the library? Everywhere they looked, there were more. Was the library letting this happen, or had it lost control of the magic?
Bookshelves slid out of their way as they ran for the main doors. ‘Gwen, stop!’ Chloe shouted. ‘We can’t leave. We have to get all the characters back into their stories. We have to read out their last lines to them. It’s the only way.’
‘Are you dreaming? We need to call the police,’ Gwen panted, pulling out her phone.
‘We just need to get the characters back into their books,’ said Harry, raising his hands. ‘I’m sure most of them don’t want to be here. Right?’
Chloe hadn’t realised that several of the characters who weren’t fighting had found refuge in the lobby.
It was a mishmash of people – a stern, greasy-haired professor dressed in black, a serious teenager dressed in winter furs, a pointy-eared boy in a green tunic talking to what looked like a fairy or pixie in his hand.
He was the one who had flown over them earlier.
Gwen lowered her phone and scowled at him.
‘Library, block that door, please,’ Chloe panted. At once, an enormous bookshelf slid over to cover the archway separating the lobby from the west wing. She felt bad for the characters who might get caught in the fighting crossfire, but the quickest way to help them was getting them home.
Gwen paled when the bookcase moved on its own, then she gave Chloe a look that said, Fine, I’ll trust you. Get on with it .
Chloe approached the group. At least here, no one was fighting.
‘Hi, everyone.’ Nerves danced in her chest as she stared around at them.
So many of them were otherworldly, cartoonish or magical.
Some of them had weapons, and she tried hard not to glance at them.
‘I’m so sorry you’re here. We didn’t do it on purpose. ’
‘Where exactly are we?’ asked a young woman in leathers who looked like she had been malnourished then forced to gain muscle very quickly. Her olive-green eyes fixed with suspicion on Chloe.
‘You’re in . . . well, our world.’ Chloe spread her hands helplessly.
She hoped Mrs Cook had been able to find the book to subdue the poltergeist, at least. They could still hear the shrieking of the monkey upstairs and she hoped Eric wasn’t having too rough a time.
‘In our library. A place of books. Your books.’
‘What do you mean?’ asked the boy in the tunic, looking up with interest. The fairy flitted to his shoulder, leaving a golden trail like a shooting star.
‘Erm, Chloe,’ Gwen whispered. ‘Maybe skip the explanation for now? The last thing we need is for them to have an existential crisis.’
‘Right,’ said Chloe. ‘We want to get you back to your own worlds as quickly as we can, but we need your help.’ She turned to Harry and Gwen, both of them looking at her with optimistic expectation; they trusted her to fix all this.
It was bolstering as well as terrifying.
‘We have to collect all the books we can find that are glowing and put them here.’ She tapped the lobby desk, then moved some papers out of the way.
‘Everyone, please find books in this library that are glowing orange and bring them back here. I don’t know what’s happening, but I think .
. . the library has lost its grip on its magic.
Some of it, at least.’ She dearly hoped reading the books would send the characters home.
It was the only thing she could think of.
The others nodded. The characters were looking at her, some with cool mistrust, others with interest, and others still with eagerness. A little girl with a red cape and hood beamed at her, clutching a basket in her hands.
‘Listen, if you help us gather the glowing books, you’ll be able to get home a lot faster,’ said Chloe.
The red-hooded girl sped off. Others mumbled something or glanced at each other, then everyone was walking in different directions, in search of glowing books.
Some squeezed through the gap between the shelf and the doorway to the west wing.
Gwen picked her way through scattered papers and tomes, too, and Harry and Chloe were suddenly alone together.
He held out his hand. ‘And what’s our job?’
She took it, liking the warmth of his hand around hers. ‘We’ve got some reading to do.’
Clementine was getting tired of all the noise.
When he had decided to live here, Mrs Cook had given him food and a place to sleep.
The humans were usually kind to him, and he liked the quiet of this place.
Now everywhere he ran, there was someone there, whether it was a human or a human-like creature or a mean, chattering animal that tried to grab his tail.
He hissed at a nasty-looking man and squeezed between some books on a shelf, sitting with his paws in front of him. This wasn’t ideal, but he would have to wait it out.
He meowed quietly, thinking of Chloe. With her curly hair and flowery scent and her long skirts and the way she scratched between his ears after giving him some extra treats. She would figure all this out, he knew it.