Chapter Thirty-One
H ARRY AND C HLOE held a book each, the piles of gold-rimmed novels on the desk between them getting steadily higher and more numerous.
‘Oh, good. This one is yours,’ said Chloe to the girl in leathers.
She agreed with Gwen that telling the characters they were from books might lead to some kind of freak-out, but there wasn’t really any other way to do it.
‘I read you a line, and you’ll be home quick as a flash, okay?
’ She flipped to the end of the book, her finger trailing down the paper until she found the character’s very last line. She read it aloud.
She glanced up, but the girl was gone. Chloe looked around, but she wasn’t anywhere to be seen. ‘Good,’ she said happily, closing the book. It was no longer glowing. ‘That worked.’
A terrific crash in the next room made her jump. The vampire and the werewolf must still have been fighting, or perhaps it was the witch and the lion. She knew it was imperative to get them all back first, but they just had to work with the books they had.
Gwen arrived, ashen-faced, with three more glowing books in her arms. ‘Chloe, what do we do if some of the characters don’t want to go back? Or if they’re too busy fighting to listen?’
Chloe swallowed. ‘One problem at a time, Gwen.’
‘And what about the lion?’ She pointed a shaking finger towards the west wing.
‘He’s a good lion, remember? He’s busy fighting the witch. Just let them get on with it until we find their book.’
‘Special discount if you need me to repair the library again,’ whispered Harry, and Chloe snorted a laugh.
‘What do you mean, it’s my book?’ demanded a character wearing a complicated Victorian gown. ‘I’m not in any book. Let me see it.’
‘I will, in a second. Hold on.’ Harry quickly flipped to the last page. He read a line out loud so quickly it was almost a babble. The woman’s gloved fingers had just reached out to snatch the book from him when she faded into nothing.
It was quick as an eyeblink. Collecting herself, Chloe said, ‘Well done, Harry.’
He blew out air from his pursed lips, snapping the book shut. ‘I learned from the best.’
Chloe shifted, hiding her smile.
Some characters were resistant. Harry had to chase the boy and his fairy all around the library before finally shouting their last line to them.
The mischievous lad said ‘Aww,’ with disappointment before disappearing, the glow on the book in Harry’s hands fading.
Mrs Cook and Eric appeared soon after, Gwen having told them of Chloe’s plan.
‘Isn’t he charming?’ whispered the librarian as Harry huffed out a breath, placing the book carefully on the pile.
‘Who?’ said Chloe vaguely, pretending to be going through the remaining pile of glowing books to hide her burning cheeks.
‘Is the lion still here?’ said Eric, looking nervous.
‘Yes. A-ha! And his book is here.’ Chloe retrieved the enormous tome – it was a collection of all the volumes in the book universe. She handed it to Eric. ‘Would you like to do the honours?’
Eric’s Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed, nervously looking around at them all.
‘Aren’t you a fan of books?’ Gwen asked. ‘You know the lion is good, right? It’s the witch you have to watch out for. She might turn you to stone.’
Eric let out a yelp, violently shaking his head. ‘I can’t do this.’
‘Yes, you can. Before they destroy the library.’ Chloe took Eric’s elbow. ‘C’mon, Eric. Animals are your strength, remember? No one can send purple monkeys and magical lions back to their worlds like you can.’
Eric’s skinny arm trembled in her grip as they both stepped into the non-fiction section.
Cold air rushed through the broken window.
For an awful moment, Chloe thought the lion and the witch had escaped into town, but then she spotted a glint of the witch’s gown around the corner of a nearby bookcase.
‘Send her back first,’ Chloe whispered. ‘She’s more dangerous.’
Eric’s hands trembled as he opened the huge book, finding her story and her last line. ‘I think that’s it.’ Chloe jabbed the page. ‘Nice and loud, now, Eric.’
A terrific crash sounded and the lion roared. All the hairs on Chloe’s neck stood on end and primal fear swept through her. She wondered if all of Wellbridge had heard it. ‘Hurry up!’ she urged.
Eric’s voice was loud and clear as he read out the character’s last line. He was halfway through when the witch appeared from around a corner, her white hair tumbling around her livid face.
‘What is this magic?’ she roared, marching towards them with speed. She raised the cruel-looking wand in her hand.
Eric’s voice went high-pitched as he read out the final few words. The witch snarled, her wand held high, then she vanished. Warm magic swept over them.
Eric gasped, looking stunned.
‘Well done, Eric.’ Chloe patted his shoulder.
‘I nearly peed my pants,’ he wheezed.
Chloe laughed, though she trembled too as she rose. ‘Now, where’s the king?’
The mighty lion now sat on a fallen bookshelf and Chloe gazed at him in awe. He yawned, showing dozens of sharp teeth, then shook his shaggy mane, calm now the witch no longer posed a threat to the library.
‘Your Majesty,’ Eric addressed him, and Chloe had to cough into the crook of her elbow to hide her laughter. ‘We’re going to send you back to your world now. The witch is still around there, so you’ll still have to fight her. Sorry.’ He swallowed.
‘Do not be sorry, son of Adam. You are very brave.’
Eric looked confused. ‘My dad’s name is Keith.’
‘Um, Eric, let’s get him back into his story,’ said Chloe hastily. ‘Goodbye. Thank you for protecting us from the witch.’
The lion bowed his enormous head as Eric read out his line. He faded at once, leaving not a trace of himself behind.
Chloe knuckled her eyes, sighing with relief.
‘Chloe, we have a problem.’
Chloe didn’t much care for new problems right now. They had spent the past three hours going through the glowing books, sending back the characters, willing or unwilling. She could see the issue without Harry having to voice it to her, though.
They had checked every inch of the library, every shelf, and even asked the library itself to confirm it by moving aside bookshelves. As of right now, there were only Chloe, Gwen, Mrs Cook, Harry, Clementine and Eric left in the library.
‘So why are there five books left?’ Gwen asked, her hands on her hips.
She had rolled up her sleeves to the elbows, her long hair in a messy bun.
She had done her part, reading several characters back into their books, and seemed to have embraced the library’s magic without any more resistance. Chloe could have hugged her.
Instead, she looked down at the books left on the table. They varied in sizes, some hardbacks, some paperbacks, one of them a ragged old comic. New-looking and worn. Varying genres. The only thing they had in common was that they were all still glowing.
‘The broken window.’ Chloe dragged her hand down her face. She was exhausted and hungry and was in no mood for this. ‘Somewhere out there, the characters are loose. We need to get them back.’
Gwen sank to the floor, massaging her calves. ‘How do we even know where to start?’
Eric wrung his hands, looking nervous. Even Mrs Cook had paled. Clementine was nowhere to be seen.
Chloe studied the books on the desks. ‘No dragons,’ she confirmed, mostly to herself. ‘That’s good, at least. Actually . . .’ She picked one up.
It was as she had thought. Almost all of these books had another thing in common: Chloe had pulled characters out of them before. She had talked to them about love, friendship, jealousy, forgiveness.
‘Five books,’ she murmured. The detective, the Scottish warrior, the nobleman, and the superhero. The fifth book was a children’s one, perhaps one Eric had read at the event. It was a story about a mischievous giant cat that entertained children on a rainy day.
There had to be some meaning to this. She looked around the library, hardly registering the scattered books and papers, the mess the characters had left behind. At least all was quiet now, but . . .
‘These characters,’ she said, holding up the book, ‘they’re mostly .
. . you know, normal-looking. No elves or witches or lions.
’ A sudden image of the lion walking down a street in Wellbridge came to mind.
She glanced at her sister, who was no doubt thinking the same thing, and they both giggled guiltily.
‘They’re all humans, except for this cat.
So that’s something. Hopefully they’ll, uh, blend in until we find them, and they’ll think the last one is a fancy-dress costume or something.
’ She grimaced as she said it, knowing how ridiculous she sounded.
‘Can you give us a clue?’ Mrs Cook asked, glancing to the ceiling. ‘Are they in places Chloe has been to before?’
The library’s lights flickered once.
‘Me?’ Chloe asked in surprise.
‘Oh yes, dear. I think since these are characters you’ve met before, they are going to be in significant places.’ Mrs Cook leaned against the lobby desk. ‘What did you talk to them about?’
Chloe glanced at the historical romance in her hand, recalling talking with a Scottish warrior about putting faith in something even if you don’t believe it yet. But where would that lead him?
Chloe’s phone rang, making everyone jump. It was Hannah.
‘Hi, Hannah,’ said Chloe, trying not to sound like she was dealing with a magical library and its escaped characters.
‘Chloe, there’s a guy here,’ said Hannah’s hushed voice. ‘Um, he keeps mentioning a library. He seems quite lost. Do you know him?’
Chloe nodded to the others. ‘Does he have red hair? And is he wearing a kilt, by any chance?’
‘Yes!’ Hannah sounded excited. ‘He’s quite cute, too. Though he keeps saying he’s trying to find his wife.’
‘I’ll be right there. Don’t let him leave.’ Chloe hung up and looked around at her team. ‘First stop, the Brew House.’ She grabbed the book and stuffed it into her bag.
When they were outside, Mrs Cook locked the library doors; they all agreed it was unlikely the characters would come back on their own, and it would be worse to have a passerby walk in and see the terrific mess.
As for the broken window, there wasn’t much they could do about that at the moment.
Chloe didn’t want to think about how long it would take them to clean it all up, but they had bigger problems right now.
‘Don’t let him leave’ had sounded natural at the time, but Chloe wasn’t sure how Hannah was going to stop a six-foot-something Scot who probably had a dagger and wouldn’t be afraid to use it if he felt threatened. Hopefully it wouldn’t come to that.
‘We should hurry,’ she said. Harry strode beside her as they sped up. It was mid-afternoon now, the sun hiding behind clouds. A weekday. Not many people around. ‘Wait.’
They all skidded to a halt.
‘We don’t all need to go,’ she said, looking at them all. ‘We need to find the rest of the characters.’
‘I’ve got the other books.’ Eric held up his satchel. ‘Just got to make sure no one sees them glowing.’
‘But what if one of us finds a character but they don’t have the right book with them?’ asked Gwen.
Chloe groaned. She was right.
‘Let’s all keep in touch.’ Harry brought out his phone. ‘Here, I’ll make a group chat.’ Once they were all added, he said, ‘Just message the location if you find someone. Do we all know who we’re looking for?’
They discussed it and agreed. ‘I’ll go with Eric,’ said Gwen, raising her eyebrows to Chloe. Eric looked overjoyed at having been chosen. ‘Mrs Cook, are you coming?’
‘Of course. Good luck with your hero.’ The librarian winked at Chloe.