فصل بیست و نهم

chapter-29

“Oh, man,” said Kyle, leading his team around the balcony, back to the Young Adult Room. “Nine library cards. This is fantastic!” They gathered around a table.

“Okay, guys. Time for everybody to put their cards on the table. Literally.” The teammates set down their cards. Kyle spread out the five from the discard bowl. Akimi pulled out a pad and wrote all the information on one master list: BOOKS/AUTHORS ON THE BACKS OF LIBRARY CARDS 1 Miguel Fernandez

Incident at Hawk’s Hill by Allan W. Eckert/ No, David! by David Shannon

2 Akimi Hughes

One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish by Dr. Seuss/Nine Stories by J. D. Salinger 3 UNKNOWN

4 Bridgette Wadge

Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume/Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J. K. Rowling 5 Sierra Russell

The Egypt Game by Zilpha Keatley Snyder/ The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin 6 Yasmeen Smith-Snyder

Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne/The Yak Who Yelled Yuck by Carol Pugliano-Martin

7 Sean Keegan

Olivia by Ian Falconer/Unreal! by Paul Jennings 8 UNKNOWN

9 Rose Vermette

All-of-a-Kind Family by Sydney Taylor/ Scat by Carl Hiaasen

10 Kayla Corson

Anna to the Infinite Power

by Mildred Ames/Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein

11 UNKNOWN

12 Kyle Keeley

I Love You, Stinky Face by Lisa McCourt/ The Napping House by Audrey Wood “Wow,” said Sierra. “That’s a lot of good books. But what do all those authors and titles mean?” “It means we need Charles’s, Andrew’s, and Haley’s cards,” said Kyle.

“Really?” said Akimi. “Because if you ask me, we already have way too much information.” “Well,” said Kyle, “maybe later we’ll find a clue that’ll tell us how to read this clue.” “And how are we going to do that?” asked Miguel.

“Have you ever played this?” Kyle pointed to the Bibliomania box.

“Nope. Always wanted to.”

“We were just about to get up a game.” “Does this have anything to do with finding our way out of the library?” “We sure hope so,” said Akimi.

“Awesome.”

“By the way,” Kyle said to Miguel, “what’d you find in the Art and Artifacts Room?” “Yeah,” said Akimi. “All those papers you kept trying to hide from us.” Miguel grinned. “The original blueprints for the Gold Leaf Bank building.” “Clever,” said Kyle. “That way you could look for old exits that might still exist behind new walls.” “Exactly.”

“Find any extra exits?” asked Akimi.

“Nope. No hidden windows, either.” “Yeah, what’s up with that? How come they built this place with so few windows?” “To discourage bank robbers, I guess,” said Kyle.

“Yep,” said Miguel. “The only way in was through the front door. The fire exits could only be opened from the inside, like at a movie theater. The vault itself was all the way down in the basement.” “Mr. Lemoncello kept all that security,” said Kyle, “and added his own.” “So it would seem.”

“Well, hopefully Bibliomania will lead us to some kind of alternate exit.” “And fast,” said Akimi. “Don’t forget, we’re not the only ones playing this game. One of those other guys is probably halfway out the door already.” “Okay,” said Kyle, “game play is pretty simple. You spin the spinner and advance your piece the number of spaces the needle points to. You move around the library and go into each of the ten Dewey decimal rooms, where you can pick up a book by answering a clue card. If you guess wrong, you get a new clue card in the same room on your next turn. The first person to fill the ten slots in their ‘bookshelf’ and spin their way out of the library wins.” “It’s sort of like Trivial Pursuit,” said Sierra. “And the questions aren’t all that hard because they’re mostly multiple-choice.” “Let’s hear one!” said Miguel eagerly.

The cards were separated into ten multicolored mini-stacks, one for each room. Kyle grabbed a green card.

“Okay, this is for the eight hundreds room. Literature. ‘Deathly ill and pursued by the Ringwraiths, Frodo Baggins was carried safely across the River Bruinen on the gleaming white elf-horse of Glorfindel named: A) Asphodel, B) Asfaloth, C) Almarian, D) Anglachel.’ ” Akimi shook her head like she was having a brain freeze. “Wha-huh?” “I think the answer might be ‘A,’ ” said Miguel.

“They’re all ‘A’s,’ ” said Kyle. “Asphodel, Asfaloth, Al—” “It’s ‘B) Asfaloth,’ ” said Sierra. “It’s from J. R. R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings.” Kyle flipped the card over and read the answer. “ ‘You are correct. You get a copy of Lord of the Rings to put in your bookshelf.’ ” “So, Kyle,” said Akimi, “how exactly is knowing the name of an elf-horse going to help us get out of the library?” “Maybe it’s like a secret code,” suggested Miguel. “And the ten book titles will form a sentence telling us how to get out.” “Possibly,” said Kyle. “But I see one problem.” “What’s that?”

“It’s too random. Mr. Lemoncello would have no idea which ten cards we might pick.” “Well,” said Sierra, “maybe there are only ten questions. One for each room.” Akimi grabbed the card stacks, fanned them out. “Nope. They’re all different.” “Hang on,” said Kyle.

He was remembering something about another game: Mr. Lemoncello’s Indoor-Outdoor Scavenger Hunt.

How his mother had been able to write to the company and request a fresh set of cards.

He turned to the video camera mounted in a corner. “I’d like my Librarian Consultation, please.” “What’s up, Kyle?” asked Miguel.

“I’m playing a hunch.”

The holographic Mrs. Tobin appeared behind the young adult librarian’s desk.

“How may I help you, KYLE?”

“My friends and I want to play Bibliomania but we were wondering: Is there a new set of cards?” “Yes, KYLE. There is.”

And a fresh deck of cards popped up through a slot in the desk.