فصل سی و پنجم

chapter 35

“Entrance to Community Meeting Room B will only be granted to KYLE KEELEY, SIERRA RUSSELL, AKIMI HUGHES, and MIGUEL FERNANDEZ,” said the soothing female voice in the ceiling after the four teammates had swiped their cards through the meeting room door’s reader slot.

“This makes sense,” said Akimi. “We needed a place to organize all this material, put it on the walls, and draw a chart like the FBI always does on TV when they’re tailing the mob.” “Stole the meeting room idea from me, eh, Keeley?” Charles Chiltington was standing in the doorway to Meeting Room A on the far side of the rotunda.

“No,” said Kyle. “We just needed someplace to throw our victory party after we win.” “Not going to happen,” Charles said smugly. “Must I remind you? I’m a Chiltington. We never lose.” And he disappeared back into Meeting Room A.

After Charles was gone, Kyle led his team into Meeting Room B.

Miguel posted the bank blueprints he had found up on the walls while Sierra set up the Bibliomania game board on the conference table.

“I’m glad this room won’t let anybody else in,” said Kyle.

“And by ‘anybody’ you mean Charles Chiltington, right?” said Akimi.

“Totally.”

Akimi grabbed a marker and wrote a neat outline on the dry-erase walls: CLUES SO FAR

DEFINITE CLUES

1) From the 000s room:

Get to Know Your Local Library book 2) From the Art & Artifacts Room: Willy Wonka candy (rhymes with “Andy”).

Find glass elevator?

3) From the 200s room:

Bible verse—“Thou shalt not steal.” PROBABLY CLUES

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 MAYBE CLUES???

Statues ringed around the dome: Thomas Wolfe, Booker T. Washington, Stephen Sondheim, George Orwell, Lewis Carroll, Dr. Seuss, Maya Angelou, Shel Silverstein, Pseudonymous Bosch, Todd Strasser “Wow,” said Akimi, stepping back to study the walls. “What an incredible mess.” “Yeah,” said Kyle. “Okay, guys—there are eight more book rooms to explore and who knows how many more wild cards. Whose turn is it?” “Yours,” said Sierra.

Kyle flicked the spinner. “Green. The five hundreds. Science.” He pulled the first green card from the deck.

“ ‘Four and twenty were once in a pie. 598.367 might tell you why.’ ” “Blackbirds?” said Miguel.

“I guess.”

“Well,” sighed Akimi, “let’s go check out another book. There’s still like an inch or two left on our whiteboard.” The 500s room was like a miniature museum of natural history.

In addition to towering walls of books, there was a whole planetarium of stars and constellations projected on the ceiling. Models of planets whirled in their orbits. Sparkle-tailed comets shot around the corners of bookshelves.

Kyle and his teammates made their way back to the 590s—Zoology.

Shelving units were arranged in a square around an open area, maybe twenty feet by twenty feet wide. When the team entered the empty space, the lights dimmed and a guy with long wavy hair who looked like an artistic Daniel Boone faded into view. He was wearing some kind of bear-fur coat and toting a musket.

“Bonjour,” said the hologram.

“It’s John James Audubon,” said Sierra. “The famous ornithologist.” “He gives people braces?” said Kyle.

“No,” Sierra said with a laugh. “He studied and painted birds.” A blackbird with a yellow beak flew into the open area and roosted on a tree branch. The bird and the tree were both holograms, too.

“This beautiful blackbird from Alexandriaville, Ohio,” said the semi-transparent Audubon image, “can mimic in song the sounds it has heard.” And the bird started wailing.

“Wow,” said Akimi. “That sounds exactly like a police siren!” “Yo,” said Miguel. “Freaky.” “To learn more,” said Audubon, “be sure to read Bird Songs, Warbles, and Whistles written by Dr. Diana Victoria Garcia, with classic illustrations by moi.” With that, Audubon sat down on a campstool. An easel appeared, the blackbird struck a pose, and the outdoorsy artist started painting the bird’s portrait, while humming “Blackbird” by the Beatles.

“Okay,” said Kyle. “This is the strangest clue yet.” “Well, here’s the book at least,” said Sierra, who had found 598.367 on the shelf.

“So what do a blackbird’s wails and warbles have to do with finding our way out of the library?” said Akimi.

Just then, they heard a very different sound.

Behind one of the bookcases, something growled, then roared.

“Did you guys hear that?” said Sierra.

“Yeah,” said Akimi. “I don’t think it’s a robin redbreast.” A very rare white Bengal tiger, with icy-blue eyeballs, crept out from behind a wall of bookshelves and stalked into the open area where Audubon sat painting his bird portrait.

“Uh, is that another hologram?” asked Miguel.

ROAR!

No one stuck around to find out.