فصل پنجاه

chapter-50

“The memory box is down in the Stacks,” Haley told Kyle.

So he raced down to the basement. The very long, very wide cellar was just as he remembered it: filled with tidy rows of floor-to-ceiling shelving units.

Kyle looked up at the closest security camera.

“Where to next?”

“I hid it way over on the far side,” said Haley through the ceiling speakers. “On a shelf near that horrible book-sorting machine.” Kyle hurried up the center aisle.

Suddenly, a heavy metal bookcase thundered in from the right, sliding like it was on roller skates.

“Watch it!” shouted Haley.

The bookcase skidded to a screeching halt, blocking Kyle’s path forward.

“Go left,” suggested Miguel.

The whole team was watching and cheering him on.

Kyle went left.

And another steel shelving unit shuffled in from the side.

“Jump back!” shouted Akimi.

The shelf slammed to a stop two inches in front of Kyle’s feet.

“Kyle? You okay?”

“Yeah.”

“This is like the hedge maze in the Triwizard Tournament,” said Sierra.

“Huh?”

“Harry Potter. Book four. Goblet of Fire.” “Right. Need to read that one, too.” Kyle, of course, realized he’d just discovered the most “extreme” part of his Extreme Challenge. Each one of the sliding floor-to-ceiling bookcases was loaded down with heavy cardboard cartons, books, or metal storage bins. They probably weighed several tons each. If Kyle was in the wrong place when a shelving unit came shooting in from the side, he’d be flattened like a pancake under a steamroller.

“Warning,” announced the official-sounding lady in the ceiling. “You have twelve minutes to complete this challenge.” He had to keep going. Like Mr. Lemoncello said, there was no turning back now. Unless, of course, he wanted to go home a loser.

Ha! Never!

Kyle jogged up an alleyway between two walls of bookshelves.

“Left turn!” Haley shouted. “Now!” The wall on Kyle’s right swung open, revealing six swiveling sections, each pivoting panel maybe twenty feet long, all skittering sideways and gliding backward to create new walls and reconfigured pathways.

“You’ve only got like ten more yards to go,” coached Haley.

Kyle weaved his way around the randomly shuffling shelves.

But as soon as he was on any kind of straightaway, the walls started to rearrange themselves again.

Finally, Kyle scooted down a corridor so tight he had to turn sideways to squeeze through. The walls stuttered to a stop.

And the voice made another announcement. “Warning. You have eight minutes to complete this challenge.” “I’m trapped!” Kyle shouted. “There’s no exit.” None of his teammates said anything for a real long time.

Finally, Sierra’s voice rang out from the overhead speakers.

“Put your hand on the right wall,” she said.

“What? Why?”

“When I was little, I played a lot of maze games. If the walls are connected, all you have to do is keep one hand in contact with one wall at all times and eventually you’ll reach the exit or return to the entrance.” “Do it,” coached Akimi.

“It’ll work, bro,” added Miguel.

So Kyle kept his right hand firmly planted on the right wall of shelves and started inching his way forward.

“Go, Kyle!” cheered Haley. “Hug that wall! Hug that wall!” The passageway widened. Kyle kept his hand glued to the right wall and went around corners, through switchbacks, until finally, he stepped into an opening near the book return conveyor belt.

“You made it!” shouted Haley. “Whoo-hoo!” All the shelves streamed back into their orderly church pew positions.

“Good,” said Kyle. “Getting out should be easier than getting in. Where’s the box, Haley?” “I put it on the shelf.”

“Which one?”

“That one.”

“Warning,” announced the calm female voice in the ceiling again. “You have THREE MINUTES to complete this challenge.” Kyle stared up at a nearby camera. “Um, Haley? What exactly am I looking for?” “A cardboard box. In a drawer.” “Okay. There are like a billion of those.…” “I flagged it with a piece of pink tissue.” Kyle raced to a shelf.

“TWO MINUTES,” announced the calm lady.

“This one?” said Kyle.

“Yes! Look in the steel drawer.” “I thought you said it was cardboard.…” “It is. Open the lid. Not that lid. The other one.” “This one?”

“No! The one under it!”

“ONE MINUTE.”

“Hurry, Kyle!”

“I’m hurrying.”

“Flip it open.”

Kyle did as he was told. He flipped up the lid on a steel drawer and found a battered boot box.

Every member of Kyle’s team shouted the same thing: “Grab it!” “And run!” added Akimi.

Kyle did.

He tucked the boot box under his arm and ran like he had never run before.

He sprinted across the basement floor. He raced up the steps, two at a time.

When he hit the rotunda, his heart was pounding against his ribs.

“THIRTY SECONDS.”

He speed-skated across the marble floor. It was so slippery he lost his balance.

He fell forward.

Dropped the box.

It flew out of his hands, hit the slick floor, and slid like a hockey puck across the threshold into Community Meeting Room B.

A buzzer sounded.

“Time is up,” announced the calm voice.

“Yo,” shouted Miguel, “you made it, bro!” And Kyle started breathing again.