فصل دوازدهم

chapter-12

As they dashed up the spiral staircase to the Dewey decimal rooms, Kyle felt a familiar surge of adrenaline.

His competitive juices were definitely flowing again.

They reached the landing on the second floor and hurried around the wide circular balcony, sprinting for the distant door that would take them into the 900s room, which was filled with all the books from (and exhibits about) that category of the Dewey decimal system.

“The nine hundreds are for history and geography, right?” said Kyle.

“Correct,” said Akimi as they rounded the bend outside the 700s door.

“So in geography, our famous foursome could be the four continents.” “There are seven of those, Kyle.”

“True. But you need four to get to seven.” “Kyle?”

“Yeah?”

“You’re jumping to conclusions.”

“Because I want to jump into the winner’s circle with Angus and Katherine!” “Conclusion-jumping is the opposite of doing research.” Akimi grabbed the handle of the 900s room door.

“The past tense of ‘921 is’ could be ‘921 was,’ ” she said as quickly as she could. “That would put us in the biography section.” “Why?”

“Because 921 through 928 is the range reserved as an optional location for biographies,” said Akimi.

“Says who?”

“Librarians everywhere. Don’t you remember studying that for the Olympics?” “That was months ago. I already forgot all that stuff we had to memorize back then.” “Well, I didn’t.” She led the way into the 900s room. Since the 910s were all about travel, there were several different model airplanes and jets spinning in circles under the ceiling. Akimi marched past all the tour guidebooks and went straight to the 920s.

“Within 921,” she said, “books are shelved alphabetically by a subject’s last name.” “Fine. So who was Was?”

Akimi pulled “921 Was” off the shelf. “George Washington.” “Excellent. Okay. That means our famous foursome is tall presidents.” “Whaaa?”

“From that game last week, remember?”

“Kyle…”

“Okay. Forget tall presidents. Washington is one of four presidents with states named after them.” “No,” said Akimi. “Washington’s the only one.” “Okay, okay. How about presidents with their faces on money.” “Kyle?”

“Yeah?”

“We need to go downstairs and pick up our second clue and come up with a logical correlation.” “A what?”

“A real reason the clues go together!” Kyle reluctantly agreed because the clock was ticking and no way was he losing two games at the library in less than two weeks.

They raced back to the first floor just in time to hear Miguel and Abia name their famous foursome: “The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!” “Who, of course,” added Abia, sounding like she was going for extra credit points, “were named after the renowned Renaissance artists Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raphael, and Donatello.” “Congratulicitations!” shouted Mr. Lemoncello. “That means two of our five research assistant slots are now filled! Only three more to go.” Hands trembling because they knew they were falling behind, Kyle and Akimi ripped open their second clue.

This president’s personal library of approximately six thousand books became the basis of the Library of Congress. His books were purchased from him for $23,950.

“It’s Thomas Jefferson,” whispered Akimi.

“How can you know that?”

“I just do! Come on, back to the second floor.” They clanged up the spiral staircase again.

“Wait a second,” said Kyle. “Jefferson was the third president, right?” “Yes,” said Akimi. “Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison—” “So that’s our foursome!” said Kyle, as they tore past the travel section again. “The first four presidents of the United States.” “Good guess,” said Akimi, scanning the presidential biographies, hoping to find some sort of third clue. “But why didn’t they do Washington, then Adams, then Jefferson?” “Because Mr. Lemoncello is like me. His mind is kind of scattered and all over the place!” “We should go back and get our third clue card,” said Akimi, frantically searching the shelves. “There’s nothing up here.” “I wondered why we raced up here, since we already had the answer.” “I just thought…”

Kyle saw something over Akimi’s shoulder in the travel section. Actually, he saw somebody—a hologram of Teddy Roosevelt. Kyle recognized him from all those Night at the Museum movies.

“You made the right call,” Kyle said to Akimi, nodding to the semitransparent president behind her.

Roosevelt was examining a travel book about Africa.

“Bully,” he said. “I am quite fond of the West African proverb ‘Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far!’ Bully!” Then Roosevelt addressed Kyle and Akimi directly. “This third clue has been provided courtesy of the Nonfictionator.” Roosevelt saluted and disappeared.

“George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt,” said Kyle. “Who are we missing?” “Abraham Lincoln!” shouted Akimi. “Our Famous Foursome are the four presidents on Mount Rushmore!” They bolted out of the 900s room.

Sped along the balcony.

Down below, two people cheered, “Woo-hoo!” It sounded to Kyle like another pair of winners.

How many slots were left? One? Two?

He and Akimi raced down the steps.

Flew across the floor.

And waited their turn behind Sierra and Pranav, who were already addressing the research librarian.

“Our answer is the Houses of Hogwarts,” said Sierra.

“And,” added Pranav, “we would like to thank the Nonfictionator for sending along the holographic J. K. Rowling as our third clue.” “Congratulicitations!” cried Mr. Lemoncello. “Your answer is correct. We now have our fifth and final team of fact-finding data diggers!”