فصل چهل و پنجم

chapter-45

First thing in the morning, the bookmobile dropped off Kyle and his teammates in front of the library.

“I’ll wait here,” said the driver.

“Thanks,” said Kyle.

He and his teammates bustled up the front steps and entered the library.

The statue of Mr. Lemoncello was gone.

Someone had slathered wet cement over the “Knowledge Not Shared Remains Unknown” motto chiseled into the fountain’s base.

“Mr. Lemoncello has left the building,” said Clarence, coming out of the control room off the lobby.

“We can see that,” said Kyle. “Somebody took out the statue.” “Mr. Lemoncello,” said Clarence. “He wanted to ship it back to his factory in New Jersey. They have a garden.” “Who erased his slogan?” asked Sierra.

“The new board of trustees. They don’t officially take over till sometime Monday, but they’ve already started making changes. They have a new slogan: ‘Shush!’ Now they’re inside, trying to figure out how to dismantle the hover ladders.” “Oh, no they’re not,” said Kyle. “The hover ladders are awesome!” Kyle stormed into the Rotunda Reading Room with Miguel, Akimi, and Sierra right behind him.

Charles Chiltington was jabbing at one of the hover ladder bases with a pointy-tipped screwdriver.

“Knock it off, Charles,” said Kyle.

“Oh, hello, Keeley. What are you doing here in mother’s library?” “It’s not her library,” said Akimi.

“Well, it will be soon enough,” said Charles. “When I’m finished grounding these ridiculous contraptions, I’ll be heading upstairs with my wire cutters. Mummy wants me to snip the power cables to all those senseless video games.” “That is so not going to happen,” said Miguel.

“Really? Who’s going to stop me?”

“I will!” said the holographic librarian, Lonni Gause. She didn’t seem to be flickering as much as she usually did.

“What?” laughed Charles. “I don’t mean to be rude, lady, but you’re not real.” “That’s right. I’m a virtual librarian. That means I live up in the cloud inside a computer—a computer connected to the four hundred and ninety-eight different security cameras currently operational inside this library. I’m also linked to the Web and know exactly how to send streaming video footage of you vandalizing that expensive equipment to the local and state police. It’s amazing what you can do when you share knowledge with others.” “You wouldn’t dare. My mother is—”

“Just another library card holder until Monday.”

“The make-believe librarian is correct, Charles,” said Mrs. Chiltington as she came out of the Book Nook Café, sipping a cup of tea with her pinky finger extended.

“I should’ve known,” gasped Mrs. Gause. “It’s you again!” Mrs. Chiltington smiled and sipped her tea.

“Yo,” said Miguel. “No food or beverages are allowed in the library. You have to drink that in the Book Nook Café or dump it down the sink.” Clarence and Clement strode into the Rotunda Reading Room.

“Somebody sipping tea where they shouldn’t be sipping it?” asked Clarence.

“Yes,” said the holographic librarian. “Kindly escort Mrs. Chiltington and her disruptive son out of the building. And whatever you do, don’t let that woman anywhere near the nine hundreds room!” “There’s no need for an escort,” huffed Mrs. Chiltington. “We know the way out. Come along, Charles dear. But, Mrs. Gause?” “Yes?”

“First thing Monday morning, I’m personally pulling your plug.” As soon as the Chiltingtons were gone, Kyle turned to Mrs. Gause.

“We want to play the final game.”

“The book quest?”

“Yes, ma’am. We figured that if it was supposed to be the twelfth game, like Mr. Lemoncello said it was, there might be some clues to start us off.” “I’m not aware of any new clues. Just the ones he’s already handed out.” “What about those security cameras that caught Charles?” asked Kyle. “Did they record who took the last Flora and Ulysses off the shelf? Mr. Lemoncello said it had to be one of the Olympians. Maybe one of the losing teams did it so nobody else could win.” “Um, Kyle?” said Akimi. “How would they know what book to take?” “I don’t know. Maybe they hacked into Dr. Zinchenko’s computer.” Akimi arched an eyebrow. “You’re making this up as you go, right?” “Yeah.”

“Unfortunately,” said Mrs. Gause, “all the fiction wall cameras were not functioning from the start of the Library Olympics until ten minutes ago.” “Look, Mrs. Gause,” said Kyle, “we need to find those missing books. Before tonight.” “And we want you to find them,” said Mrs. Gause.

“Indeed we do,” said one of the holographic statues, which had just appeared under the Wonder Dome. Benjamin Franklin.

Now all the other nook statues came to illuminated life and started shouting. “Save this library!” “You can do it, lads and lasses!” “Your library is your paradise!” “It’s all the famous librarians again,” said Miguel.

“The task you four are attempting is very difficult,” said Mrs. Gause. “It’s also extremely complex. It might take you and all of the other teams to unravel this particular puzzle.” “Everybody’s still at the motel,” said Akimi, “because Dr. Z is handing out those scholarships tonight at the closing ceremonies.” “Well,” said Mrs. Gause, “you don’t really need all of them. Just the winners. The ones who received medals?” Then she winked. Several times.

“The medals!” said Kyle. “Of course. All those goofy names. They’re clues. Mr. Lemoncello said he’d been handing clues out right and left. He’s been setting us up for this final game since the first day of the Library Olympics.” Suddenly, the Wonder Dome was filled with an “instant replay” video collage of Mr. Lemoncello handing out eleven different medals.

“So,” said Miguel, “anybody remember what all those different medals were called?” “Sorry,” said Sierra. “I guess we should’ve taken notes.” “Come on, you guys,” said Kyle. “We’re going back to Olympia Village. We have some medals to inspect.”