فصل چهل و ششم

chapter-46

“What are we going to learn from all the medals?” asked Sierra as the bookmobile raced back to Olympia Village.

“I don’t know,” said Kyle.

“Maybe there’s something etched on the back,” suggested Miguel. “Maybe parts of a map, like in that movie National Treasure. And if you arrange all the medals correctly, it’ll make a treasure map that will lead us to the secret hiding place for the missing books!” “Seriously?” said Akimi.

“Hey,” said Kyle. “It’s a possibility. We have to consider every angle.” “Even the screwy ones?”

“Yo,” said Miguel, “we’re talking about Luigi Lemoncello. Screwy is usually his first choice.” “Do you think Marjory Muldauer is going to let us even look at the four medals she won?” asked Sierra.

“No way,” said Akimi. “If she finds out we’re trying to win the twelfth game, even though there isn’t any prize…” “Except saving Mr. Lemoncello’s library,” said Kyle.

“A library that, by the way, Marjory Muldauer despises,” added Miguel.

“My point exactly,” said Akimi. “She isn’t going to play along with us, Kyle.” “Well, we have to try. Mr. Lemoncello said we might need Marjory to ‘win’ this round. Not that we’re actually going to win anything.” —

When they reached Olympia Village, most of the other teams were hanging out in the dining area, scarfing down bacon and playing with the waffle machines.

“Um, you guys,” said Kyle, standing near the fireplace at one end of the room, “don’t mean to interrupt your breakfasts, but we sort of need your help.” “What for?” asked Elliott Schilpp, the kid from Maryland, who seemed to enjoy bacon as much as he enjoyed pizza.

“Someone has been taking books out of the Lemoncello Library,” said Akimi, “and not bringing them back.” “Finding the missing books was supposed to be the twelfth game in the Library Olympics,” explained Kyle.

“So do we win an extra prize if we help you folks figure this thing out?” asked Angus Harper from Texas.

“Not really,” said Akimi. “Neither will we. Mr. Lemoncello’s basically canceled the whole Library Olympics dealio.” “But we need to find them anyway,” said Kyle. “Otherwise, Mr. Lemoncello is going to leave town and his awesomely incredible library will get turned into Mrs. Borington’s Snoozeville Book Depository.” “They’ll bring in old-fashioned librarians to shush people,” added Miguel.

“Well, if we don’t win anything extra by helping you guys,” groused the guy from New York City, “why should we help? We’ve already scored our college scholarships.” “Actually,” said Kyle, “you will win something else if you help us do this thing.” “Yeah? What?”

“You’ll all get to come back to Alexandriaville as often as you like and have fun doing research or learning junk about flying prehistoric reptiles or talking to famous holograms, like this amazing rocket scientist we met, or just reading a good book you found while you were floating along and browsing the fiction wall in Mr. Lemoncello’s amazingly incredible library.” The whole room was quiet. There wasn’t even a fork clink or a milk slurp.

Finally, Angus stood up. “Sounds good to me.”

Stephanie Youngerman from the Mountain team was on her feet next. “What do you guys need?” “Ah, what the hey,” said the kid from New York. “Sign me up.” “Me too!” said Elliott Schilpp, his mouth full of bacon.

“Thanks, you guys,” said Kyle. “First we need to see everybody’s medals. Including the ones the Midwest team won.” “Oh, you mean the ones Marjory Muldauer said she won all by herself?” said a girl in a Wisconsin Badgers baseball cap.

“Don’t worry,” said Margaret Miles, a chaperone for the Midwest team. “I made Marjory turn them over to me.” “Is Marjory around?” asked Kyle.

“She went for a walk with our other chaperone,” said Ms. Miles. “Father Mike from Regis Catholic Middle School in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. They should be back soon.” That’s when Andrew Peckleman stepped into the dining room.

“Kyle?” he said. “We need to talk.”