فصل هفتم

chapter-7

Early in the second week of January, each member of Team Kyle received a thick envelope in the mail.

When they opened it, they found an engraved invitation:

Splendiferous Greetings and Salutations! You and your family are hereby cherry cordially invited to the Announcement of —

Friday evening, Kyle and his family piled into their minivan and drove downtown to the library.

“Isn’t this exciting?” said Kyle’s mother. “I should’ve baked a cake.” “Any idea what the big announcement is?” asked his dad.

“Not a clue,” said Kyle. “But we’re hoping Mr. Lemoncello is going to ask us to star in more TV commercials.” “Please, no,” moaned Kyle’s brother Mike. “Your head’s big enough already.” Snowflakes swirled in the misty beams of light flooding the front of the domed building that used to be a bank until Mr. Lemoncello turned it into a library. Kyle noticed several TV news satellite trucks taking up the parking spaces along the curb.

“You better get in there, Kyle,” said his dad. “We’ll go find a place to park.” “Have fun!” added his mom.

Kyle dashed up the marble steps and into the library’s lobby.

Miguel and Sierra were waiting for him near the life-size statue of Mr. Lemoncello perched atop a lily pad in a reflecting pool. The statue’s head was tilted back so the bronze Mr. Lemoncello could squirt an arc of water out of his mouth like he was a human drinking fountain. His motto was chiseled into the statue’s pedestal: KNOWLEDGE NOT SHARED REMAINS UNKNOWN.

—LUIGI L. LEMONCELLO

“Hey, Kyle!” exclaimed Miguel. “The place is packed. Everybody was invited! All twelve of the original players.” “Including Charles Chiltington?” asked Kyle.

“He’s a no-show.”

“I hope Andrew Peckleman doesn’t show up, either,” said Sierra with a slight shiver. Peckleman had been Chiltington’s ally in the escape game and had tricked Sierra out of her library card so he could spy on Team Kyle.

“He was definitely invited,” said Miguel. “But he won’t be coming. Ever since he got kicked out of the game, Andrew doesn’t really like libraries. He even quit being a library aide at school.” “That’s sad,” said Sierra.

“You guys,” said Akimi, coming in from the Rotunda Reading Room, “there’s all sorts of TV news crews inside. Including that reporter from CNN.” “Which one?”

“The guy with the hair.”

“And there’s food in the Book Nook Café,” said Miguel. “Tons of it.” “So why are we hanging out here?” said Kyle. “Let’s go.”

The four friends hurried under the arch that led into the vast Rotunda Reading Room. The rotunda was packed. Clusters of brightly colored balloons were tethered to the green-shaded lamps on the reading desks. Hidden surround-sound speakers blasted a brassy, heroic fanfare.

Overhead, the Wonder Dome was a fluttering display of fifty state flags flapping against a cloudless blue sky, where, for whatever reason, a very muscular couple in ancient robes rode a chariot back and forth across the curved ceiling like it was a horse-drawn comet. They reminded Kyle of a Greek god and goddess straight out of the Percy Jackson books.

“Wow,” said Miguel. “Do you think Rick Riordan’s going to be here? That would be so awesome!” All the animated action was displayed on ten wedge-shaped high-definition video screens—as luminous as any sports arena’s scoreboard. They lined the underbelly of the building’s colossal cathedral ceiling like glowing slices of pie. Each screen could showcase individual images or join with the other nine to create one spectacular presentation.

“Whoa,” said Akimi. “Check out the statues. They’re hardly wearing any clothes.” “And,” Sierra said, “they look like they’re made out of marble.” “Right,” said Akimi. “See-through marble.”

Tucked beneath the ten Wonder Dome screens in arched niches were ten 3-D statues glowing a ghostly green. Holograms.

“They all remind me of Hercules,” said Kyle, taking in the dizzying array of muscular wrestlers, javelin throwers, discus flingers, and runners. “Except for the lady with the horse.” “I think that’s a Spartan princess named Cynisca,” said Sierra, who read a ton of history books, too. “She won the four-horse chariot race in 396 BC and again in 392 BC in what we call the ancient Olympic Games.” Akimi arched an eyebrow. “You sure she isn’t that girl from The Girl Who Loved Wild Horses?” Sierra laughed. “Positive!”

“Splendiferous greetings and salutations to one and all!” boomed Mr. Lemoncello’s voice from the loudspeakers as the trumpets blared their final fanfare. “Thank you for joining us this evening. It is now time for my big, colossal, and jumbo-sized announcement!” Kyle held his breath and crossed his fingers.

He really hoped he and his friends were going to star in more commercials.

Being famous was fun.

And kind of easy, too.