“Maybe we should go back and ask Daddy,” Lucy said anxiously. “You might be sick.”
“No,” said Lenora. Her strength was coming back to her, but slowly. “We must keep on. Just—help me into the tube.”
With one arm around Lucy for support, Lenora climbed into the tube and fell into the seat. With Lucy beside her, she inserted her key with a shaking hand and set them on their way to Philosophy.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Lenora and Flight
Once they reached the Philosophy section, Lenora was feeling much better, and though quite worried about the episode with the man in the green raincoat, she still had a job to do. And so she did it.
Lenora certainly felt odd giving orders to the Forces of Darkness, who were only disguised as humans, and who certainly had no desire to take any orders from her. But take her orders they did, as they brought in boxes and boxes of books that had been hidden away in some other location (Lenora was determined to find out where) and began to put the books back on the Philosophy section’s shelves.
All the boxes were marked FOR IMMEDIATE DISPOSAL. Lenora sighed in relief as each box emptied.
She did her best to direct the Forces to put the books in the correct location, while still sticking with the Director’s command that they be mixed in with his. While she was at it, she decided to see how far, exactly, this new cooperation would go.
“So,” Lenora said casually to one of the Forces, this one taking on the appearance of an elderly woman (Lenora felt that she might have seen this one before, but she couldn’t remember where), who was bitterly shelving Thomas Hobbes’s Leviathan next to the Director’s How to Be Almost as Good-Looking as Me. “Why are you taking orders from the Director, anyway? You and I both know you’re really just an evil monster.”
The woman merely hissed in reply. Lenora failed to flinch, having gotten used to these hisses, and turned away, realizing that she perhaps might have been more diplomatic. But the Forces seemed unlikely to answer her queries anyway.
Lucy trailed after Lenora as she moved down the shelves, making sure the Forces weren’t cheating by leaving any books in the boxes. “So they’re really evil monsters, huh?” she whispered to Lenora. “How can you tell?”
“I don’t know,” Lenora said. “I just can.”
Lucy stayed very close to Lenora after that.
At last the work was done, and the very moment the final book went onto a shelf, all the Forces gave Lenora one last murderous look (they’d been giving them to her the entire time, which, like the hisses, had become boring rather quickly, so Lenora hardly noticed), then popped into nothing, off to wherever they went when they did that.
“Finally,” said Lucy. “Now let’s do something fun!”
“I have a job to do, Lucy,” said Lenora. “And I’m going to do it. But I am pretty sure that if you come along you’ll find out this job provides more fun than you can handle.”
“Okay!” said Lucy, hopping in place, ready to go. “And we can go wherever we want now, because Daddy told those Forces to leave you alone. They won’t come after you anymore.”
Lenora thought for a moment. “And do you still think your father knows everything, Lucy?”
Lucy paused. “Well, he thought I was making all that stuff up about the slide rules and big numbers and stuff, so … maybe he doesn’t know everything. But he’s really smart.”
Lenora decided to leave it at that for now. She took one last look around Philosophy, feeling deep satisfaction. She had managed to restore one section, at least. But doubt quickly crept in. She was only one librarian, and the Library overall was in terrible shape. How could she possibly save it all, when even a librarian as powerful as Malachi had been rendered almost helpless?
She shook herself. One step at a time, Lenora, she thought. That’s the only way any big job ever gets done. And then she said to Lucy, “Let’s go.”
Before they left, Lenora plucked one copy of Plato’s Republic off a shelf and dropped it into her pocket. If she once again ran into the woman who’d bought an island, she wanted to make sure she had a copy.
The pair walked out of Philosophy. Lenora looked up and down the impossibly long hallway outside. She shivered a little at the eerie sight. Normally, these hallways were bustling with librarians and patrons and who knew what else. But now they were largely empty, with only a few confused-looking patrons wandering around, no doubt trying to find a librarian to help them. Lenora wondered how many real librarians were left.
Then she spotted one. A librarian whose badge said PHILLIP went rushing past, and he had a box in his hands and tears on his cheeks. Lenora knew exactly what this meant, and she leapt to intercept him. “Wait! Don’t leave!” she cried, grasping his elbow.
Phillip looked at her. “I have to,” he said in a broken voice. “I’ve been fired.”
Lenora thought fast. Motioning to him to lean down, she cupped her hands around her mouth and whispered in his ear, “Go to Googology. The Forces are frightened of the large numbers. You’ll be safe there.” And then she had another, even better thought. “And find Aaliyah and Paolo and take them with you. And spread the word to every real librarian: We’ve got a rebel base.”
Phillip straightened and looked at Lenora, eyes wide. “Lenora,” he said, “everything they’ve said about you is true. Thank you.”
Everything they’ve said about me? thought Lenora. What did that mean?
Phillip moved to leave, but Lenora said, “Wait!” and motioned again. He leaned down. “Do you know where I can find Zenodotus?”
“No,” whispered Phillip. “I’ve never even met him. But I’ve heard he is always rushing around the Library in his blue robe, full of vigor and strength. It’s amazing how he could go on after the Library of Alexandria was destroyed in AD 272 by the armies of the emperor Aurelian. Or at least, that’s what I heard.” Then he turned around and ran back in the direction he’d come.
Lenora was becoming more and more impressed by this Zenodotus. He sounded like exactly the man who could save the Library. Lenora was also becoming less and less impressed that no one seemed to really know how the Library of Alexandria had come to an end. In her notebook, she added, No one seems to know true L of A story. Find out.
Then Lucy was tugging on her arm. “Lenora! Look!” She pointed across the hallway, where a koala wearing a green backpack was scampering by.
Lenora got a creeping feeling as she watched the koala go. “Something is off about that koala.”
“What’s wrong?” asked Lucy as it slipped out of sight. “Is it one of the Forces?”
Lenora shook her head. “No, but…”
They were interrupted by a voice. “Excuse me, are you a librarian?”
They turned. Before them was a confused-looking boy about Lenora’s age. He had black hair and olive skin and was holding a wrench in one hand and a screwdriver in the other.
“Yes, I’m a librarian,” said Lenora. “Hello. How may I help you?”
“At last!” said the boy, rubbing the back of his head and blushing faintly as he looked at Lenora. “A librarian! I have been looking everywhere for one. I need help with the contest. I’m so close!” He pointed at a sign next to an archway: