The Librarian (Book One: Little Boy Lost) (14 page)

  
Wesley crawled across the room and picked it up. He’d forgotten the librarian’s words...

  
Did you find anything hidden within its pages?

  
He thumbed through the book and found a long metal bookmark lying between its parchment pages. There was a thick red ribbon looped through a hole punched into the bookmark’s tip, and there were a number of strange markings etched into the metal like hieroglyphics on the wall of a forgotten cave. He recognized one of the symbols immediately: an open book with lines radiating from its pages. The symbol from the carvings in the library.

  
That’s it?
Wesley thought.
A freakin bookmark?

  
He hung the bookmark around his neck like a medallion then began digging a bit deeper into the book. A proud smile appeared as he carefully began to turn the book’s aged pages. He’d certainly worked hard to get it. But his broad grin quickly vanished when he found what was waiting within. Each page brought an expression to his face that was more troubled than the last until eventually he was frantically flipping to the back of the book as if the ending held life-or-death consequences for the people he knew and loved.

  
Wesley jumped to his feet, set the book down and pulled a walkie-talkie from his backpack. He hurried to his bedroom window, turning the walkie on as he went.

THE LIBRARIAN GENTLY rubbed salve on his arm then wrapped it tightly in thin, white gauze. He already knew the burn the Horseman left would leave a sizeable scar, parallel stripes where his bony fingers had gripped the librarian’s arm that would serve as a constant reminder of his run-in with the ghastly apparition. The Horseman, infamous for tormenting the people of Sleepy Hollow, had another black deed on his record now. And likely more to come.
 

  
Perhaps it’s appropriate
, he told himself.
Perhaps I need something to help me remember what can happen when one of my students is led astray.

  
He stood from his chair, joints cracking as his weary bones cried out in pain. His body needed rest, but he had more pressing concerns. The way the library shook earlier – he knew better than to call it an earthquake – it made him think he had a long and treacherous journey ahead of him.

  
The librarian eased toward his desk, moving around the downed bookcase and the battered portrait of Mark Twain on the floor. He struggled to push his large, wooden desk across the room. There was a loose tile in the floor where the desk had rested. The old man pried it up and revealed a small nook filled with strange crystals, bottled powders and potions.

WESLEY OPENED HIS bedroom window then held the walkie-talkie to his ear, pushing a long black button on its side as he spoke. “Tay? Tay, you there?”

  
There was a house directly behind the Bates home, and a window shade was already popping open. Taylor appeared behind the glass, a walkie-talkie of her own in hand.

  
Wesley’s walkie came alive with static before Taylor’s voice came through. “So what happened? They gonna ship you off to military school?”

  
“What? No! My dad sent me to my room for the night. That’s all. What about you?”

  
Taylor didn’t answer right away. “It was weird,” she started. “My dad didn’t say a word the whole way home. Not a thing. And when we got here, everyone acted like I get in trouble all the time. Dad didn’t even ground me.”

  
“I wonder if...” Wesley let his words trail off and didn’t finish.

  
“What?”

  
“Nothing.” Wesley wondered if there was a link between their parents strange behavior and what he’d found in the book. He didn’t have time to go into that now, though. “Nevermind,” he said. “You have to see this.”

  
Wesley walked to his desk, grabbing the book and placing it in a small Easter basket made of wire mesh. Shortly after they met, Wesley and Taylor spent a long weekend building an elaborate contraption that allowed them to pass items back and forth from one window to the other. It wasn’t pretty. Made from jump ropes, holey bed sheets and a coil of rubber tubing they’d found at an abandoned construction site, it was actually quite an eyesore. Their parents were constantly threatening to take it down, but never did, which was good, because tonight Wesley needed the ugly rig more than ever.

  
He hooked the basket to the pulley system and began pulling on a rope that took the basket through the air, the
Oz
book dangling precariously over the above-ground pool in the Bates’s backyard as he sent it to Taylor.

WITH HIS STAFF in hand and a satchel slung over one shoulder, the librarian took the stairs to the building’s main level then walked toward the
Wizard of Oz
display in the main hall. He took the wand from its pedestal and walked down one of the aisles.
 

  
Night shadows had overtaken every inch of the library.

TAYLOR ANXIOUSLY PULLED the
Oz
book from the basket then sat down beneath her window and began to flip through its pages. Her eyes widened. “Oh my god, Wes!”

THE LIBRARIAN PLACED the wand into the carving just as Locke had done before. He allowed it to click into place then stepped back and let out a quiet sigh as light from the carving began to envelop his frail body.

“ARE YOU LOOKING?” Wesley’s voice crackled from the walkie-talkie resting on Taylor’s window-sill. She’d found the illustration Randy spotted earlier and was amazed to see that she and her friends had become part of the story. Her heart was racing. There was something about it that excited her, knowing they’d taken some of the library’s magic with them. But digging deeper revealed a second illustration, one showing Dorothy traveling with two companions down the yellow brick road. The Cowardly Lion was there. So was the Scarecrow. The Tinman, however, was missing.

  
She flipped further into the book and found a picture that showed Dorothy and her friends being chased by a mammoth swarm of giant, black bees.

  
“Tay? Are you there?”

  
She ignored him, a flicker of realization in her eyes. She knew the
Oz
mythos inside and out. In the book she knew it was the Tinman who saved Dorothy and her friends from the killer bees. But the metal man they’d met didn’t seem to be part of this strange new version of
The Wizard of Oz
. Not at all.

  
Taylor reluctantly let herself turn to the back of the book. It was something she rarely did. She never allowed herself to steal a story’s ending without earning it. This time, though, she just had to know.

  
The book’s final illustration showed the Wicked Witch standing over Dorothy Gale’s dead body as enslaved munchkins worked to dig a fresh grave. Taylor’s eyes fixed on the rotten teeth in the Witch’s smile. She tossed the book across the room and grabbed her walkie-talkie.

  
“Wes! You don’t think—“

  
“That we changed the story?” Wesley responded. “What else could it be? Look through your other stuff. Your
Oz
stuff. Maybe it’s just the librarian’s book.”

  
Taylor sprang to her feet. Why hadn’t she thought of that? She tore across her room and pulled the beloved copy of
Oz
her mother had spent so many nights reading to her.

  
She sped through the worn book. Everything had changed, just like the librarian’s copy. Even the cover featured the Wicked Witch, as if the ugly woman were the story’s heroine instead of Dorothy in her blue and white dress.

  
The book fell from Taylor’s trembling hand. Her throat tightened. What was going on?

  
“Well?” Wesley’s voice sounded through the hiss of static.

  
Taylor stumbled back to the window and grabbed her walkie. She was scared. Seeing Wesley across the way helped curb her fears but not nearly enough. She wanted to be over there with him.

  
“My mom’s book changed too,” she said.

  
“Jesus!”

  
“What does that mean? I mean... what do we do?”

  
“It means we have to go back, Tay.” He wanted to elaborate but couldn’t find the words, all he could do was repeat himself. “We have to go back.”

THE LIBRARIAN OPENED his eyes just as the blip of light hanging in the air disappeared. He was in the Tinman’s cabin again. The shack’s door was lying on the floor after being ripped from the hinges. From where he stood the open door already allowed a small glimpse into Oz, enough to confirm his worst fears had become a reality.

  
The old man cautiously stepped out of the cabin and into the meadow. Gloom washed over him when he saw what had become of the storybook world so many children adore. The sky was dark with an army of winged monkeys flying overhead. Trees were dying, their dry branches skeletal and barren. He heard frightened screams calling from deep within the forest. The yellow brick road lay in ruins, snaking its way through the scorched earth that was once the lush meadow where so much of the children’s adventure had taken place. And in the distance – in the distance the old man could see the remains of Emerald City crumbling to the ground. He’d arrived just in time to witness the last of the reset, the last of the shift.

  
The librarian took a deep breath as he began his journey into Oz. He understood the long odds he faced in the battle to come, he knew exactly what had happened...

  
Evil had taken over.

  
TO BE CONTINUED...

  
Book two is on the way! Sign up at the link below to be notified as soon as it’s available...

  
http://erichobbsonline.com/keep-in-touch/
 

Hi,

  
I know, I know. I can hear you now. “That’s it? It’s over?!” Well, not exactly. Not by a long shot. I promise, I’m already hard at work on The Librarian’s second installment, and I can say without hesitation that this new book will be even more thrilling than the first! But while you’re waiting to read the adventure that unfolds for Wesley and Taylor in Book Two, I thought it might be fun if we embark on a little adventure of our own...

  
I’ve just launched “The Librarian Book Club.” Open to all students in grades K-8, the club will bring kids together from around the globe to compete in a monthly reading contest where they can win exciting prizes: gift cards, autographed books, new toys, video games, DVDs, iPods... even a brand new Kindle Fire! The prizes will get better each month, and all you have to do is answer questions about the books that you’re currently reading! That’s it! It’s that easy! The more questions you answer, the more points you’ll receive. The more points you receive, the better your chances of winning a prize!

  
If interested be sure to get a parent’s permission then e-mail your name and age to
[email protected]
. I’ll send you an exclusive invitation with the unique password needed to join! Until then?

  
KEEP READING,

  
Eric Hobbs