Her fingers glow with dim light as she casts the translation spell, managing only a character or two before she must cast the spell again. It is like trying to read by flickering candlelight that the wind blows out every few seconds.

“What’s the title?” Moanica asks, pacing behind the Evil Queen as she works.

“‘The… Path… of… Shadow,’” the Evil Queen reads. A way to Shadow High! At last!

“Well, that’s a good sign,” Moanica says. “Ancient scroll, hidden behind a bookcase, secret knowledge. What else does it say?”

The Evil Queen continues to read. “There is a subtitle. ‘The Cautious Vampire’s Guide… to…’”

“To what?”

A muscle beneath the queen’s eye begins to twitch.

“‘To Summer Walks on the Riverside…’” the Evil Queen says through clenched teeth. “Walks on the riverside? Vampires are supposed to be evil!”

“Evil? Who, Dracula?” says Moanica. “One time I saw him knit a tea cozy.”

“Gah!” The Evil Queen throws the scroll down. Magical energy crackles around her fingertips. “I am surrounded by fools!”

A card flutters out of the scroll. Moanica picks it up.

“Well, it looks like Dracula is a little evil,” she says. “This scroll was checked out from some library and is, like, literally a thousand years overdue. That’s a serious fine.”

“What library?” the Evil Queen asks.

Plop.

“What was that noise?” Moanica asks.

“I don’t know,” the Evil Queen says. “You said something about a library?”

Plop. Plop.

“What is that?” Moanica asks.

The Evil Queen plucks the card from Moanica’s hand.

Plopplopplop.

“Can’t you hear that?” Moanica asks. “It’s driving me crazy!”

“Oh, I can hear it,” the Evil Queen says, reading the card. “I’m just ignoring it.”

The card in her hand is a checkout slip for the scroll, from a place called the Lost Library, and if the date on the slip is accurate, the library is ancient.

PLOP.

“Agh!” Moanica groans. “We either have to find out what that is or get out of here. I hate that sound.”

PLOP, PLOP.

“I’m growing to like it, actually,” the Evil Queen says. “Because I think it means someone or something is trying to stop me. And when someone tries to stop me, it usually means I’m on the right track.”

The plopping sound ceases, and the Evil Queen laughs. She is on the right track. She’ll continue her library hopping, then. She knows the Lost Library’s name. But who is trying to stop her?

Narrators, she thinks.⁵⁰ The Wonderland child has already given her a clue. Narrators. They’re real. They’re trying to stop me. Which means… they fear me.

50 This is not good. This is so not good.

She smiles wickedly, transitioning easily into a truly magnificent evil laugh.

“Ugh,” Moanica whispers. “You are really bad at being sneaky!”