CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Uchenna and Elliot peered down at the bubbly pink slime in the toilet.

“Gross,” said Elliot.

“Yeah,” agreed Uchenna. Then she added, “I don’t know if it’s related to what’s happening to the Madre de aguas, but it could be.”

Elliot stared at the pink sludge a moment longer. “Okay,” he said. “Let’s show the professor.”

Back in the reading room, Professor Fauna had laid out all of his papers on one end of a long table.

Elliot rushed over to him. “Did you find the right card?”

“Perhaps! Perhaps!” the professor said. “I found a card that reads, ‘Social Club of the Spanish Court—The Unicorns.’ I have never heard of such a thing. But perhaps—”

“I don’t have to remind you, Professor,” said Elliot, “that you’re not looking for a social club! You’re looking for actual unicorns.”

“Indeed! But the road to knowledge is long and winding, and sometimes we must follow it in unexpected directions.”

“Elliot!” said Uchenna.

“Shhh!” A professorial woman at the other side of the table looked up from a large book and shushed them.

“¡Perdón!” Professor Fauna said, very loudly.

“Shhhhhh!” said a table full of professor-types all at once.

“¡Perdón!” Professor Fauna whispered back.

“Professor Fauna!” Uchenna hissed. “There is pink sludge in the ladies’ toilet!”

“Ah!” he said. “Is there? Well, I don’t know much about ladies’ toilets. Is this normal?”

“No! Ugh!” Uchenna threw up her hands.

Just then, the woman from behind the desk walked up to them. She handed Professor Fauna a slip of paper. He held it up.

“What?!” Professor Fauna exclaimed.

“Shhh!” said all the other readers.

“What?!” he said again, but whispering this time. “¿No están? Pero entonces, ¿dónde están?”

“No sé,” said the woman, and she walked back to her counter and her newspaper.

Professor Fauna hurried after her.

“What is going on?” Elliot asked.

Uchenna replied, “Well, I’m not exactly sure . . . but I think the papers Professor Fauna is looking for are missing.”