Chapter 6
Deep in the Book
Jack is inside a dark, SLIMY tunnel.
The curving walls of the tunnel glow. Jack can see that the tunnel stretches on and on.
“Tyler! Where are you?” he yells.
Jack sees a shadow in the tunnel. As he gets closer, he sees a young boy. It is not his brother.
“Where did you come from?” asks Jack.
The boy shakes his head. “I want my sister,” he cries.
“Jack!” comes Tyler’s voice. “Help me!”
Jack CRAWLS quickly down the slippery tunnel.
The young boy, Barry, follows him.
Jack sees an opening up ahead.
He sees two hands holding on to the EDGE of the tunnel.
“Jack!” yells Tyler.
Jack’s BROTHER is hanging from the edge of the tunnel.
Below Tyler’s dangling feet is a huge cavern filled with liquid.
The liquid BUBBLES and gurgles.
“Pull me up!” shouts Tyler.
Jack and Barry reach toward Tyler. But their hands are SLIPPERY from the tunnel.
“I can’t hold on!” says Tyler.
Suddenly, a woman appears in the tunnel.
She reaches out a STRONG arm and pulls Tyler to safety.
Then she turns to Jack. “I got your letter,” she says.
“Are you the Librarian?” asks Jack.
She shakes her head. “They call me the Specialist,” she says. “I help the Librarian now and then.”
“You’ll see him soon,” she adds. “But first, let me take care of this.”
The Specialist pulls a book out of her vest. She HURLS it into the bubbling liquid.
“Take a deep breath,” says the Specialist. “And hold on tight!”
The boys grip her hands.
The tunnel begins to shake and thrash.
The liquid EXPLODES.
A wall of bubbling goo shoots into the tunnel.
The goo CRASHES into the Specialist and the boys.
It forces them back through the tunnel.
Jack feels like toothpaste being SQUEEZED through a tube.
Then he hears a girl scream.
Jack looks up and sees that they are all standing in a strange bedroom.
Barry RUNS toward his sister, Iris.
“What kind of book did you use?” says a DEEP voice.
A man stands on the other side of the room.
He is tall and wears DARK glasses and a long coat.
The man is the Librarian.
The Specialist smiles. “Advanced ROCKET science,” she replies.
He nods at the Specialist. “Good thinking,” he says. “That book is hard to digest.”
“This is Jack,” says the Specialist. “He’s the one who WROTE to you.”
“Thanks, Jack,” says the Librarian.
“We have been hunting that EVIL book for months,” the Librarian says. “Each mouth hid behind a different cover.”
“Are there other mouths?” asks Jack.
“Five more,” replies the Specialist.
“We need to find the AUTHOR,” says the Librarian. “Before he writes another book.”
“I want to go home,” says Tyler. “I need a bath after all that.”
The SPECIALIST hands Iris a book.
“I think this is the book you were really looking for,” she says.
The girl’s eyes LIGHT up. “Thank you,” says Iris.
A wind suddenly BLOWS through the bedroom.
The two strangers and the older boys are gone.
Iris and Barry look out the window.
They see four shadows flying through the evening SKY.
