CHAPTER TWO

Holey Cathedral

The lights went out. Baru heard wood creaking and light rain falling. The smell of a damp, dank basement filled his nose. Thunder boomed, shaking the ground beneath his feet.

When his eyes finally adjusted to the darkness, Baru saw that the library had transformed once again.

Baru was surrounded by the crumbling walls of an old cathedral. Through the wide cracks, Baru could tell he was in the middle of a dark countryside. A large chunk of the ceiling had collapsed, giving him an open view of the angry, stormy night sky. A full moon appeared now and then between fast-moving clouds. Silver light illuminated the inside of the ruin. Then it would go dark, then light again. Rain sprinkled the old shelves and the soggy books that were stuffed into them. Baru knew there must’ve have been pews once where the shelves now stood.

Candles flickered inside rusted lanterns. The flames struggled to stay lit against the wind whipping through the battered cathedral. The whole place seemed mortally wounded, as if waiting for something to put it out of its misery.

“What is this place?” Baru whispered to himself.

He heard a familiar voice in the distance. “Did you do this?”

Baru turned around to find Cal, one of his fellow Pages. Jordan, another Page, was right behind Cal.

“Why do you think I did something?” Baru asked.

“This totally seems like the kind of place you’d want the library to turn into,” Jordan said. She stared up at the stormy sky, fascinated. “Those clouds are really moving. All we need now are some monsters.”

As if on cue, a groan sounded in the distance. It wasn’t thunder or the whipping wind. There was something alive and awful out there.

“This isn’t from any of the books I’ve read,” Baru said.

“Well I certainly don’t read these kinds of books,” Jordan said. “I like to sleep without nightmares, thank you very much.”

Lightning flashed on the horizon.

“Let’s find somewhere dry so we can figure out what to do,” Cal said. “I can’t think when I’m soggy.”

The three of them moved farther into the cathedral. They stepped over puddles and soaked books that had been knocked loose from the shelves. After a while they found a dry spot beneath what remained of the roof.

“What do you think happened to this place?” Jordan asked. “Do any of the monsters from your books like to eat churches for breakfast?”

Despite their situation, Baru smiled. “None of the books I’ve read had any sort of creature like that,” he said. “This looks like something Godzilla could do, but I don’t think we’re in Hong Kong.”

“And I don’t see a giant, fire-breathing lizard,” Cal replied. “But it’s still early yet.”

Baru scanned the horizon for a giant, building-eating monster. There was another groan from further off. It sounded like it came from the cathedral’s dark altar. He glanced over but saw nothing more than shadows.

Then came a whisper from the opposite direction. “You guys! Over here!”

Baru squinted to see half of Kelly’s face peering around the edge of a damaged bookshelf. Above her was the worried face of Javier.

Baru led his small group toward the others. In no time, all of the library Pages were reunited. But before anyone could say anything, Baru heard voices nearby. He moved between the shelves. In moments he came upon a lighted area just a few feet from the cathedral’s altar.

I think I know where we are now, Baru thought.