At a glance, Emily could see about a quarter of the shelves had already been cleared. Books had been transferred to stacks on the floor. Mrs. Murphy sat in a folding chair at the worktable, looking for all the world like she was playing solitaire with due-date cards and library pockets. Lila stood on a cinder block. As Emily watched, Lila eased a thick volume from the topmost shelf. Ran her hand over the front cover and gently opened the book. “Morris, William,” she called out. “The Wood Beyond the World.”

After a pause, Mrs. Murphy said, “Got it!” She held up a due-date card. “Francis Lewis Memorial Library.”

Becca, who was sitting cross-legged in a cleared space on the floor with her computer on her lap, repeated the title and the library as she typed.

“Ex-lib,” Lila said. That was shorthand for ex–library book. Tap tap tap, Becca typed. Lila sniffed at the book, riffled the pages, and frowned. “Good condition.” Becca typed some more. In antiquarian book-speak, good didn’t mean good. It was like getting an exam grade of C.

“Let’s stack it,” Lila said. “It’s in rough condition, but they’ll be happy to have it back where it belongs.” Lila walked over and picked up the card from Mrs. Murphy, tucked it into the book, and set the book on top of one of the piles on the floor.

“Hey, guys,” Emily said. “How’s it going?” She sidestepped around the stacks in the unit to give Lila, Becca, and Mrs. Murphy each a coffee. “I have sugar and milk if you want, and delicious cider donut holes.” She handed one to Lila, who sniffed it suspiciously. Took a nibble. A bite. Then popped the whole thing into her mouth.

“We’re turning back history,” Becca said. “It’s very satisfying.”

“Can I help?” Emily asked.

“You can help by not helping,” Lila said, snagging another donut hole. “Please. It’s tight quarters in here. Standing room only. And we have a system.”

“Really, we’ve got it under control,” Becca said. She looked around. “Actually, you could help me move those boxes out of here. The books in them are so far gone, I can’t even tell where they’re from. Be careful. They’re full of mold.”

So don’t inhale. Emily helped Becca push one of the boxes of books out of the unit and came back for the second one.