This was the second major problem with stack systems, which had also been explored in every horror film in existence ever to feature a library. It wasn’t just that they were full of dead bodies. It was that the reason they were full of dead bodies was because of how easy it was to be crushed to death in them.

Unfortunately the Shadows rather slows down those under its influence. Raven and Lexy tried to move as quickly—and quietly—as they could to the end of the stack as the shelves started to close in on them. But it looked as if they were going to be too late.

“N—” Raven began to say.

Then, two soft hands silently grabbed Raven’s arms and pulled her into the next stack along. A hand quickly clamped over her mouth. It smelled sort of familiar. Raven struggled and twisted and turned until she could see who her captor was.

“Mum!”

“What are you doing here?” hissed Laurel Wilde.

“Looking for books. What are you doing here?” asked Raven.

“Shhh!” said Laurel Wilde. “They’ll hear us. . . .”

“Who are they?”

“Our esteemed colleagues,” whispered Dora Wright, emerging from the closing stack in a quiet puff of glitter and perfume, and holding on to Lexy.

“But . . .”

“Just be quiet for now,” said Laurel Wilde. “We’ll explain everything later.”

11

THE GUINEA PIG SMELL was coming from an old brown shed at the end of the garden of a narrow, yellow-brick-terraced house. The aroma was strong. Could there be more than one guinea pig in there? Neptune imagined a vast, illicit feast. Then a long, deep, meat-fueled sleep. Then a bit of guilt, of course; there was always that. But then, afterward, continuing with his adventure would probably put all those unpleasant thoughts out of his mind. Yes, perhaps all he needed was sustenance. No adventurer got very far on an empty stomach, after all.

Neptune sprang easily down off the wall and into the garden. As well as the guinea pig scent, he could sense a lot of Cosmic Web activity here. Maybe some hibernation going on nearby, maybe under this holly tree? Hmmm. Exotic food. But where . . . ?

No, the Cosmic Web around here was very much awake. Neptune could pick up excited babbling and chatter coming from inside the shed. The door was closed, but there was a latch similar to the ones on the guinea pigs’ cages in the school staff room. Neptune jumped up onto a convenient windowsill and used his paw to knock the latch from horizontal to vertical. The unlocked door seemed to breathe out as it opened. Then Neptune jumped down and used the same paw (his left—like many cats he was left-pawed) to pull the shed door open so he could slip inside and . . .

And . . .

Well. What the . . . ???