“Is that . . . the Library of Endersea?” Pip asked.

“That can’t be it,” Otto said. “It’s tiny.”

“It’s distinctly unimpressive,” the hedgewitch agreed, giving it a skeptical look.

“It’s the only building I can see,” Eleanor pointed out. “And it is right by the ocean. End of the sea, and all of that.”

“I guess we’d better check it out,” Pip said with a shrug.

Eleanor had thought the building might be more impressive up close, but as they approached it turned out to be the opposite. The closer they got, the more unassuming the building seemed. It was blocky and dull, with a flat roof and small, dirty windows. Behind them, the waves lapped against the sparkling shore. In front of them, paint flaked off the door and drifted slowly to the ground.

“That can’t be it,” Otto said, but Eleanor pointed. A sign stood in front of the building, weathered from the sand and wind and sea spray.

It read endersea municipal library.

Eleanor looked back at the others and spread her hands in a what-can-you-do gesture.

“I was expecting a cathedral of knowledge. This is . . . not that,” the hedgewitch noted as they stood on the walk outside the door. There was a book return slot on the side of the building, and flyers in the front windows advertising a summer reading program (the prize was listed as A TRUTH WHICH HUMAN MINDS CANNOT COMPREHEND and a $25 gift card to Applebee’s).

“Do we go in?” Pip asked.

“We go in,” Eleanor said firmly.

She pushed through the door and was immediately greeted by a blast of cool air that smelled intensely and unmistakably like books. It took a moment for her eyes to adjust, but when they did, she couldn’t quite understand what she was seeing. The outside of the building had been small, but the inside was enormous. They stood on a marble floor in a room paneled with rich oak. Benches lined the edges of the room, and across the lobby was a huge desk, piled with cloth- and leather-bound books.

Pip gave an impressed whistle that echoed off the vaulted ceiling.

“This is more like it,” the hedgewitch said approvingly.

Eleanor couldn’t disagree. This definitely felt more like a place that would have magical books and endless stores of secret knowledge. She made her way up to the desk. It was as tall as she was, and she had to stretch up on the tips of her toes to reach the bell resting at the edge, a tiny plaque in front of it reading please ring for assistance.

The bell made a pleasant little chime that took a while to fade. Eleanor stepped back, and back again, so that she could see over the desk to the doors on the wall behind it.