Norman was deep in thought. “Ah!” he finally said. “Little Orphan Annie! That’s what I was thinking of! I had a Little Orphan Annie decoder ring as a kid. Sorry, April. What were you saying?”

“John Huss was an early church reformer,” April said. “That doesn’t sound dangerous today, but back in the 1400s it was enough to get Huss burned at the stake. The order was given by an emperor named Sigismund, who was trying to protect the power held by the Holy Roman Empire.”

“Ouch,” Norman said. “So where do the Lost Boys come in?”

“Orphans.”

“Right.”

“The name was literal,” April explained. “After Huss was killed, his legion of militant followers gave themselves the name Orphans because they were left behind.”

“Did you say militant followers?” Norman asked, leaning the car around a sharp curve. His hard-core nerves, strung during his youth as a marine, clearly took control as they flew down the streets at an interstate pace. “I thought church guys in those days were monks.”

April put her hands against the dashboard for support. “These were more fierce, led by the general Jan , and bent on changing the world through a bloody holy war. I remember reading the lyrics to a song they would sing on the battlefield: ‘We are the warriors of God, and we’ve come to slay, slay, slay them, every one.’ And slay them they did. They developed a number of revolutionary techniques on the battlefield.”

“Wait! That sounds familiar,” Norman said. “I think they were the creators of the first tank.”

“You’re right,” April said. “The most famous invention of the Orphan army was an armored wagon. They built hundreds of them to defend their stronghold, the city of Tábor; it’s part of the Czech Republic now. But how did you know about that?”

“I watch a lot of the Military Channel.”

“Why does that not surprise me?” April said. They hit a pothole, and April nearly hit the roof of the car. She wondered if they’d arrive at the library alive.

“So what do these warrior monks have to do with the Gutenberg?” Norman asked.

“I’ve read that Gutenberg was an ally of the Orphans. But beyond that, I’m not sure.” She felt that the answer was lost inside her, waiting for the right moment to find its way into the light. But it would be worth nothing if the great book were stolen. “We can’t let anything happen to the Gutenberg.”

Norman took his eyes off the road for several seconds. “I’ve never seen you like this,” he said.

April stared at her reflection in the window next to her. She didn’t recognize herself, seeing the fear and excitement burning in her eyes. “Sorry,” she said. “The thought of someone trying to steal the Gutenberg makes me furious.”

“Good,” Norman said. “You’re going to need that anger if we run into trouble.”