“What?!” Lenora exclaimed, feeling her heart plunge in her chest. “Is it because I forgot the books? I’m so sorry! I’ll get them back. I’ll build a spaceship. Here, let me go look up some plans.” She turned to rush back to the Tardigrades section, where she was sure spaceship blueprints could be found.

“Don’t be silly, Lenora,” said Malachi. “It’s not that at all. True, you made one mistake, but try to look at the big picture—you also reorganized a section in hours that would have otherwise taken months. Not to mention demonstrating the practicality of bailout reentry to Earth from space while you were at it. Don’t let one minor setback throw you off track. No one is perfect.”

Lenora disagreed. Malachi seemed perfect through and through. But she didn’t argue. “Still—the books—it’s my responsibility to get them back.”

“Yes. So put in a request to have the librarians on Proxima Centauri b return them. I’m sure you can find the Transfers division yourself.”

Everything did seem quite wrapped up. “Then why aren’t you giving me another assignment?” She had thought of asking Malachi about the people in the bowler hats, then decided no, she wanted to solve her problems herself.

“You are a First Assistant Apprentice Librarian now, Lenora. It is time for you to choose your own assignments.”

Joy enveloped Lenora.

She closed her eyes and breathed deeply. She could smell books, and even more, possibility. The choices were infinite. What did she want? From here, she could go anywhere.

When she opened her eyes, she was no longer in a tiny courtyard amid towering blades of grass, but standing on that grass, in a much larger courtyard. Malachi, also normal-size—if you could describe a ten-foot-tall Chief Answerer that way—was also standing there, and beginning to look a bit impatient.

Lenora did not bother to ask how they had unshrunk. With Malachi around, she was sure the Shrinking and Unshrinking Rooms weren’t needed.

She heard a girl’s cry: “Mommy! Hurry up!” Lenora turned to see a small girl with black pigtails and a smattering of freckles hauling on her mother’s arm. The mother was gazing longingly down a hallway that was not in the direction her daughter was pulling. A sign with an arrow pointed down that hall:

NEW DIORAMA! BUBASTIS, ANCIENT EGYPTIAN CITY OF CATS!

There were some pamphlets next to the sign, and Lenora snatched one up as the mother tried to redirect the daughter. “Look, dear, a new diorama! Wouldn’t you like to—”

“Mommy, come on!” the girl cried. “I have so many questions!” Dropping her mother’s arm, she raced away down the opposite corridor. With a sigh, the mother hurried after her.