The small girl handed over her library card and plopped obediently onto a nearby chair, beaming with contentment, as Lenora hurried away, wanting to find that book before the girl darted off again.

Lenora did not have to search long. In the middle of the stacks was a pedestal, and on that pedestal stood a book that was taller than Lenora, and certainly thicker, too. It was a colossal specimen of a book. If only it could float, Lenora would have been able to sail the seven seas upon this tome.

It was a struggle to get it onto a cart. Lenora had to shove until the book toppled off the pedestal and onto the cart, and then push with all her might to wheel it back to the waiting girl. But the girl seemed pleased with this copy of The Entire Scientific History of the Universe from the Planck Epoch to Now. Lenora wondered however the girl would take it with her, until the girl plucked it up with ease and danced away happily, waving it over her head.

Lenora sighed, wondering if this section required a rather larger and more muscular librarian. She sat in her place at the section’s Help Desk and began to read the pamphlet about the new Bubastis diorama. But soon her reading was interrupted by something odd.

She was shivering just a little. She looked down at her arm and saw goose bumps.

She looked up at the skylight. She thought the sun would keep the room comfortable. But the sun didn’t seem to be shining anymore. In fact, out of nowhere, dark clouds had gathered high in the sky.

That still didn’t explain the cold, which was getting worse by the second. Patrons were beginning to look around with concern, muttering about the temperature.

Lenora thought perhaps she could find a thermostat somewhere and turn up the heat. She peered beneath the desk.

And then she heard something.

A muffled crash, far away among the stacks.

And she thought:

Something fell.

Other than that crash, everything was quiet. The usual busy library sounds had gone dead silent.

In the midst of this heavy silence, Lenora heard a sharp rapping, like a cane tapping angrily on the floor. Coming closer.

She raised her head back above the desk—and there stood a man.

It was a man in a bowler hat.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Lenora and the Dark

“Hello,” said Lenora, and she almost added How may I help you? But she knew the man in the bowler hat was not here for help. She had seen this one before—the one with the purplish, angry face and the too-tight overcoat, who had tried to keep the little boy out of the Astrophysics section before Lenora had become an official librarian. Her pulse quickened, and for an instant she wanted to bolt—but no, she would not let this man frighten her from her desk.