Blood in the Library Read online

  Chapter 1: HEARTBEAT

  Chapter 2: THE ARCHIVISTS

  Chapter 3: FOE

  Chapter 4: TRAVEL BOOK

  Chapter 5: THE ERASER

  Chapter 6: THE CURSE AND THE CURE

  Behold the Library of Doom! The world’s largest collection of deadly and dangerous books. Only the Librarian can prevent these books from falling into the hands of those who would use them for evil.

  BUT THE LIBRARIAN CAN’T LIVE FOREVER. OR CAN HE . . . ?

  Chapter 1

  HEARTBEAT

  Deep within the Library of Doom, someone is bleeding.

  A young man stands on a ladder. He stares at his hand.

  Blood oozes from his finger. It STAINS his white glove.

  The young man is Alonso, one of the sub-sub librarians. He is working in one of the DEEPEST levels of the great library.

  Alonso stares at his finger. “Stupid paper cut!” he says.

  Alonso doesn’t remember getting the paper cut, but he has been working with books all night.

  He hears a sound that reminds him of a heartbeat.

  DOOM . . . DOOM . . . DOOM . . .

  The sound throbs in his head.

  The ladder vibrates.

  Then Alonso hears the voices.

  Chapter 2

  THE ARCHIVISTS

  Alonso quietly climbs DOWN his ladder.

  He follows the echoing voices down several dark hallways.

  Soon, he comes to a window with metal bars.

  Alonso PEERS down through the bars.

  He sees shadows moving on the floor of the room.

  It is a CIRCLE of tall, thin men.

  Alonso recognizes them. They are the ARCHIVISTS.

  Day and night, the Archivists wander through the Library of Doom.

  They NEVER sleep.

  They NEVER eat.

  They make sure that every book is in its place. If they notice one book missing, they report it to the Librarian.

  The men are arguing with a young woman. She is the Specialist.

  “He can’t be gone!” shouts the Specialist.

  “We have NOT heard from the Librarian in many months,” says one of the TALL men.

  Another Archivist nods his long, thin head. “Something is wrong,” he says. “I fear it can mean only one thing. The Librarian is dead.”

  Chapter 3

  FOE

  Dead? Alonso feels a cold CHILL in his heart.

  Then he hears the drumming again.

  DOOM . . . DOOM . . . DOOM . . .

  The Archivists are still talking.

  “The last we heard from the Librarian,” says one, “he was heading toward the UNDER LIBRARY.”

  “Yes, yes,” says another. “He heard that the Eraser is inside.”

  “The Eraser?” asks the Specialist.

  Alonso knows that name. The Eraser is the Librarian’s deadliest FOE.

  An Archivist steps forward. “The Eraser is planning to DESTROY our oldest books,” he says.

  “But how could the Eraser break into the Library?” asks the Specialist.

  Watching from the window Alonso knows the answer to her question.

  A voice seems to speak in his mind.

  The Eraser slipped in through a bookworm hole.

  Alonso GASPS. How does he know that?

  The Archivists and the Specialist hear the gasp. They look up

  Alonso ducks down below the window.

  “We have no time to lose,” he hears the Specialist say. “We must enter the Under Library and find the Librarian.”

  “It is too late,” says one of the TALL men.

  “It is never too late,” says the Specialist.

  Alonso runs away from the window and down the DARK hall. He must save the Librarian.

  Chapter 4

  TRAVEL BOOK

  The Under Library is far below the main rooms of the Library of Doom.

  Its seven levels are buried beneath layers of burning rock.

  I have to get there fast, Alonso tells himself. But how?

  He doesn’t have POWERS, like the Specialist and the Librarian do.

  It could take him hours to reach the buried rooms of the Under Library.

  Alonso runs down the hall. He sees a HUGE book in a corner.

  “Of course!” he says aloud.

  He runs over to the book. On its cover are the words Short Stories.

  Alonso opens the HEAVY cover.

  He sees a dark hole.

  “This will take me there in no time,” he says.

  Then Alonso jumps into the hole.

  Volumes of short stories are scattered throughout the huge Library.

  The books shorten the stories that a person has to travel through.

  The hole that Alonso is falling through passes through hundreds of levels in the main Library.

  It reaches down to the Under Library.

  In a few seconds, Alonso’s feet hit the floor of a shadowy room.

  He lands with a thud.

  Oof!

  His hands hit the stone floor.

  He is on the first story of the Under Library.

  Alonso looks at his finger.

  It has stopped bleeding.

  The blood reminds him of something. But what?

  He stands STILL and listens.

  All he can hear is the strange heartbeat sound.

  He sees a faint glow in the distance.

  The heartbeat grows louder.

  Alonso walks toward the light.

  Chapter 5

  THE ERASER

  The light comes from a GIANT reading room.

  Candles burn in iron chandeliers hanging from the ceiling.

  Alonso sees the SPECIALIST. Her back is to him.

  She is facing a man with greenish skin and sad eyes.

  The man has black hair that moves and flickers like a dark flame.

  “You don’t belong here, ERASER,” says the Specialist.

  Alonso hides and watches from the shadows.

  He sees the man smile.

  “You think you can DEFEAT me?” asks the man.

  “You’ll just end up like he did,” the Eraser says.

  The Eraser points to a TALL mound of books lying next to him.

  Sticking out from the bottom of the pile is a gloved hand. Alonso r
ecognizes the glove.

  It belongs to the Librarian.

  The Specialist rushes to the mound. She shoves the heavy books aside.

  The body of the Librarian lies beneath them.

  “Watch your fingers,” says the Eraser. “Or you’ll suffer the same fate.”

  Fingers? wonders Alonso.

  “What are you talking about?” DEMANDS the Specialist.

  The Eraser laughs. “The powerful Librarian died from something oh so small,” he says. “A paper cut.”

  Suddenly, Alonso feels sick to his stomach.

  “That’s impossible!” cries the Specialist.

  “He’s not breathing, is he?” says the Eraser. The Eraser picks up one of the books that had been lying on the Librarian.

  It wiggles in his hand.

  “It was all part of my plan to get rid of him,” says the Eraser. “I left a BOOK with steel edges lying open. I knew that the Librarian would want to look through it. Especially since I told him that it held the key to my plan. Which it did.”

  “As soon as he cut his finger, a drop of blood oozed out,” says the Eraser. “These books smell blood from miles away. I placed a curse on them: Find the blood of the Librarian and attack! Attack until the heart stops beating!”

  Still hidden in the shadows, Alonso feels as if a thousand insects are crawling on his skin.

  His thoughts are confused.

  Where . . . where am I? he wonders.

  The sound in his ears grows louder.

  “My book swarm found him. They sucked the life out of him,” says the Eraser.

  His strange black hair flickers angrily.

  “And now, the LIBRARY OF DOOM is at my mercy.”

  Chapter 6

  THE CURSE AND THE CURE

  “NEVER!” shouts the Specialist.

  Raging fire blazes from her fingers and shoots toward the Eraser.

  The Eraser laughs. He RAISES his hands, and the flames disappear. “You’ll need more than that to defeat me,” he says.

  “Then how’s this!” Alonso shouts.

  He steps forward, out of the shadows. He points his hand at the Eraser.

  Golden flames burst from the finger that had been bleeding before.

  Alonso’s flames join those from the Specialist.

  They twist together into a burning, flickering chain.

  “The Librarian can NEVER be terminated,” said Alonso. “He can never be fired. But you can!”

  FLAMES surround the shrieking Eraser. “No!” he screams.

  The Eraser is trapped within a fiery, gold cage.

  The Specialist glances up at Alonzo. “Who are you?” she asks.

  Alonso DROPS to his knees, exhausted. “I’m a sub-sub . . .” he begins.

  “Substitute?” asks the Specialist.

  Alonso looks up at her. His face brightens. He smiles. “Exactly,” he says. “I’M A SUBSTITUTE.”

  Alonso looks at the body of the Librarian. My body, he thinks.

  “The Eraser’s curse said to find the blood and attack. His book creatures could only attack my body,” Alonso says.

  The Specialist stares at the young man. “What are you saying?” she asks.

  “Nothing can DESTROY the heart of the Librarian,” says Alonso. “If I had a new shape, I wouldn’t be the Librarian anymore, would I? At least I wouldn’t be the Librarian under the CURSE.”

  The Specialist stands up. “You mean,” she says, “that you are —”

  “The Librarian?” finishes Alonso. “Yes, that was my plan.”

  “After I cut my finger, I knew I couldn’t outrun the Eraser’s creatures,” says Alonso. “My only way to escape was to become someone else. Someone that the Eraser would never suspect.”

  Suddenly, the body on the floor is gone.

  LIGHT fills the room.

  The Specialist sees the Librarian standing next to her.

  “I can’t believe that was YOU,” she says.

  The Librarian smiles. “Don’t judge a book by its cover,” he says.

  AUTHOR

  Michael Dahl is the author of more than 200 books for children and young adults. He has won the AEP Distinguished Achievement Award three times for his nonfiction. His Finnegan Zwake mystery series was shortlisted twice by the Anthony and Agatha awards. He has also written the Library of Doom series. He is a featured speaker at conferences around the country on graphic novels and high-interest books for boys.

  ILLUSTRATOR

  Bradford Kendall has enjoyed drawing for as long as he can remember. As a boy, he loved to read comic books and watch old monster movies. He graduated from Rhode Island School of Design with a BFA in Illustration. He has owned his own commercial art business since 1983, and lives in Providence, Rhode Island, with his wife, Leigh, and their two children Lily and Stephen. They also have a cat named Hansel and a dog named Gretel.

  GLOSSARY

  archivist (ARK-i-vist)—someone whose job is to maintain archives or records

  chandeliers (shan-duh-LEERZ)—a decorative hanging light

  fate (FAYT)—what will happen to someone

  foe (FOH)—an enemy

  recognizes (REK-uhg-nyz-iz)—sees and knows

  substitute (SUHB-stih-toot)—someone who is a replacement for someone else

  suffer (SUHF-ur)—experience something bad, hard, or painful

  suspect (suhs-PEKT)—have an idea that someone is guilty, but not have proof

  vibrates (VY-brayts)—shakes very quickly

  volume (VOL-yoom)—a book

  Real name: unknown (may begin with a T or a G)

  Parents: unknown

  Birthplace/birthdate: unknown

  Questions: Has he always existed? Will he ever be defeated? Are there books he doesn’t protect?

  Weaknesses: Water, crumbs, dirty fingers

  Strengths: Speed reading, ability to fly, martial arts

  Real name: Sophia (last name unknown)

  Parents: unknown

  Birthplace/birthdate: America, 20th century

  Questions: What is her role in protecting the Librarian? Can she be stopped?

  Weaknesses: Bad listeners

  Strengths: Does not need sleep, can research anything

  THE ERASER

  T he Eraser is one of the Librarian’s oldest enemies. For centuries, the Eraser has sought to destroy that which the Librarian holds most dear: the books in the Library of Doom. In fact, the Eraser would like to destroy the Librarian himself.

  So far, the Eraser has not been able to defeat the Librarian. Though the Librarian did lose four priceless old books to his enemy, he and the Specialist spent a year hunting for replacements. They have found new copies of three of the four books.

  The Eraser is a threat, but not one the Librarian fears. At least not right now.

  DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

  Why did the Eraser
want to DESTROY the Librarian?

  Alonso was the Librarian’s replacement. What do you think happened to the real Alonso? Explain your answer.

  What questions do you still have about this story? Discuss them!

  WRITING PROMPTS

  Imagine that you are someone’s SUBSTITUTE. Who would you want to be? Write about it.

  It can be very interesting to think about a story from another person’s point of view. Try writing this story, or part of it, from the Specialist’s point of view. What does she SEE, HEAR, THINK, and SAY? What does she notice? How is the story different?

  Create a COVER for a book. It can be this book or another book you like, or a made-up book. Don’t forget to write the information on the back, and include the author and illustrator names!

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  COPYRIGHT © 2012 BY STONE ARCH BOOKS

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. NO PART OF THIS PUBLICATION MAY BE REPRODUCED IN WHOLE OR IN PART, OR STORED IN A RETRIEVAL SYSTEM, OR TRANSMITTED IN ANY FORM OR BY ANY MEANS, ELECTRONIC, MECHANICAL, PHOTOCOPYING, RECORDING, OR OTHERWISE, WITHOUT WRITTEN PERMISSION OF THE PUBLISHER.