Endocrine Kingdom

26. Librarian

Davy looked at the giant warehouse in front of him. There were no windows. Only massive door in the front.

He turned to Olivia. "How are we supposed to get in there?" he asked.

Olivia looked over the warehouse, scratching her head. "Normally, I'd find a way to sneak in, cut the lights, attack from the shadows, and strike fear into their evil hearts, preferably in that order," she answered. Her face lit up with an idea. "Unless..."

She looked around the docks, which prompted Davy to do the same. The entire area was strangely deserted. Olivia motioned for Davy to follow her as they approached the large, white door at the front of the warehouse.

When they got there, Olivia looked down at the bottom of the door. There was a minute gap between the door and the ground that maybe an insect could fit through.

Olivia looked at Davy and grinned. "Watch this," she whispered. She held up her left hand and rotated it, showing Davy the front and back. "Nothing up my sleeve," she continued. She then held her hand over her left eye. After a second, she whisked her hand away, twirling her fingers like a magician. Her eye was gone, only an empty patch of skin remained. She then moved her left hand, the back side facing Davy, up in the air and gestured towards it with her right hand. "And....presto!" she finally exclaimed. She rotated her hand, there was now a large eyeball on her palm.

Davy responded with an exaggeratedly polite golf clap. Olivia bowed as her hand further morphed into a tendril with the eyeball at the end. "Thank you, thank you," she said. "Don't forget to tip your waitress."

She bent down and crouched on the ground. Her tendril arm slithered through the gap under the door. Olivia closed the one eye that remained on her face as her hand fumbled around on the other side of the door. Eventually, she retracted her arm, and in one fluid motion, it morphed back into a normal hand. With a pop, Olivia's left eye reappeared on her face.

"There's no one there," she told Davy. "All the lights are off."

"So we can just go in?" Davy asked.

Olivia shrugged. "I guess so," she said. "Maybe we'll find your friend in there."

The two of them grabbed the bottom of the warehouse door and lifted it up. They stepped inside into the darkness.

The door immediately closed behind them, leaving them in a pitch black void.

A voice rang out in the darkness. "I'm so glad you were able to drop by," it sneered.

A solitary light at the other end of warehouse turned on. The Librarian was standing there, next to something covered under a tarp. "I heard all about your scuffle at the bar. I knew you were on your way to see me."

"So you were standing here in the dark waiting for us this whole time?" Olivia replied.

"No," the Librarian said after a pause. "No I wasn't."

The Librarian regained his composure. "Anyway, since I knew you were coming, I thought I would prepare a little challenge for you, Night Retcher. I'm sure you'll want to participate, if you want to save...your brother!" He pulled the tarp off the object next to him, revealing a man tied up to a chair, his mouth covered with a strip of duct tape.

Davy saw the confusion on Olivia's face. "Who is that?" she asked.

The Librarian gestured at the man. "Your brother. Lance Whitlock?"

"I don't know who that is," Olivia replied.

"Are you saying that your secret identity isn't Gerald W. Whitlock then?" the Librarian asked.