The Library

Chapter Five

The next day, Poppy came into the library to find her table occupied by the new recruits. Well, when I say occupied, I mean that Anya had settled in my old seat, whilst Ali and Vash argued over who would sit opposite her (Ali won). On the braving-society-table, Sofia and Ken sat diagonally across from each other, debating the Scottish referendum, whilst some year 12 girls sat at the work table where Marcus and co. usually sat. They were discussing new methods of storage in the library. Poppy sank into her seat, focussed on her book and blocking out the noise of the library.

The girls sitting around the table were now preposing turning the library into a book sculpture slotting books together into mountains, negating the need for book shelves and increasing the space for tables, much to the dismay of Mrs Li and the rest of the Library.

"I think you've seen too many of those book sculptures, Grace," Mrs Li said, trying convince them to not start a petition to get rid of the book cases.

Then, Jemima came in and sat down next to Sofia.

"Hey," she said brightly.

"Hey Jemima." The next few seconds ticked by excruciatingly.

"Okay, so I can see I was interrupting something, so I'm going to just... go over there," she said, walking over to Anne, Rosie and Joel, as interrupting their CCC-ness was less awkward than interrupting Sonny.

"Hey Anne."

"Hey Jemima, how's English going?"

"Good, Mikaela has gone to berate her brother into giving her the money her Mum left for her. How's Biology?"

"Gave it up. I saw you over with Sofia and Ken. What do you think is going on with them?" Anne asked, uncharacteristically observational.

"I don't know, all I know is that they need to talk about it. The tension over there is getting unbearable!" With that, the two lapsed into a comfortable silence and worked on their homework.

Then Eddie emerged from the cloakroom carrying a waistcoat.

"I think Ben left this here before he went off travelling with Jasmine," Eddie said, searching the jacket for a name or sign that it belonged to their travelling friend.

Just as Eddie and Mrs Li started discussing how to contact Ben and ask about the waistcoat, the year twelve girls left. As soon NIRSI alerted Eli that the group had left the building, everything kicked into action.

The lights brightened fractionally as the blinds slid shut. Every member of the Library gathered round the table. The three year tens looked momentarily shocked by the crowd of sixth formers around them.

"W-what's going on?" Anya inquired.

"Welcome to the Library," came the mechanical voice of Dewey from his new position by the lab entrance.

"Wow!" Came Ali's shocked voice as she, Vash and Anya were led to the lockers and taken up to the conference room.

Ali was intrigued as to how they concealed a first floor in what appeared, externally, to be a one story building.

"Joel, what the hell did you do to the conference table?" Half-yelled Jemima, slapping him on the upside of the head. Because, in front of each seat around the table, was a paper name plate, where each person was supposed to sit, with one on the floor for where Ken stood. Rosie glared at him when she noticed that they had one plate and one chair between them.

"This is sweet and everything, but really? One piece of paper between us? Really?" He put on his puppy dog faced and she rolled her eyes, finally consenting to sit on his lap. As a mark of protest, Mikaela and Jemima sat in each other's seats.

"I thought it would be nice for the newbies to learn our names!" Joel protested, defending his decision.

"Everyone sit down, we need to get on with this. Anya, Ali, Vash and Poppy all have to go to lessons in a few minutes, as do at least some of you," Mrs Li scolded as the final few people took their places around the table.

"Okay, Ali, Anya, Vash, as you are probably newly aware, this isn't your... normal school library. We were set up in the early eighties to protect the plans under the school, should communism ever over-run Britain. The government continued the program into the mid-nineties, when I was the same age as most of the people here. After they were sure that there was no more threat, the government shut down the project, ignoring the warnings from the then spymaster Mrs Rogers that a new threat, LEAF was forming, trying to get the plans and the Flarenium under the school, an incredibly dangerous naturally occurring element, found in very few places around the world. Mrs Rogers and I kept the project running, recruiting new people every year. Mrs Green at the lower school library sometimes runs programs in the library to see who would be the best matches, which is how we found you. If you accept, there is a place for you on the team," Mrs Li explained to the surprised recruits.

"What if we don't accept, because we don't to end up like Maria Avery?" Ali questioned.

"If you don't accept, your memories of this conversation will be wiped. However, it is because of you thinking like that that we offer you the rare chance to join the team. You have about five minutes to make your decisions.

"We accept," Anya and Vash said in-sync. After a quick glance at Poppy, Ali too accepted.

"Excellent. The passcode to the lockers is 34714. Arrange a time to meet with Sofia and Rosie for your fittings. Anya, you'll be working with Ken and Joel, Ali, Poppy and Anne, Vash, Sofia and Rosie. Off you all go."

After arranging to meet with Sofia at lunch, everyone left apart from Eli, Sofia and Ken, the latter two of who approached Eli.

"Eli, we know that, since the revelation about Greg, you haven't been feeling very safe in the library, so we made you this," explained Ken, holding up a small, grey, rectangular item.

"A calculator?" Eli said sceptically, taking it from Ken.

"Not just any calculator," Sofia burst in excitedly, "the small button at top of the calculator fires small missiles based on nerf darts, the ends weighted with a tiny chip of hollowed, sharp metal, filled with a knock-out drug. You can twist the screen away to reveal a chamber full of the darts. If you press 2nd function seven times in a row, it emits a high-pitched sound which messes with the equilibrium of the fluids in your cochlea, and messes with your sense of balance, disorientating your enemies. Here are the ear plugs to protect you from that. Remember, this is a serious gadget, and you can' just shoot Eddie with it when he starts ranting. Agreed?"

Eli rolled his eyes. "Can I go now?"

"Fine, just please don't treat it as a toy, those darts are very hard to make," Sofia glared after him, as he disappeared into the tunnel to his perch.

"So Sofia, shall we go and work in the library?" Ken asked, holding out his arm.

Sofia raised an eye brow at him and pushed his arm away before walking out of the library, Ken trailing behind.