Chapter 8 - The Secret Passage in the Monster Library

“I’m afraid,” moaned a short bottle carrier.

“Me too,” said Jane quietly. She pressed her hand on the door handle.

“It’s not that terrible at all!” cried Rachel with a contemptuous voice. There was a fearful screech and a horrible roar echoing from the chamber doors.

“How did they get in without even a key? Rachel,” said Jane, “the doors were locked but it’s unlocked now.”

“There are keys,” said Rachel pointing at a couple of keys hanging from the ceiling by long strings, when she pushed Jane to open a gap of the doors. “See? There’s no key on that string. It must be taken by the boys. C’mon, we’ve just got to go in!”

She pushed the door open. There were no lamps or candles or even a window inside. And it wasn’t an ordinary chamber. It was an enormous room with a very low ceiling. It was a library.

Bookcases stood on the wooden floor. “I’ve got a flashlight,” mumbled Rachel, pulling out a flashlight out of her pocket and turning it on. On the bookcases, with a lot of different colors, were books. Hundreds of books appeared, titled “Let Us See the Interesting Summer Plants” “Summer Plants Caretaking” “Managing Summer” “The Great Summer Management Events” or maybe “How to Use a Carriage Well”. The bookcases became more and more untidy as the girls walked deeper into the center of the room. They seemed to be formed into concentric circles, but Jane wasn’t sure because that some of the bookcases were not on their own places. She heard a growl suddenly.

In the deepest circle, there was an empty circular area—but not completely empty. Half squatting and half standing, holding a silver sword, was Leo. Half calming down and half panicking, leaning against a bookcase, with his glasses askew, was Derek. And in front of them, with a large eagle’s beak, a huge black feather on the head, three scaly and glossy green snake’s tails, a gigantic tortoise’s body and its legs, was a great monster! It was enormous. A panic had covered Jane. How could you not panic in this frightening place and frightening time, with two of your partners panicking and a great monster in front of you, and the bottle carriers screaming loudly!

The monster roared at Jane, stare at her with its large yellow eyes, and then turned to the bottle carriers. It opened its beak. There were sharp glittering teeth! Jane fell onto the floor. She got up blankly. “That’s a mad monster!” yelled Derek, when the sound of Leo throwing the sword to the monster’s tortoise shell echoed through the darkness. But the sword missed. It hit a bookcase instead.

“Where have you got that thing, uh—Leo?” asked a bottle carrier.

“I saw a suit of armor of a knight—I thought it was quite like a knight! And I took the sword to kill this thing!”

“Ahhhhh!” screamed Jane. Her heart was pounding too fast that she did something crazy. She knocked a bookcase over and books fell onto the monster’s lowered head. “What are you doing, Jane?” called Rachel. The monster roared painfully, and turned from Leo to Jane. Her heart pounded even faster. She stepped backwards. The monster’s eyes shone horribly. She ran backwards, but she didn’t see a book lying on the floor. She tripped and fell, her head landing on another book heavily. The monster growled, its beak opening and sharp teeth glittering. Jane knocked another bookcase over immediately. It fell, books crashing into the monster’s eye. It roared when Leo threw the sword. Uh-oh, thought Jane. The sword flew into the pile of books. No sooner, Jane ran away and crashed into the inside stone wall of the room. Then, she saw something very weird.

There was a bookcase, a single bookcase. There were no other bookcases near this one. It stood alone, next to the wall, extremely closely beside it. Jane’s heart pounded more slowly, making her feel more comfortable. However, the bookcase seemed to be the most uncomfortable one. She pushed the books of the fourth shelf of the bookcase aside. She didn’t know what she was doing at all. Her heart pounded faster and faster, because she heard very loud footsteps of the monster’s gigantic tortoise feet. She turned back, as the monster knocked down a bookcase.

“Oh, god!” screamed Rachel. The monster looked shocked. It turned to Rachel when Jane yelled, “Come here! Something odd! There is something very odd!” A bottle carrier’s shriek echoed suddenly. She lured the monster away! Meanwhile, Jane spotted Leo picking up his sword and throwing it to hit the monster’s shell again, not missing, and Derek pulled him to run. They ran towards Jane, followed by three bottle carriers, including Rachel but not the one who shrieked. Jane pushed the books of the fifth shelf of the bookcase apart absently—and saw another weird thing—even more weird.

There was a hole. A rectangular hole appeared behind the books, just on the stone wall, which was hidden by books. Jane heard Rachel gasping, and the bottle carrier who had shrieked in terror threw Leo’s sword.

“Hey,” said Derek suddenly, “Leo! It’s a hidden secret passage. ”

Jane was confused. “What is that thing?”

“I’ve learned a lot from the book about old castles. Some castles have secret passages inside. They’re passages which can let you travel from a room of the castle to another,” explained Derek. “We can go there,” he added patiently.

“SO? WHY DON’T WE KILL THAT MONSTER BEFORE WE GO INTO THAT STUPID PASSAGE? WHY DON’T WE KILL IT NOW? GOING INTO A FOOLISH PASSAGE DOESN’T HELP KILLING A MONSTER AND RESCUING THIS LIBRARY FROM DANGER AT ALL, OBVIOUSLY!” roared Rachel in fury.

“Don’t be so angry! Calm down,” said Derek, “perhaps it’ll help.”

“Perhaps!” grumbled Rachel, but she was the first one who climbed into the passage carefully and landed with a thud.