Page 48 of The Library of Second Chances
‘Chloe, tell me I’m not hallucinating,’ said Harry slowly, backing away and nearly knocking Eric down the stairs. ‘Tell me you’re both seeing a purple monkey on the shelf.’
‘Yeah,’ said Chloe. ‘I’ll explain later. He came out of the book Eric was reading.’
‘How do we put it back?’ said Eric. ‘Oh my goodness. So Icando it.’ He sounded torn between worried and gleeful, while Harry looked like he was having an existential crisis.
‘We have to read his last line from the book to get him back in. Whatever line the monkey says last will send him back.’ Chloe opened the book, but fast as lightning, the monkey tore towards them. It ran across the top of the bookshelf and landed on the carpet in front of them. In one quick motion, it had run past and snatched the book from Chloe’s hands. It tore off with it, giving high-pitched chattering squeaks.
‘Hey!’ she yelled as the monkey chattered, the book in its paw as it bounded away. It disappeared around the thrillers section.
Eric stood with his hands on his cheeks, his mouth open in a big O. ‘Oh no, oh no. We have to get the book back.’
‘You think?’ Chloe asked, recovering. She was appalled at the monkey’s cheek and furious with herself for letting the book go so easily. ‘All right, let’s not worry. It’s only a monkey. Eric, you go that way.’ She pointed to where the monkey had scampered off. ‘Harry, are you all right?’
Harry looked startled, but nodded. ‘Let me help.’
‘All right. You go that way. We can trap it. Hopefully.’
There was no telling what the parents or kids would say if they saw the mischievous purple monkey from the story having suddenly come to life, destroying the fiction section. They would probably panic. Eric and Harry, who appeared to have shaken off his shock, obeyed Chloe, running for the shelves. Monkey chatter and the sound of pages tearing reached her.
Chloe screamed. ‘Don’t rip the books, you little monster!’
The monkey appeared on top of a nearby bookshelf, the book still in its paw. It bounded across the shelves, hooting with excitement. Eric and Harry reappeared, panting.
Chloe ran after the monkey. Sometimes it disappeared, only small hoots and chatters betraying its whereabouts. For aterrifying few seconds they couldn’t see or hear it at all, and Chloe was worried it had gotten downstairs until they saw it swinging from its tail from a nearby curtain rail, the book open in its hands as though reading it.
‘We need something to catch it in,’ she said. ‘A net, or something. Help us!’ she asked the library, desperate now. They had been up here for ages already. It would only take a curious teacher or a child sneaking up here, then it would all be over.
Eric appeared beside her. ‘What if he rips up the book? If we destroy it, will that make him disappear?’
‘Destroy abook?’ Chloe gave him such a stare that Eric wilted.
Harry had blanched. ‘It doesn’t need to come to that. You just have to read the final line of a page, right?’ He shook his head. ‘This is unreal.’
‘We need to read the monkey’s last line,’ she corrected him. ‘Let’s get the book back. Quick.’
A long net, like one for catching bugs or fish, appeared beside Clementine’s area. One moment the area was empty, and the next, the net had materialised there. It was several feet long. Chloe snatched it up, sweat on her brow now. ‘Eric, you go that way. Harry, over there.’ She nodded towards their respective corners. ‘If you go for it from the sides, hopefully it’ll come down onto the floor.’
‘What if it goes on top of the shelves again?’
‘Hopefully the net is long enough. We just need to tire it out.’ She was already panting herself, the thick wool cardigan and trousers not ideal for running around the library. She hoped Mrs Cook and the teachers were keeping the kids occupied well enough. She risked a glance downstairs, but the bottom floor of the archives looked to be empty for now. They should have thought to barricade the door.
The purple monkey chittered above them in the rafters, almost mocking. It bounded back to the curtains and swung from the rail by its hand, watching them all.
‘All right. Go!’ she cried, and Harry and Eric ran to the monkey from each side. Eric grabbed the curtains and shook them, and the purple monkey gave a scared cry and leaped from the rack, still clutching the book as though it knew they needed it.
It soared right over Chloe’s head. She turned and smacked down the net with full force. She missed the creature by inches and it sprinted off. Its happy little squeaks sounded almost like it was laughing.
Chloe cursed, wiping her damp brow. ‘When I catch him . . .’ She mimed strangling.
Harry chuckled. ‘We only need to get the book,’ he reminded her. ‘Maybe we can knock it out of its hands.’
‘Can I try?’ Eric extended his hand and Chloe begrudgingly handed him the net. Eric didn’t have much more luck, though it was admittedly quite funny watching him trying to catch the monkey. The little purple cartoonish creature would stop, looking at the book upside down, tail swishing. Eric would sneak up to it in silence, then the character would leap out of the way right as he swung the net.
‘This is hard,’ he whined after the fourth attempt.
‘I think we’re tiring him out,’ Harry encouraged them. ‘Just a bit more. Come on, let’s corner him over there.’
The library, aside from producing the net, didn’t seem to want to help them any more. Chloe almost felt its eyes, watching them in amusement as they chased one of its characters.
