Rebel in the Library of Ever

by Zeno Alexander

  She looked everywhere, but she couldn’t see the girl in purple. Patrons were gathering around the signs now, and some of them were beginning to nod. Lenora even saw a small boy writing in a notebook as he studied the signs.

  How can they believe these lies? she thought. Then she noticed something happening to her, too. A tiny drumbeat in her head, repeating over and over, louder and louder: Ignorance is strength. IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH. IGNORANCE! IS! STRENGTH!

  The lie began to make a certain sort of sense to Lenora. When repeated over and over like that, it seemed to become not a lie, but truth. She took out her notebook. And then—

  “Lenora!”

  Rosa came sailing toward her through the crowd.

  “Rosa!” cried Lenora. Her wise and knowledgeable friend’s appearance caused the awful drumbeat to cease immediately. “Thank goodness you’ve come.”

  “Malachi told all of your friends you would need us. What can I do?”

  Lenora gestured to the signs again. “Someone is putting these up everywhere. They are having a very strange effect on patrons, and me! We need to remove them all and find her. I bet you’ve got an idea.”

  Rosa’s helmet glittered in a way that suggested twinkling eyes. Rosa waved one of its many devices, and a whirlwind sprang up that ripped all the signs from the walls and gathered them into a spinning tornado of lies.

  And in the middle of them stood a girl in purple, shock on her face.

  She recovered quickly. Looking straight at Lenora, she said through her sharp teeth, “You have lost forever. Give up.”

  But Lenora shook her head. “Your lies won’t work on me anymore. I see you for what you are. And know this—I will fight untruths wherever I find them, for as long as I’m able. And there will be others like me who fight your lies, always, wherever you appear.” Lenora knew this was true.

  With a hiss, the girl began to transform into a dark nothingness. And then, as though she were being sucked away through a straw, she vanished.

  “One more to go,” said Lenora to Rosa. “And then I can give you back your device. But quickly—why are you here? I thought you were meeting your spaceship.”

  “My ship is stuck here for the time being,” replied Rosa. “The koala stole one of its parts!”

  “That darn koala,” said Lenora. “We’ll get him someday! Goodbye for now.”

  She gripped the device tightly, and thought once more of the hatred and rage she had felt toward the man in the green raincoat, and how she’d wanted to attack him …

  The hallway vanished.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  Lenora Leaves

  For a moment, Lenora couldn’t figure out where she was. It was as though she were in the middle of a gigantic factory that contained one huge machine. Everywhere she looked, she saw conveyor belts, platforms with spinning rollers, and slides that led down to wheeled buckets. There were even little robots scattered around the floor. But none of it, whatever it was, was operating. The robots and conveyor belts weren’t moving at all. Lenora suspected that it ought to be working, but had no idea what to do about it. She hurried along, searching for the thing she had come for—the man in green, who seemed, in some ways, to be the worst of all the members of the Board.

  As she went, she noticed there were openings all along the walls through which the belts moved (or ought to be moving). Above many of these doors were signs that read FOLKLORE and ALGEBRA and COSMOLOGY and hundreds of other topics. These were all library categories. Lenora was beginning to think this massive machine was all for sorting books. And then she saw something odd. Above one of the doors was a sign that said, simply, LENORA, in bold black letters.

  No time to wonder, for she heard sounds ahead of her, and she sped up into a run. Veering around a silent conveyor belt, she ground to a halt.

  She had found the man in green.

  He was standing in front of an enormous vat of books, at least twenty stories high. It looked like the books were supposed to feed out onto the conveyor belts, but a door through which they moved had been slammed shut. In its place the man in the green raincoat had pulled up a trolley full of many different books, which he was preparing to dump onto the belts.

  Lenora saw some of the titles. We will not repeat them here, but will only write a very sad thing. Some books exist that are not meant to educate, or entertain, or illuminate. They are meant to spread fear, lies, and hatred, and when read by those who do not understand their true purpose, they can be deadly things indeed.

  Lenora knew these books for what they were, and hate rose within her. She found herself again wanting to throw herself at the man. Her fists shook.

  He was looking right at her, and smiling. “I’ve reprogrammed this machine, you know. Now these books will be spread throughout the Library, instead of being kept in a special section just for them.”

  Before Lenora could move, the man dumped the books onto a belt and hit a button on a nearby control panel.

  The machine started. Books of hate began moving down the belts. And then—

  “Lenora!”

  Ada shot into view. She had given up her outlandish outfit and platform shoes, and for some reason had dressed up in the costume of an old-fashioned explorer. She threw herself into Lenora’s arms. “Lenora, Malachi told all your friends—”

  “I know,” replied Lenora. “Now Ada, please listen. This machine is supposed to sort all books into their correct sections, but it’s been reprogrammed. I don’t know how to fix it. I need you to do it, and fast. I have to deal with this man.”

  “What man?” Ada asked.

  Lenora turned. The man was gone. Then, out of the corner of her eye, she spied a flash of green. The man was running down one of the belts, and he was out of sight a moment later.

  “Quickly,” she said to Ada. “I’ve got to go after him. And you’ve got to fix this machine before any of those books go out.”

  “But I’ve never seen it before,” cried Ada in despair. “Please, Lenora, stay and help me!”

  Lenora held Ada by her arms and looked into her eyes. “Ada, I will do my best, but I will not always be there to help you. Know that you are braver and smarter than you realize, and you will find you do not need me as much as you think. Now hurry. We’re out of time.”

  Ada gulped, tears in her eyes. Then she nodded and ran to the control panel.

  Lenora jumped onto the conveyor belt and chased after the final member of the Board. She found that by running on the belts that were moving in the direction she wanted to go, she could move at blinding speed, and soon she caught up with the man, who had his back against a wall.

  He turned to her, grinning. “You can never defeat us, you know. We might be silenced for a while, but we will always come back. Eventually we will win.”

  Lenora felt her hate for him returning. But now she understood this thing for what it was, and knew that she must not become that same thing.

  So though it was difficult, she said calmly instead, “I remember how I felt outside the Director’s office, when you and I first met.” Though she supposed she had met this creature before, in other forms. “I hated you. And it was one of the most awful feelings I’ve ever had. How terrible it must be for you to feel that same way all the time. I’m very sorry for you.”

  At these words, the man howled terribly, and just as he began to turn into a dark nothingness, he was sucked away to wherever the others had gone.

  “Fixed it!” she heard Ada yell.

  The belt Lenora was standing on reversed, and she stumbled and fell.

  Lenora could see right away that not only had Ada fixed the sorting machine, but it was now operating three times faster than before and it would be dangerous to stand on it. She had just managed to push herself into a seated position when the belt whooshed her onto a small platform and some spinning wheels came up and rolled her right onto another belt. All around, books on this and other belts were getting the same treatment, being pushed from belt to belt and then
through doors in the walls marked ECOLOGY and GENETICS and FUNGI and every other topic one could possibly think of.

  Lenora’s belt roared toward a door in a wall and she found herself speeding along through a glass tunnel, and below her she could see a vast, sunlit reading room completely lined with tall bookshelves all along the walls, every one of them filled with books, and there were smiling librarians hurrying about, directing patrons to this or that. She could see all their faces, and on them she saw not one bit of fear or hatred, and she knew that every one of those patrons was being directed to books filled with truth, and warmth rushed through her as she realized: We won.

  A moment later, Lenora shot through the end of the glass tunnel and onto another platform, only this time the platform began to rise through the air, and as she passed a window she could see onto the roof of a nearby building, across which ran a koala with a glittering object clutched in one paw as Rosa flew in pursuit.

  Lenora couldn’t see what happened next, for the platform continued upward. She passed another window, and now she was looking into another room, where she spotted Malachi giving some solemn instruction to Ada in her explorer’s clothes, and the girl nodding gravely before stepping into a portal just like the one her father had vanished through.

  That view disappeared as the platform continued upward. At last it stopped, and two robotic arms came out from the wall and turned Lenora gently so she was facing the opposite direction, and then more rollers sent her onto a new belt, and soon she was headed right for the door above which was written in bold black letters: LENORA.

  And then she was tumbling down a steep slide, head over heels, until she fell through a small square portal that instantly slid shut behind her. It slid shut so perfectly that where there had once been a door, you could not now tell there had been anything but a wall. She looked about and saw that she had been sorted back to exactly where a Lenora should be—behind the information desk of a wonderful library with lovely, large windows through which sunlight poured eagerly in, and beautiful cedar beams that stretched up to the high ceiling. She had just gotten to her feet and dusted herself off when she heard a woman’s sharp voice from around the corner:

  “I tell you, that girl has been gone for ten minutes now! We’re leaving!”

  And a boy’s voice replied:

  “Please, just a little longer!”

  Lenora raced around the corner toward the boy who was waiting for an answer about the world’s largest number, and soon she would tell him all about Milton Sirotta and TREE(3) and Graham’s number, and that even bigger numbers might be found by someone armed with the light of knowledge, and after that he would stagger with a smile from the library under the weight of a stack of math books Lenora had chosen for him, and as she watched him go she would smile happily, too, for on her chest over her heart was a new badge, a badge with words that were simple but summed up everything:

  LENORA

  LIBRARIAN

  And she knew, she knew …

  SHE

  WOULD

  ALWAYS

  BE

  BACK!

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  Rebel in the Library of Ever may never have become known to the world had Paige Wheeler and her team of daredevils at Creative Media Agency not rappelled into the cavern where the manuscript had been hidden and brought it forth into the light. They smuggled it to John Morgan at Imprint, whose editorial wisdom shaped it into the book you are holding today. Matt Rockefeller knocked everyone out with his visionary cover, giving us a portrait of Lenora for which Zeno will be forever grateful. Erin Stein’s editorial insights were also invaluable. Morgan Rath, Dawn Ryan, Regina Castillo, Jie Yang, and Carolyn Bull performed heroic work as well. And Zeno would have no books at all without his first reader, Miriam Angress, now and forever. The assistance of the brilliant authors of Adverb Fight Club (John Claude Bemis, Jennifer Harrod, and JJ Johnson) is grand without measure. And of course, the utmost gratitude to Lenora, who allowed Zeno to tell her story.

  Zeno may be reached via electronic post at zenoalexander@pm.me, or on Twitter @ZAlexanderBooks.

  PRAISE FOR

  THE LIBRARY OF EVER

  One of Kirkus Reviews’ Best Books of the Year

  “A fast-paced adventure set in a magical library that had me smiling all the way. The main character, eleven-year-old Lenora, is the definition of ‘plucky,’ with her endless curiosity, strong sense of right and wrong, and take-charge attitude.”

  —GEEKMOM

  “Reading The Library of Ever is like getting lost in an entire library full of books, and never wanting to leave!”

  —JAMES RILEY,

  New York Times–bestselling author of the Story Thieves series

  “Best & Brightest Chapter Books of 2019”

  —DENVER PUBLIC LIBRARY

  “Best of 2019: Children’s Books”

  —LOS ANGELES PUBLIC LIBRARY

  “The Best Books for Young Readers of 2019”

  —UPENN GRADUATE SCHOOL OF EDUCATION

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  After emerging from the shadows of the past, his history yet to be fully explained, Zeno Alexander spent years exploring the world’s libraries before settling down in his lavish underground bunker, where he regularly hosts exquisite dinner parties and tends to his collection of extinct plants. His friendship with the famous librarian Lenora has turned into a series of biographical works devoted to chronicling her adventures. You can sign up for email updates here.

  Thank you for buying this

  St. Martin’s Press ebook.

  To receive special offers, bonus content,

  and info on new releases and other great reads,

  sign up for our newsletters.

  Or visit us online at

  us.macmillan.com/newslettersignup

  For email updates on the author, click here.

  CONTENTS

  Title Page

  Copyright Notice

  Dedication

  1. Lenora Returns

  2. Lenora Learns

  3. Lenora Listens

  4. Lenora Leans In

  5. Lenora Counts

  6. Lenora in the Dark

  7. Lenora and O

  8. Lenora and the Whispering Hoards

  9. Lenora and the Numbers

  10. Lenora and the TREEs

  11. Lenora and the Director

  12. Lenora and Flight

  13. Lenora Lands

  14. Lenora in Cahokia

  15. Lenora Hunts a Thief

  16. Lenora and Ada

  17. Lenora’s Light

  18. Lenora Loses

  19. Lenora Wins

  20. Lenora Flies Again

  21. Lenora versus the Board

  22. Lenora, Fear, and Lies

  23. Lenora Leaves

  Acknowledgments

  Praise for The Library of Ever

  About the Author

  Copyright

  REBEL IN THE LIBRARY OF EVER.

  Copyright © 2020 by Zeno Alexander.

  Imprint

  A part of Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC

  120 Broadway, New York, NY 10271

  mackids.com

  All rights reserved.

  Library of Congress Control Number: 2019941110

  Our ebooks may be purchased in bulk for promotional, educational, or business use. Please contact your local bookseller or the Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department at (800) 221-7945 ext. 5442 or by email at MacmillanSpecialMarkets@macmillan.com.

  Book design by Ellen Duda

  Imprint logo designed by Amanda Spielman

  First hardcover edition, 2020

  eBook edition April 2020

  To steal this book, if you should try,

  It’s by your toes you will hang high.

  And ravens then will gather ’bout

  To find your eyes and pluck them out.

  And when you’re screaming, “No, no, no!”

  Remember, you
deserved this woe.

  eISBN: 9781250169181