The Palace Library (2 page)

Since
Grace had missed her chocolate pudding the day before, she said, “Oh yes
please.”  Suddenly the man and The Library did not seem so scary at all.

“Come
on then.  The cookery section is around the next corner.”

“Do
we need a recipe to bake it?”

“Not
exactly, Grace,” said the old man.  “This is a library after all, not a
kitchen, but everything is in the books.”

Grace
wondered how he knew her name, but found that grown-ups often knew her name
without asking.

They
walked around the corner to a shelf of books that were very nearly as tall as
Grace.  “Here we are,” said the old man.  “
Best Baking
. 
I’ll need your help, please.”  The book was rather large - over four feet
high and two feet wide, and they struggled to place it on the table. 
“Page 36 if I remember rightly, but it’s a long time since I’ve had this
cake.  I don’t get much company anymore.”

He
opened the book and there was a huge picture of a fantastic looking cake with
gorgeous icing.  It was covered in chocolate buttons.  The
extraordinary thing was that as Grace looked at the picture, it stopped being a
picture and turned slowly into a real cake.  “I think this one must be a
quick-bake recipe,” said the old man with a chuckle.  “Let’s tuck in.”

As
they ate the cake, the man asked Grace about her friends and said she ought to
bring them back to tea another day.  She finally plucked up the courage to
ask him his name.  “Most people just call me the Librarian, but perhaps
you could call me Edgar.  They used to call me Edgar once and I rather
liked it.”

“Is
that Mr Edgar then?” Grace asked politely.  “I am always being told I
should call grown-ups Mr or Mrs something.” 

“No,”
said the old man.  “Just Edgar.  I’d prefer it that way.  Now
run along or you’ll be late for your proper tea.”

Just
as Grace got to the ninth step on the ladder, Edgar called to her. 
“Borrow this book.  You might enjoy it.  Be sure to bring your
friends back and tell me whether you liked it.”

“Thank
you,” said Grace.  She looked at the cover and saw it said
The Owl and
the Pussy Cat
.  “It’s one of my favourites.”

“Ah
yes, but the pictures in this one are particularly good,” said Edgar with a
twinkle in his eye.  “Just mind you keep it closed at night.  It does
have a tendency to leak.  Goodbye.”

Grace
had never heard of a book leaking before.

Grace was sent to bed early by
Horrible Hair Bun.  Try as she might, Grace was unable to eat her tea
after all the delicious chocolate cake in The Palace Library.  Even now,
no one believed her about her discovery of the magical library.  So when
Horrible Hair Bun frogmarched her to the bedroom and turned the key in the
door, she settled into bed, somewhat sad and lonely.   Being an
orphan Grace was rather too used to being sad and lonely.  She wished she
could remember her parents better.  At least she was excited about reading
the book that Edgar the Librarian had lent her.  She fell asleep with it,
and it lay open on the bed beside her all night.

The next morning, the shimmer of
light breaking through badly drawn curtains woke Eleanor.  “At last,” she
said to herself, seeing the bright sunlight, “we can go and play outside and
explore the gardens.”  She knew it was very early, but she wanted to find
Grace and tell her the good news.  She had missed Grace the night before
and felt guilty about not being kinder to her.  The bad weather really had
made them all grumpy. 

The
floorboards in the old house squeaked.  Along the corridor towards Grace’s
room, Eleanor crept and nervously stretched her toes to remembered places on
the floor in a well-practised routine.  A week in the old house ensured
the journey was silent so that she did not wake up any adults.  She
quietly turned the key in the lock outside Grace’s room.  Horrible Hair
Bun had left the key in the door.  She jumped on Grace’s bed and said,
“Wake up!  Wake up! It’s sunny at last.  Let’s go outside and play.”

Grace
was pretty sleepy, but she soon woke up.  Soon enough to hear Eleanor’s
next words properly: “Yuck, Grace.  You’ve wet your bed.”

Grace
was cross at that.  She never wet her bed.  But she had an answer:
“Don’t be silly, Eleanor.  The book has leaked.  I was reading it and
left it open when I fell asleep.”

Eleanor
was nearly a year and a half older than Grace and reckoned herself to be
considerably wiser, so she was able to say with a certain authority that,
“Books most certainly don’t leak, Grace.  You’re the one being silly.”

Grace
wasn’t going to let her get away with that, so she held the book up above the
blankets  “This one leaks.  The Librarian told me it might, but I
don’t know what to do about all the water.”

Eleanor
looked in astonishment at the page of the book that Grace was holding up. 
She could read the words, “The Owl and the Pussy Cat went to sea in a beautiful
pea green boat,” but what amazed her was the way the pictures moved, not like a
television programme or like a cartoon, but in a way that made you think you
were really at sea with the Owl and the Pussy Cat.  Then she realised what
Grace meant.  The pages were dripping water on the bed.  The girls
looked at each other and giggled.

Then
Eleanor looked seriously at Grace.  In a very nice, civilised and grown up
way, she said, “I’m sorry I didn’t believe you about The Palace Library,
Grace.  I should have known you wouldn’t lie.”  Then the girls
giggled again and Eleanor jumped under the covers with Grace. They read the
whole of Edward Lear’s famous poem with all the pictures again, even though the
bed sheets were a bit damp.

When
they had finished, Eleanor said to Grace, “What on earth are we are going to
say to Horrible Hair Bun about the sheets?  She’s so strict and she’ll
never believe us about the book leaking.  I don’t want you to be in any
more trouble.”

They
were worried and sat up to think about it, closing the pale yellow cover of the
book as they did so.  With the cover shut, the book began to draw all the
water out of the sheets.  It was like someone sucking up a drink with a
straw and using blotting paper all at the same time.  Moments later, the
sheets were completely dry.  The girls looked at each other in awe and
then giggled again.

Grace
thought for a moment:  “Shall we go and give the book back to the
Librarian and tell him what fun it was?  Maybe he’ll lend us another one
if we show him we can look after it?”

Then
Eleanor added, “Shall we ask Harry to come too?”

The girls decided that if they
tried to get dressed, they would make too much noise.  They also thought
that if they went to wake Harry, they would make even more noise and anyway,
Grace still thought he would be mean to her.  So they put on their
dressing gowns and crept along the corridors avoiding as many of the squeaking
floorboards as they could. 

Grace
stopped suddenly and put her hand on Eleanor’s shoulder.

“What
is it?” Eleanor whispered.

“I
think we should get Harry after all,” Grace replied.

“Are
you sure?” replied Eleanor, but she smiled thinking it was the right decision.

“Yes. 
If he doesn’t believe me then that’s too bad, but it would be a pity not to
tell him where we’re going.”

When
they turned to go back the way they had come, they were less cautious about the
floorboards and several squeaked.  They seemed extra loud passing Horrible
Hair Bun’s room, but they stood still and listened carefully holding their
breath.  Nothing.  So they turned the corner to Harry’s room.

Harry’s
door was wide open with the lights blazing.  It was a mess.  It was
as if Harry had dressed very quickly and left everything else on the
floor.  Now if it had been at home, Eleanor would not have been
surprised.  Her brother’s room was a mess all the time there, but here at
Great Uncle Jasper’s house, it was different.  Horrible Hair Bun was so
strict that they kept all their rooms pristine.

The
girls walked into the room and looked around.

“Where
is he?” asked Eleanor.  “Where’s he gone?”

The
deep voice that replied made them jump and they turned round to face Great
Uncle Jasper and both felt slightly sheepish.  Horrible Hair Bun stood
just behind him, frowning as usual, but looking subdued and strained.

“I
had to send him out to The Palace Library,” said their Great Uncle quietly.

“Do
you want me to get them dressed?” asked the housekeeper, interrupting.

“No. 
There will be no time.  Edgar will have to see to that,” he said sharply
and without explanation.  Great Uncle Jasper turned to her.  “Perhaps
you could prepare my breakfast.  I will speak to the girls alone.” 
It was a dismissal and the girls looked on in awe, as they had never seen
Horrible Hair Bun receiving orders before.

“Come
with me girls.  We will need to talk as we go.”  It was the gentle
voice they knew again.  Great Uncle Jasper put his hands out.  They
didn’t know him that well and normally he was a distant figure, but it was a
comforting gesture and they each took one of his hands as they walked.

“I
need to send you after Harry.  I have sent him out to The Library on an
important journey.  Time is short, so he has gone ahead.  He will
need your help.”

“Why
did you say ‘out’ to The Library again?  Isn’t it in your house? 
Doesn’t Edgar work for you?” asked Grace.

“You
are very sharp to notice that, Grace; but no, The Palace Library isn’t in this
house, although it may appear so to you.  The Palace Library is so well
hidden that even the few people who know about it sometimes have trouble
finding it.  It doesn’t have any doors in the conventional sense. 
The doors into The Library are quite different to our normal understanding. 
They may not really even exist in our world at all.  The Library has a way
of summoning people to it.  People like you and Eleanor and Harry.

“I
am one of the lucky ones who know about The Library. But even I can’t always
find it.  The Library finds me.  It can reach through history to find
those who, like you, can help in a crisis.  I am one of a council called
The Witan that it reaches out to.”

“You
make it sound like a person,” said Eleanor.  She was a little out of
breath.  Great Uncle Jasper was a tall man with big strides and they were
struggling to keep up.

“Not
a person really, but something with a personality anyway.”

Suddenly,
they were there.  They stopped by the small door in the Long
Gallery.  Great Uncle Jasper squatted down to look at them at eye level
and spoke to them as equals.  “You know where to go from here,
Grace.  I sent for Harry earlier and was about to send for both of you
before I found you in Harry’s room.  There is no time to talk or to tell
you more.  Edgar will give you what you need.  Good luck.” 

With
that, he gave them each a kiss on their cheeks and strode back to the end of
the room.  Grace and Eleanor felt lonely and bereft as he left. 
There were too many unanswered questions.  With the hands that had been
holding his, they found each other’s hands and as he left the corridor, he
turned and said, “Trust each other, as friends and families should.”  Then
he smiled.  “When you see Harry, I don’t think he’ll have any doubts about
a magical library any longer.”

Both
girls hesitated before going through the door.  Grace looked at the
tapestry on the wall and said to Eleanor, “This picture has changed
again.  The dog was sleeping last time I was here, and growling the time
before that.”

“She’s
looking impatient here isn’t she?” said Eleanor.  “It’s as if she’s been
pacing up and down waiting for something or someone.”

“Maybe
she’s waiting for us,” said Grace

“She’s
a very beautiful dog,” added Eleanor, putting off the scary moment when they
would open the door.

“How
do you know the dog’s a girl?” asked Grace.

“I
just know,” replied Eleanor mysteriously.  “And stop holding my hand so
tightly.”  But Grace noticed she didn’t let go or release her own tight
grip.  They were both shivering, even though it wasn’t cold.  Then
they opened the door.

This
time The Library was dark.  It looked as if it was dusk outside and there
was a terrible storm raging.  There was a domed roof high above them with
a lantern window.  Lightning burst with rolls of thunder sounding almost
immediately.  The light threw strange shadows around the room and the
books.

The
girls were more than a little frightened, especially when they turned around
and saw the sun shining through the windows of the long corridor.  Grace
and Eleanor looked at each other and paused.  Grace took a deep breath,
let go of Eleanor’s hand and said, “Follow me.”  They climbed down the
ladder - counting all 29 steps carefully.  At the bottom of the stairs,
they found Edgar the Librarian.  He was waiting for them.