Cheyenne waved at the stacks. “You would destroy thousands of priceless antique books and papers just to get your hands on that map?”
“Is that so wrong?”
“Cool,” Cheyenne said. “I’m in.”
Atticus peeled back the last of the endpaper. A parcel was folded flat and wrapped in paper. A piece of notepaper sat on top.
“It matches the paper from Jane’s notebook,” Amy murmured.
Atticus read it aloud in a nervous voice.
“There’s that G again,” Amy murmured. “Grace?”
“No,” Atticus whispered. “Guardian.” He seemed to be in a daze, staring down at Jane’s note.
Before Amy could ask him what he meant, Dan broke in impatiently.
“C’mon. Let’s see what the parcel is.”
“Right.” Atticus unfolded the parcel and spread it on the desk. Amy recognized it immediately.
“It’s the de Virga!” she exclaimed. “Thank you, Jane!”
“It’s amazing,” Atticus breathed.
It just looked like an old map to Dan, but he leaned over to study it. “What’s that?” he asked, pointing to a spot.
“That’s the compass rose,” Atticus murmured. “Shows the direction of the compass. It’s right over Central Asia. The detail on this thing is amazing. Look at the coast of Africa!”
A light began blinking red over their heads. Amy looked up just as the siren went off. “Great. What a time for a fire drill.”
“We’ve got to conceal the map somehow,” Dan said.
“Wait a second,” Atticus said. “You guys are going to steal it?”
“We have to,” Amy told him.
“But Jake said – ”
“Never mind Jake. Dan, can you get it under your sweatshirt?”
“Under his sweatshirt? Are you crazy?” Atticus cringed as Dan folded the parchment.
“Believe me, A, we’ve got a good reason,” Dan told him.
“Atticus, can you go find Jake?” Amy asked. “We’re right behind you. Whatever you do, keep Mavel away from here. And, um, there’s no need to tell Jake that we stole the map. Yet.”
Amy crossed to the window in the door. Library patrons packed up and were leaving in an orderly fashion. Suddenly, she spotted two tall blond young people. Casper and Cheyenne stood in a corner, watching. What were they doing here? Her pulse hammered out a frantic beat.
“Atticus, I need you to go now,” Amy said, making sure her voice was level. “We’ll explain everything outside. Tell Jake … tell him he has to trust me.” Not that he would. But Amy couldn’t put Atticus in danger.
Amy took a firm hold of Atticus’s arm. She opened the door and gently shoved him out, then closed it.
To her shock, she heard the lock click. The automatic lock had engaged.
Atticus pulled frantically on the door. Amy tried to open it from her side. It wouldn’t budge.
The halon gas!
She whipped her head around to spy the fire panel.
HALON GAS ACTIVATED!
OXYGEN LEVEL 20%
This was no drill. This was really happening.
As she watched, the indicator beeped.
OXYGEN LEVEL 19%
Atticus took off at a run.
“Dan?” Amy’s voice shook. “We have a problem.”
“We sure do,” Dan said, adjusting his shirt. “This parchment is really itchy.”
OXYGEN LEVEL 18%
“I just saw Casper and Cheyenne outside. This isn’t a drill! The halon gas suppression system has been activated! And the door is locked!”
Dan looked at the oxygen level, then made a run at the door. He pulled at it. Just then Casper Wyoming’s face appeared at the glass panel. He waved and mouthed “Bye-bye.”
Then he kept on walking.
“Atticus saw what happened,” Amy said, her voice trembling. “He’ll do something… . He’ll get Jake!”
“With Casper and Cheyenne around? Don’t count on it. We have to do something.”
OXYGEN LEVEL 16%
Amy felt her pulse race. Was it the dropping oxygen level, or her own fear rising?
Dan began kicking at the door. Amy pounded on the glass.
There was nobody to hear. The building had been completely evacuated. Smoke was now billowing out of the stacks at the opposite end of the wide room. Amy saw orange licks of fire.