"It touched me! It touched me!" One of the books cried, while most books in their own groups caved in as deep as possible in their shelves. Titus can be seen nearby, jumping from his shelf on to the floor and calling for the shelf representatives to go to him.
"Me too! Me too!" said by the book on the adjacent shelf.
"I couldn't see the person's face, did you?" A book from a distant lower shelf said.
"No, he was wearing a mask." Said by the book beside it.
"He?"
"It's just my assumption based on the footsteps."
"That was scary, what if I was the one taken?" A research journal in another bookshelf said. As they stared at Titus and the remaining shelf representatives running around and talking to each other on the floor.
"No one would be worried." Replied by another research journal on the shelf just below it.
"I'm not talking to you, okay?" The other one snapped.
A series of 'Complete' can be heard being announced in different areas of the library. Slowly, everyone started to calm down realizing that no one was taken.
"We have to tell them, let's go!" Tina said as they watched the library in a total commotion from the bottom of the front desk.
"But won't Warren, Ponty, and Cookie get into trouble? Are we even allowed to leave the library?" Momo hesitated, grabbing Tina's arm.
"They will be in a bigger trouble if we don't help them, and we can't be---"
"You three," Titus's voice dominated the room, "tell me everything you know about what just happened."
Tina, Momo, and Daye looked at each other and started to walk slowly towards Titus who was standing on the floor in between the long tables. Tina inhaled as deep as she can and began summarizing everything that has happened.
"You're not planning to go after the thief, are you?" Ponty asked. Warren was already on the rocking chair and motioned the other two to follow. "If we don't get Tere back, we can't fix Daye. Come on." He added.
Ponty and Cookie were able to reach the rocking chair after numerous times of Cookie falling flat on the floor. As they struggled to reach the windowsill, which was still an arm's length away from the seat of the rocking chair, Cookie who was determined not to fall again, thought of an idea.
"Hold on, I know I have it within me." Cookie said as she started rummaging through her pages.
"Aha!" She exclaimed, as she found a chopping board. She copied the picture as many times as possible to create a pile of chopping board beneath them, increasing their height to match with the windowsill. The problem was each time they try to jump and reach the windowsill, the rocking chair moves in the same rhythm, making them fall over again and again.
Titus made a deep sigh after hearing Tina's report. There are so many things running through his mind, but the prompt retrieval of the stolen book takes the top priority. 'We need the original to fix the altered book before Mr. Basil and the two girls see each other again on Monday.' He thought to himself. Then, he remembered something.
"Hold on, where are the rest of you?" He asked.
"They went to chase the culprit." Tina replied.
"What?!"
Titus, in complete disbelief, ran towards Mr. Basil's room with the rest of the books following behind him. As they entered the room, they heard a noise and saw Warren, Ponty, and Cookie on the floor buried with a pile of chopping boards. Titus stared at them for a moment, looked at the swinging rocking chair, then looked at the window, and made a deep sigh again.
"So, this is your plan?"
Nobody answered. Either the books didn't hear him, or their response was muffled from being buried underneath the pile of chopping boards. Titus continued, "Idiots, if you're going to chase someone, you need someone with speed." All books inside Mr. Basil's room frowned and turned to Titus.
"Mohan." Titus called one of the representatives. "Get someone with a bird on their pages." Small gasps were uttered, as everyone was starting to get an idea as to what Titus is planning. However, they still can't believe Titus would go for something very risky.
"Wait," Titus added, and the murmurs around immediately stopped.
"Bring someone with a telescope, or binoculars too."
Meanwhile, Ogie was impatiently standing still on his shelf completely following the orders given earlier but feeling bummed out because he is missing all of the action happening in the library. It's been such a long time since something interesting has happened here after all. He stared with disappointed eyes, at the books in the adjacent shelf who were slowly falling asleep. 'How can they be asleep as such time like this?' He thought to himself.
"Hey Carol," Ogie started, "what do you say we go to Mr. Basil's room and check out what's going on? Aren't you curious?" Ogie invited.
"That sounds fun! What about you Bio?" Carol asked.
"I want to sleep, leave me be." Bio replied.
"Oh, come on, a little bit of adventure won't hurt your pages." Carol teased.
"Look, I—"
Before Bio could make another argument, Ogie has already grabbed his arm as he jumped from their shelf. He was so shocked he didn't even manage to scream. They landed terribly on the floor and got hit by Carol who jumped soon after.
"Hurry, before a rep finds us." Carol said with her eyes beaming with excitement. Unknown to them, two books were listening to their plan and jumped few minutes after they left.
Carol, Ogie, and Bio started running from shelf to shelf and received some disapproving looks and mischievous smiles here and there from their neighbours.
"I'm so excited!" Carol said when they finally reached the front desk. Just as they were about to continue, the door to Mr. Basil's room swung open and they hid in panic. Two reps came out and were discussing some things to each other. The first one was an old edition almanac, and the other one was a Spanish-English dictionary.
"Why do they need to look for a bird and what? A telescope?" Bio said in confusion as they stared at the reps slowly disappearing in the forest of books. Carol tugged both of Bio and Ogie's arms and Ogie jumped from surprise. Carol's eyes are now as sparkling as the night sky when it is not decorated with clouds.
"Let's go, we have to find those books ourselves!" She said.
"What?" Bio asked.
"If we can find those books, there's a higher chance they'll let us join the party." Carol explained.
Ogie nearly jumped again after remembering one of their neighbours and said, "The history book! You know the one with a moustached guy on its cover with a binocular?"
"That's great! Let's go talk to him" Carol said.
Unlike Carol, Ogie, and Bio who got lucky in their expedition, two books by the name of Getty and Ced, are now holding their hands tight with their eyes glued on their foot. In front of them is a rep, a big heavy book with a humpback whale on its cover. They got caught as they were about to make a last turn to reach the table just before the front desk.
"I'm going to ask you again, what are you doing here?" the rep asked, while slowly playing with the tail of the whale. Getty, as nervous as he was, still can't help but wonder how an ocean creature's tail feels like to touch. Does it still feel like a paper, or is it a special case?
Before Getty could process his thoughts, he heard himself asking, 'Can I pet it too?' And he and Ced froze in fear.
"Huh?!" The rep growled.
Ced glared at Getty for choosing to be stupid at this time of the year.
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry sir. I'm thinking out loud, I'm terribly sorry." Getty begged.
The rep stared at him, his stare piercing through Getty's nearly collapsing consciousness.
"Of course you can!" The rep exclaimed with a huge grin. "He is a really good boy." The rep bragged. Getty and Ced almost dropped to the floor. Thank goodness this rep is friendlier than most, Ced thought to himself.
"Go on." The rep encouraged them.
Getty and Ced, slowly stepped forward, a bit hesitant for what they are about to do, when another rep showed up and started speaking.
"Hey, Jimbo." The rep with a sharp voice began. "Do you have any books in your group with a bird on their pages?"
"A bird?" Jimbo repeated. "What for?" He asked while petting the whale again.
"Just try to remember and tell me at once. I'll check the 2nd section." The other replied and left.
"Bird, bird, bird, bird." The rep named Jimbo repeated. "If I remember correctly, there should be someone from the top row." He said to himself.
"Hey, you two, follow me." He ordered and started walking back. Getty and Ced looked at each other, unsure if they are still in trouble or if they have been spared.
Inside Mr. Basil's room, ten books huddled together as Titus gave instructions. He has devised a plan on how to find Tere. Ponty was digging his nails unto himself the whole time, biting his lips, and rubbing his palms. Warren had his eyes and ears glued unto Titus. Nodding, frowning, and raising his hands from time to time. Two shelf representatives were stoic the whole time, while the third one had her eyes closed most of the time. Cookie and Momo stayed close to each other. Cookie holding on to Momo, she got so tired from producing all those chopping boards earlier, not to mention she had to clean them up too. Tina kept on starring at the windowsill, while Daye kept on looking at the clock.
"Err--Excuse me."
All books turned around and saw four books standing by the door.
"Sorry for the intrusion, I'm—I'm Ogie, we heard the reps saying you need someone who has a binocular or telescope." Ogie started, looking at Carol each time he pauses. Carol motioning him to keep going.
"This is Nap." He added, as he pushed their neighbour, an old history book, forward. The book looked much more disinterested about being there than Bio.
"He has it, there, you, see?" Carol pointed at the man on Nap's cover with a binocular on his neck. The man swatted Carol's finger in solidarity with Nap.
The four books' introduction was cut short due to the arrival of five more books. Everyone started to huddle together as it started to feel cramped inside the room. Cookie and the rest were equally surprised and confused to see Getty and Ced in the scene. Getty started waving at all of them, but Ced silently pulled Getty's arm and whispered, "Stop embarrassing us."
"We found a book with a bird, just as you requested." Mohan, the Spanish-English Dictionary announced. Jimbo stared at him, with some annoyance. 'I found him. You didn't do anything.' Jimbo thought to himself.
"This is Randy." Jimbo said, pointing at the book beside him with an albatross on his cover.
"And who are these two?" Titus asked, looking at Getty and Ced.
"We, we'd like to help in the search Mr. Titus. I'm Getty, and this is Ced." Getty said.
"No, we have enough trouble sending books in the entire village." Titus declined.
"But Sir, if we're going to do something like this, might as well go all out right? The more people look for the stolen book, the higher our chances of finding her." Ced insisted.
Titus looked at him, and Ced immediately hid behind Getty.
Titus stayed quiet for a while, and everyone waited for him to speak again.
"Well then, everyone listen carefully." Titus started.
About half an hour later, five albatross birds are standing outside of the library, at the back. The birds looked a bit weird since Randy had to enlarge them in order for them to carry the weight of its passengers. Books of different sizes and colors scrambled to climb on to them, each with a binocular tied on their left hands, except for the left-handed Ced who got it on his right hand.
Momo copied his staff and used it to wrap around the neck of the birds. Everyone will be holding on to the lines once they start to fly. The first bird got Warren and Nap. The second bird got, Ponty, Carol, and Getty. The third bird got Ced, Momo, and Cookie. The fourth bird got Tina and Daye, and the last bird got Bio and Randy.
Each of them was also hiding inside a rectangular box produced by Getty, to which he took so much pride in. They punched a hole for their eyes to see, and for their arms and feet to move around. It was Ced who suggested it, saying that in case they will get discovered, at least it would look like they are being taken as a gift or just a checked-out item from the library.
"You sure you have enough energy to keep this thing up?" Bio asked his teammate staring at the seemingly deformed bird.
"Well, I haven't done any of this before. I guess, we'll find it out later." Randy replied to Bio's horror. The skeleton in Bio's cover couldn't hide its fear as well as him.
"Well then, good luck." Titus said from the windowsill. He and the other reps decided it is best not to go out of the library, since they will have a difficult time coming back inside without getting any help.
"Everyone, all set?" Warren asked.
Few weak 'Yes's were uttered, but most didn't bother to reply.
"Let's go!" Warren ordered.
Randy whistled and immediately all five birds took off. Varied screams decorated the air immediately. Everyone holding on to the strings provided by Momo. They have never felt the gravity as much as they did at that moment. The paper birds had to fly high to avoid being seen.
"AAHH! I can't do this! I can't do this! We're gonna die!!!" Ponty screamed.
"Calm down, we might lose our balance!" Carol said, as they struggled on their bird.
"I think I'm gonna pass out" Momo said to his teammates.
"Me too." Ced admitted.,
"You guys, stay with me. Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale." Cookie said to them and to herself. Her hands shaking as her hands gripped the black strings tightly.
The riders of the fourth and fifth birds were in a much better situation. Tina was enjoying the whole thing, feeling the cold wind on her face, letting of the string for a brief one or two seconds every now and then. Daye who had a sullen expression the entire night was smiling for the first time. She uses her binoculars from time to time to look at the town below. Not to look for a thief, but to be amazed by the beauty of the town highlighted by the full moon.
Randy and Bio never felt this free before. They didn't struggle holding the bird through the strings either. Randy being the primary owner of the bird can give out more detailed instructions to it. Few seconds later, they started gliding from left to right, up and down, enjoying the twist and turns all the way through. They received a disapproval yell from Warren from the first bird, but they didn't bother.
The first team was doing well in the air. Except for the fact that Warren, deep inside, was trembling with fear.
"You alright? Your hands are shaking." Nap asked Warren.
"I'm not good with heights." Warren admitted.
"Wow and you still joined in this trip? That's very brave of you."
"No, I'm not. I'm a coward."
"What do you mean?" Nap asked.
Before Warren could reply, their exclusive party on air was cut short as raindrops started to pour in. They didn't notice it as first, but as the drawing of their boxes and parts of the birds started to disappear, they began to understand what was happening.
"It's raining!" Bio yelled.
Everyone started to panic, unsure of what to do. This wasn't part of Titus' plan. "Hey, make them speed up!" Bio told Randy.
"Okay, but they won't last long." Randy replied.
The birds started to speed up. However, as their drawings started to vanish, including their wings and feathers, each bird started to fly in different directions.
"What's going on?" Can be heard from all around.
"Sorry, I can't control them that well anymore. The drawings have holes." Randy yelled.
Their merry party immediately turned into chaos, five half drawn disappearing birds are flying to who knows where and their box covers are being washed away by the rain as well.
"This is bad, we will get soaked with the rain if this continues." Getty said.
"Soaked? Don't you mean die?" Ponty corrected. "I knew it! We're all gonna die here. I should have stayed at the library." He regretted.
But Getty's concern was immediately replaced with a high pitch scream. The five birds finally vanished, and a dozen of books started to fall from the sky.
Team One, fell towards an unassuming road. Warren and Nap tried to stand up as soon as possible to take shelter from the rain. They ran towards a tree and started to look for a better place to hide. The grass was as tall as them, which made them anxious as it made their book covers even more wet.
Team Two fell towards an open carriage with a family of three riding it. The carriage was speeding up since it was also trying to get away from the rain.
"What was that?" The wife asked as they heard a loud noise.
"Relax, it's just the carriage hitting some rocks" The husband replied. Their child turned around to peek at the back and found what looks like a bunch of books. He frowned and wondered.
Team Three fell into a dark place. They're not certain where they are, but the good, sweet scent somehow put Ced, Momo, and Cookie at ease.
"Let's go, we'll die at this rate. I can already feel my pages being wet." Ced said. They hurriedly ran without any place in mind until they saw some lights ahead.
"Let's go there!" Momo said, pointing at it.
"Those lights are the biggest telling signs that there are humans in there." Cookie said.
"Doesn't matter, do you want to die from the rain?" Ced rebutted.
The three of them ran as fast as their tiny footsteps could, hoping no one would see them.
Team Four fell into a roof, and as they were sliding down the slope, they tried their best to stand up to avoid their cover from absorbing more rainwater. But their actions were futile. They were both very wet by the time they hid the ground.
"Stand up." Tina said to Daye.
"Hurry up. We need to dry ourselves." She added. Daye, with the little energy she has left, tried to stand. They slowly walked toward the waiting shed.
"Open yourself and try to separate your pages as much as you can." Tina said with a weak voice, to which Daye followed suit.
'I want to see Kim again, I don't want to die yet.' Daye thought to herself.
Wherever Team Five landed, they were sure it can't be a good one, because all they could smell is grass and feces.
"Urgh, where the hell are we?" Bio asked. His question was immediately answered as they heard a loud 'Moo' few meters away from them.
"Are we? Is this? Isn't this the dairy farm?!" Randy said. Bio is now regretting allowing himself to be dragged along by Carol and Ogie's hunger for adventure earlier.
"We are so screwed." Bio said.