Free Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library by Chris Grabenstein

trample.
    Whistling casually, Charles strolled back to the lobby.
    “What’s Chiltington doing out in the entrance hall?” said Akimi. “They told us the way out isn’t the way in.”
    Before Kyle could answer, Andrew Peckleman started shouting at Miguel, who had wandered over to Peckleman’s table.
    “Get away! You’re trying to steal my idea!”
    “No, man,” said Miguel. “I just happened to see your screen and I don’t think that particular periodical—”
    “You know what, Miguel? I don’t really care what you think! This isn’t school. This is the
public
library and you’re not the boss in here, so just leave me alone!”
    Miguel tossed up his hands. “No problem, bro. I was just trying to help.”
    “Ha! You mean help me lose.” Andrew stormed up the closest spiral staircase to the second floor and the Dewey decimal rooms. Miguel, looking sort of sad, headed up a separate spiral staircase. Bridgette Wadge trailed after them.
    “Want to follow those guys like Bridgette did?” whispered Akimi. “I’ll take Peckleman, you take Miguel.”
    “No thanks,” said Kyle, looking up at the domed ceiling. “I’m much more interested in the windows up there.”
    Three stories above the rotunda floor, just below the Wonder Dome, there was a series of ten arched windows set between the recessed statue nooks. The windows acted like skylights at the base of the dome, allowing sunshine to flood into the room below.
    “Do you think those windows open?” asked Akimi.
    “Maybe. Maybe not. But I’ve never let a closed or locked window stand between me and winning a game. Just ask my dad.”
    “What?”
    “Never mind. Come on.” Kyle trotted over to the cushy chair where Sierra Russell was peacefully reading her book.
    “Um, excuse me, hate to interrupt …”
    Sierra raised her head. She had a very dreamy look in her eyes.
    “I need a book.”
    “Really?” said Sierra. “What kind?”
    “Like the one you found. Up there.” He gestured to the curving bookcases climbing up the back half of the rotunda.
    “Fiction,” said Sierra.
    “Right,” said Kyle. “Love me some fiction.”
    “Well, what sort of story do you like?”
    “Something way up high,” said Kyle. “The higher the better.”
    “Really?”
    “Yep.”
    “Well, that’s an interesting way to put together a reading list, basing it on bookcase elevation.…”
    “I’d like something on the top shelf. Maybe right under the hologram statue of that guy hanging out with the Cat in the Hat.”
    “That’s Dr. Seuss,” said Sierra. “He wrote
The Cat in the Hat
.”
    “Sweet,” said Kyle. “But I just like how close he is to that window.”

“Oh, Mrs. Tobin?” Akimi called out. “I need to use my Librarian Consultation.”
    “You sure about this?” said Kyle.
    “That’s the beauty of being a team. After we burn through mine, we’ll still have yours.”
    The hologram librarian appeared and advised Akimi that
Huckleberry Finn
by Mark Twain was the book located right underneath the holographic image of Dr. Seuss and the Cat in the Hat.
    After Mrs. Tobin vanished, Kyle and Akimi used their desktop computer to find the call number for
Huckleberry Finn
. Kyle grabbed a pen and scribbled it down on his palm.
    “Are you going to do what I think you’re going to do?” said Akimi.
    “Yep. I’m going to float up there, hoist myself into that nook where the hologram is, reach over to the window,push it open, and stick out my hand. Technically, I will have found my way
out
of the library. Nothing in the rules said anything about how
far
outside we had to go to win.”
    “You could fall.”
    “I don’t think so. I’m wiry, like a monkey.”
    “Seriously, Kyle. It isn’t worth it.”
    “Um, yes it is. Did I mention I want to
win
?”
    “You should improvise a safety harness,” suggested Sierra Russell.
    “Huh?”
    “Well, in this adventure book I read once, the hero was in a very similar predicament. So he removed the