Free The Librarian (Book One: Little Boy Lost) by Eric Hobbs Page A

one of the aisles and seemed shaken by the tone his father’s voice had taken. “Did that Wesley kid come running through down there?”
       “I didn’t see him,” Randy said. “Why?”
       “The little ingrate... he... he stole my wallet.”
       “Wesley Bates? Really? Why’d he do that?”
       “Does it matter?!”
       Randy flinched, every muscle tightening like old rubber bands stretched to their limit and ready to snap. “N-no, sir.”
       “Yell if you see him.” Douglas turned away from the railing. “I don’t want him or his friends getting out that door.”
       “O-okay.”
       The hooded man had stopped a few feet short of the railing, making sure to go unseen.
       “Find them,” Douglas said in a voice that better fit their surroundings. “We get those kids, and the old man will come looking for us. I promise.”
       The dark figure started back down the corridor, his cloak whipping in the air behind him. Douglas returned to the railing and looked down on his son once more. Randy had already taken a seat on the floor near the lobby. He’d be there if Wesley and Taylor tried to escape.
       And he’d stop them. He’d stop them for his dad.
       He was such a good boy.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

    LOCKE AND TAYLOR stood near the forest tree line, both with their eyes fixed on Wesley in one of the trees above them. He was standing nervously on a large branch about fifteen feet over their heads and was gripping a thick vine that was clinging to one of the boughs overhead.
       “Either do it or climb down,” Taylor hollered. “We’re wasting time!” Wesley put his foot into the air, ready to step off the limb only to immediately grab hold of the tree’s massive trunk. He couldn’t help himself, like that time he kicked Dr. Travis when she hit him on the knee with her tiny hammer. Stopping himself was just a reflex reaction.
       “C’mon, Wes!”   There was so much to explore, Taylor didn’t want to spend her time watching Wesley chicken out.
       “Yes,” a grumpy voice said from behind Wesley. “Come, Wes.” Wesley turned just in time to see the trunk’s bark pull away from the tree to reveal two eyes hiding in the tree’s flesh beneath. Eyes in the tree. They looked human. A mouth with sharp teeth and wooden lips had already appeared beneath the eyes. It was filled with wet muck that came alive with the worms crawling through it. “Do it!” the mouth snarled, its lips grinding against tree bark as they moved. “Get out of my branches!”
       Wesley tightened his grip, wrapping one leg around the vine before closing his eyes and stepping off the branch. He slid down the vine, falling fast and out-of-control until he could wrap his other leg around the vine to stabilize his descent. His feet hit the ground, and while his knees nearly gave out on him, he landed clean.
       “Nice!” Taylor said, clapping and laughing.
       “Yeah! Piece-o-cake!” Wesley looked around for Locke’s approval. “Where’d he go?”
       “I... I don’t know.” She began to search. “Crazy little dude was right here two seconds ago.” Wesley looked with her, shifting his gaze upward when a handful of leaves floated down on him from above.
       “Hey!” Wesley yelled. Locke was scaling the tree with one of the tree’s vines held firmly between his teeth. He was moving quickly too, hand-over-hand, already well above the limb where Wesley had stopped. “He needs to get down.”
       “Why?” Taylor asked. “Worried he’s gonna show you up?”
       “We’re in Oz, Taylor. The tree just talked to me.”
       “What?!”
       The tree... talked! To! Me!”
       Taylor looked up at Locke just as he reached the tree’s peak. He was so high he looked like a tiny squirrel perched on a branch to appreciate the view.  
       He stepped onto the bough, both arms out for balance. Once steadied, a mischievous grin crept onto his face. Then, all at once, vine in