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

hand, Locke sprinted the length of the branch and sprung into the air.
       Taylor covered her mouth with a single hand. Her jaw hung slack. “Oh my god!”
       “AKKKHHHHHAAAAAA!”
       Locke’s battle cry was loud and proud and likely carried beyond the meadow and into the far reaches of Oz. His hair whipped in the air as he sailed head first toward the ground, the vine spiraling behind him like a corkscrew in his wake.
       Wesley stood in awe, but Taylor watched in horror, sure Locke was seconds away from certain death. But the vine pulled taught and the change in momentum snapped Locke’s small body around, swinging his legs to the front so that he was no longer falling face first toward the ground. His legs thrashed wildly as the vine pulled him from his death spiral and allowed for a shallow landing. He crashed to earth, summersaulting through the grass before coming to rest, his arms and legs all pointing in seemingly impossible directions.
       Taylor hurried over, but Locke was already getting to his feet and dusting himself off.
       “Are you crazy?!” Taylor screamed, her anger mingled with excitement. “Why’d you do that?!”
       “Because I can .”
       “That was the coolest thing I’ve ever seen!” she exclaimed. Wesley noticed pink rushing into Taylor’s cheeks and felt like calling Locke a show-off but bit his tongue.
       Taylor started walking, motioning for the boys to follow. “Now, c’mon. Let’s get out of here before that thing starts throwing apples at us.”
       Locke looked over his shoulder at the tree. He was trying to understand what Taylor meant as he started after her: Do trees throw apples in the real world?
       Wesley watched them leave. Being with Taylor was often the only time Wesley didn’t feel like disappearing, but he sometimes found himself fading into the background like this because she had so many friends. It rarely lasted, though. She was Wesley’s best friend and never forgot to include him. And yet, for some reason, he worried she might today.
       “Good job, Wes.”
       Wesley turned. The face in the tree’s trunk reappeared near its massive base. It didn’t seem nearly as horrifying as it had before, and Wesley began to suspect it had scared him on purpose to help him conquer his fear.
       “Thanks!” With that, Wesley took off and the strange being disappeared into the tree’s trunk again.
       Wesley caught up to Locke who was already trailing a good distance behind Taylor.
       “Hey, man.”
       “Hey,” Locke echoed.
       “You think those guys from the library will find us?”
       “I doubt it,” Locke started. “But I hope they’re waiting. We won’t be surprised this time. We’ll be ready.”
       “I bet you fight guys like that all the time in Neverland, huh?”
       “Every day.”
       Wesley took a spot beside Locke so they could talk as they walked. He had something else to say but was taking his time as he tried to find the words.
       “I’m sorry for what happened in the library,” he finally said. “When we met. It’s just... it happened so fast. I didn’t have time to think.”
       “You were protecting your girl,” Locke said. “It’s forgotten. I should say sorry to you.”
       “She’s not my girl.” Wesley cringed at his own words then quickly changed the subject. “So, I don’t get it. If Neverland’s half this cool, why would you ever waste time in a dead-end place like Astoria?”
       “What do you mean?”
       “I moved to Astoria last year, and I read books just so I can get away from that place. You get fairies and Indian chiefs, pirates. I get... gym class.” Wesley pointed to the tree they climbed. It was just about to disappear beneath the horizon. “That? I could never do something like that where I come from.”
       “You don’t have trees in Astoria?”
       “No. No, man. You don’t understand. It’s not about trees. It’s my life.”