The Dragon in the Library Read online

  With her heart thumping, she picked it up. She could feel the power pulsing from it, the way the books in the stacks did. This was a powerful book. Dangerous.

  It was perfect.

  What if I make Salt forget all about the library? thought Kit. If I save the day?

  She decided to ignore the little inner voice reminding her that Faith had said that mind magic was one of the most dangerous kinds.

  And another little voice that pointed out that the last time she’d tried to do a spell on her own, she’d ended up being chased by a house on giant chicken legs.

  Faith had said that anyone reading from a really powerful spell book could do magic. So surely a wizard doing it – the youngest wizard ever! – was bound to be even more powerful. It wouldn’t be like with Baba Yaga’s house. She wouldn’t have any trouble remembering the spell – she’d just read it straight from the book.

  And by the time she’d convinced herself she was doing the right thing, Kit had left the library and was walking down the street towards Salt’s shiny office building, and the penthouse office at the very top.

  Kit knew that breaking and entering was wrong. She knew stealing Faith’s book was wrong. But, she told herself, so was destroying the library. So doing this one little thing wrong was worth it to stop Salt.

  Getting into Salt headquarters was easy enough. It was just an ordinary office building. There was a guard on the front desk, but he was watching football on a little screen behind his desk. She slipped past and down the corridor towards the lift.

  She pressed the button for the top floor. When the lift went “ding” at the top, she hurried out into the corridor and looked on all the doors for a sign saying which office was his.

  In her bag was the book containing the spell. She just had to say it when he was in the room and he’d forget everything about the library. And they’d all be safe.

  At the end of the hall there was a door with a plaque that read “MR SALT, CEO, MANAGING DIRECTOR, YOUR BOSS”. She put her ear to the door and, hearing no one inside, she carefully turned the handle. It was locked.

  Oh no! Kit thought. She glanced around and noticed there was a key pad next to the door. There must be a code…

  She tried typing in 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, which was the password her dad used for everything.

  The door didn’t budge, and made an angry beep at her.

  Think, Kit, think. What would Salt use as a password? He’s old, so he probably doesn’t have a good one.

  Wait. What did he say at the protest? It’s his birthday today. And what does Mum always use as HER password?

  Kit keyed in the date … but what would the year be? What year was Salt born?

  It’s his fiftieth birthday so … hmm … what year was it fifty years ago? That’s it!

  She put in the final numbers. A little green light flashed, and there was a click.

  The door was open.

  Kit crept in, feeling very pleased with herself. The office was huge. There was a massive gold-framed portrait of Salt on one wall. On the opposite wall there was another massive gold-framed portrait of Salt. On the other two walls were even larger gold-framed portraits of Salt. One of them showed him standing on what looked like a dead lion, holding a gun and grinning his white-toothed grin. Another showed him bare-chested, riding a horse. The other two showed him wrestling a bear, and, finally, dressed as a king, sitting on a throne.

  He’s modest, isn’t he?

  Kit glanced around for somewhere to hide and spotted a door. It led to a toilet – all gold and sparkling tiles, and even more pictures of Salt – this time they were framed photos of him with various celebrities. Kit wondered if all these celebrities knew they were watching Mr Salt when he went for a wee.

  As she waited, she read over the spell in her head. She was careful not to say any of the words out loud, in case she started the spell, but she wanted to make sure she didn’t stumble when she read it out loud. She didn’t want to risk it going wrong and making herself forget what she was doing there.

  After half an hour of waiting, Kit was starting to get very, very bored, when finally she heard footsteps and muffled voices. She couldn’t hear quite what they were saying, so she touched her lips, and whispered, “Broadcast the quiet, ymhelaethu!”

  Now she could hear the voices as clearly as if they were in the bathroom with her. She was very glad they weren’t. Because what she heard made her suddenly very afraid.

  “Tomorrow, Jenkins, we make our move,” said Salt. “Tomorrow, we wake the dragon and drain its power.”

  Oh, thought Kit. OH.

  He knows about the dragon.

  He knows about magic.

  This is very, very bad.

  “When I make myself High Wizard, I think I’ll get a cloak made,” Salt went on. “Purple and gold, do you think? I think I’d look very handsome in purple and gold. I hear that’s what the Wizards’ Council like to wear.”

  “Sir, you’re correct about the cloak, but I’m not sure there’s such a thing as a High Wizard. From my research, there’s a wizards’ council, and I think the leader is called the Chairwizard.”

  “I don’t care what those namby-pamby losers call their weak leaders. Things are going to change when I get my power from the dragon. You’re sure that the Stone of Eek will be able to pull the power of the dragon into me?”

  “Yes, sir, as long as you also say the spell.”

  “Well, OBVIOUSLY I’m also going to say the spell. Don’t be a complete and utter dunderhead, Jenkins. Honestly. It’s a good thing I’m here to be the brains of this operation.”

  “Yes, sir,” mumbled the man called Jenkins.

  “Well, when I have my power, everything will be different. For a start, we’re not going to have any of that government nonsense. I’ll just be in charge of everything. I’m a great businessman. I’ll be great at running other things too. Prisons. Schools. They’re the same thing, aren’t they?”

  This was all terrible! Salt didn’t want to buy the library to build a shopping centre.

  He wants to wake the dragon!

  “What are you going to do first?” asked Jenkins.

  “I’d tell you, if you didn’t keep interrupting me, you feeble dweeb. The first thing I’m going to do is turn all the people who wronged me into toads. Newts. Slimy animals. Maybe snakes?”

  A man who’s stupid enough to think that snakes are slimy is going to try to wake up the dragon, thought Kit. I have to stop him NOW!

  “Jenkins, is the Stone of Eek ready? Do you have the spell for me to read?”

  “It’s all ready, sir.”

  “Then leave me. I want to plot the downfall of all the people who’ve ever insulted me. I think I’ll start with the girl who wouldn’t dance with me at the school disco back in 1979. Kimberly Jones, you’re first on my list…”

  Kit heard the door to Salt’s office open and close as Jenkins left. Salt was alone. This was her chance. It was now or never.

  Kit started to read the forgetting spell as quietly as she could. It was longer than anything she’d attempted so far. It was the first spell she’d read out loud from a book. She hoped there weren’t any gestures she was supposed to be doing.

  She was almost at the end when, suddenly, the door opened.

  She was crouched on the floor, clutching the book and looking up at Salt.

  “A child spy in my private bathroom!” said Salt. “Who sent you?”

  “No one,” said Kit truthfully. “I sent myself.”

  Salt grabbed her by the wrist and hauled her to her feet, snatching the book out of her hands.

  He looked at it with a puzzled expression and then yelled, “JENKINS!”

  Jenkins scuttled into the room. He stared at Kit. But Salt didn’t seem interested in explanations. “What does this book say?”

  He thrust the book at Jenkins, who looked over the spell. “It’s a forgetting spell, sir. A powerful one, I think, based on everything I’ve read about magic.”

/>   Salt’s pink face turned purple with rage. “WHAT? This little snot was trying to make me forget—” He broke off, looking down at Kit. He was still gripping her wrist. It hurt a lot. “What were you trying to make me forget?”

  “Your wife’s birthday. So she’d be cross with you. And that would serve you right,” said Kit.

  “Nice try,” said Salt. “I divorced my ninth wife last week.” He turned to Jenkins. “What’s she REALLY doing?”

  “Well…” said Jenkins. He furrowed his brow. “I imagine … she was probably trying to make you forget about the dragon?”

  “That’s what I was going to say before you SO RUDELY INTERRUPTED ME!” yelled Salt. “Get out! And take this little piece of child-shaped nonsense to the police!”

  Jenkins took her, slightly more gently, by the arm. “You’d better come with me,” he hissed. “Don’t make Mr Salt even angrier than he already is.”

  “I’ll keep the book. Thank you,” said Salt. “This will be useful to stop you all from coming after me once I’ve woken the dragon. You can’t use the spells if you don’t have the book.”

  “It won’t matter. If you wake the dragon, it’ll kill everyone,” said Kit.

  “Don’t be ridiculous. I’ll be the most powerful wizard in the world. I can control the dragon. I’m intelligent, talented, strong-willed… I’ll make better use of the dragon than your pathetic bunch of snivelling librarians!” He spat the last word. “Such a waste of all that power. Well, don’t worry. I’ll do the best things with it. I’ll create the best spells. I’ll rule the world like it’s never been ruled before.”

  There was a sudden flash and a frizzle of electricity.

  Faith was standing beside them. With a single movement, she snatched the book from Salt. “I’ll take that.”

  Her eyes glowed from within, tinged with purple, instead of their usual deep black-brown.

  Salt was looking terrified. “Don’t hurt me!” he cried. “I’ll call security!”

  “But when they get here, you won’t remember why you called them,” said Faith. And she began to recite the rest of the spell that Kit had begun. She spoke quickly, her eyes glowing a bright, flickering violet as the spell took effect.

  When she had finished, Salt was staring blankly into the middle distance. So was Jenkins.

  “Quick. Let’s go.” Faith took Kit’s hand, holding the book in the other, “They’ll snap out of it in a minute.” She raised a hand and made a complicated movement, whispering, “Telay!”

  And they both vanished.

  A moment later, they were standing in the woods of the stacks. Josh, Alita and Dogon were waiting for them.

  “Kit! You’re OK!” said Alita, rushing towards Kit, her thick black plaits flying out behind. She threw her arms round her friend in a tight hug. Dogon flew up to lick her face with his rough tongue.

  “What happened?” asked Josh. “Faith sensed that a powerful spell was happening nearby.”

  Kit couldn’t meet their eyes.

  “Kit has done something very dangerous,” said Faith. “She attempted a spell on Salt that I was going to use to stop him. Without permission. Without thinking about the consequences.”

  Kit felt her face get hot. “I … wanted to help,” she said. Then, looking up angrily, she said, “You weren’t doing anything. He was about to wake up the dragon! He said he was going to do it tomorrow! And you were just waiting around and not doing anything.”

  “No,” said Faith icily. She waved the book at Kit. “I was going to cast a forgetting spell on him tomorrow, before he began his own spell. He was going to forget all about waking the dragon. All our problems would have been solved.”

  “You KNEW he was going to wake the dragon?” asked Kit.

  Faith gave a brief nod. “I’ve been doing my own investigations. And I learned the Stone of Eek was missing from the National Museum of Magic.”

  “There’s a museum of magic?” Josh’s eyes lit up. “I mean … I’ll ask about that later. Go on.”

  “Who stole it?” asked Kit.

  “It could’ve been any of the shadier magical traders,” said Faith. “But what put me on the right trail was that I heard someone had paid rather a lot of money for it at the Black Market – and for the spell that goes with it, to wake the dragon … and that the person who paid the money was called Jenkins. Who happened to work for Hadrian Salt. So I put two and two together and made Almost Certain Apocalypse.”

  Kit couldn’t believe this. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “You’re ten years old,” said Faith. “I didn’t want to scare you.”

  “Are you saying I’m a coward?” asked Kit.

  Faith shook her head. “No. I just… You shouldn’t have to worry about the end of the world at your age. You should be playing with your friends. Learning easy spells. Reading books. Being a child.”

  “That’s not fair,” said Kit. “I wasn’t worried about the end of the world, but I was worried about not being able to carry on my training. I’ve only just got my powers. There’s finally something special about me – and you didn’t even care that it might get taken away. You didn’t care if you never saw me again.”

  Faith looked horrified. “Kit. That’s not true. Of course I cared.”

  But Kit couldn’t stop. “You’ve been keeping things from me from the start. You probably wouldn’t have told me about Draca if I hadn’t followed you. You keep telling me what to do, but you never give me a reason! I’m a wizard, like you. You could have told me you were working on a spell, you could have told me your plan, and then I wouldn’t have had to worry. But it doesn’t matter. The forgetting spell is done now. By a WIZARD.” She gave Faith a defiant look. “So I saved everyone a day early.”

  Faith pinched the bridge of her nose. She didn’t look angry any more, just defeated. “No, Kit, you didn’t. You don’t understand. You performed the spell that I have been preparing, drawing more of the dragon’s power into the book every day. But you used it up before it was ready. Now he’ll just forget the last few hours – and we’re left without a spell to stop him.”

  Kit felt the words stab her like a spear of ice right through the ribs. “Oh.” She tried to rally. “You didn’t have to FINISH the spell I started, if you knew all that. Why did you finish it, and use it all up?”

  “Because with a spell that powerful, you can’t just stop halfway through,” said Faith, her voice rising and tiny glints of purple appearing at the edges of her eyes. “The magic must be completed or it will go wild. And wild magic, roaming loose in the world, is… Let’s just say BAD.”

  “Oh.” Kit winced. It was all her fault.

  The librarian took a deep breath and sighed. All her anger seemed to fall away. She suddenly looked very sad. “Perhaps I should’ve told you what I was doing. But I’ve never had an apprentice before. I don’t know how much you can cope with. You’re still very young, Kit. As you showed by going off like that and doing something so foolish!”

  Kit hung her head. Now, if the world ended, it was going to be because of her.

  “Well, it’s done now. You should all go home and rest. We’ll meet tomorrow and see if we can fix your mess, Kit.”

  *

  Kit walked home with Alita and Josh in silence. She felt the guilt and shame like a stone in her chest. She couldn’t stop thinking about what would happen if the dragon woke up. Her family, her school, Alita and Josh – all gone. Because of her.

  “I have to do something to stop Salt,” she said finally, as they approached her house.

  The others stopped walking. “No, Kit, don’t you get it?” said Alita. “Doing stuff on your own is what got us into this mess.” She looked at Kit out of the corner of her eye. “You should have told us what you were planning.”

  “Then we would have told you not to do it,” said Josh.

  “Maybe you’re right.” Kit sighed. “You’d both be better wizards than me. You’re cleverer. You like books. You don’t go off doing stupid
things. I don’t even get why I have these powers. What a waste. No matter what I do, it goes wrong.”

  Kit felt a tickle at the back her throat, and blinked her eyes hard. She was not going to cry. Kit Spencer never cried. But it was so unfair. She’d thought there was finally something special about her. But it turned out her special power was destroying the world.

  There was a silence. Kit couldn’t meet her friends’ eyes. Maybe they hated her now. Maybe she’d done something so bad they couldn’t forgive her.

  But Josh said, “Maybe a few things have gone wrong when you tried to do them on your own. So you shouldn’t do something on your own. WE should do something,” said Josh. “Together.”

  “Even if you are a massive idiot,” added Alita. She gave Kit the smallest smile.

  That made Kit feel ever so slightly better.

  The time had come. Moments after Kit, Josh and Alita arrived at the library, before they’d even had a chance to say hello to Faith, Salt strode in, surrounded by men in suits.

  “Excellent,” he said. “This is all mine. You have to leave now.”

  “We still have to move the books,” protested Faith.

  “Nope. Mine now. I bought everything that belongs to the public library,” said Salt. “You need to leave.”

  Faith blinked. She turned to the children and said, “Come and help me collect my things.” She gave them a meaningful look. “My personal collection.”

  Kit, Josh and Alita followed her, unsure what she might be talking about. She headed for the shelves at the back of the library, behind the sliding glass panel.

  The portal books! thought Kit. They went to help her carry them. There was a book about making your own jam, the garden book, a comic book about Romans… Soon they had the full collection. Almost.

  “Kit, get the first one you used,” said Faith.