Hollowpox The Hunt for Morrigan Crow - Jessica Townsend Page 0,77

– it’s just a very good reproduction of the city. Lucky for us about the weather though, and the time of day – if it was sunny, the book covers would fade. Never rains, either. And the cool temperature goes a long way to helping control the inhabitants.’ She shrugged. ‘Most of them, anyway.’

Morrigan put her hand up. ‘Excuse me, but … what do you mean, inhabitants?’ She peered through the green glass. They’d travelled blocks and blocks but hadn’t passed a single living soul.

‘The inhabitants of the books,’ Roshni said simply, as she brought the coach to a halt. ‘Sometimes they get out. But don’t worry, that’s what bookfighters are for. To round up the rogues and – ah, here we are. The Nevermoorian History section, part of my beat: Reference, General Non-Fiction and Special Collections.’

Miss Cheery followed Roshni out of the coach, but the scholars of Unit 919 didn’t move. Morrigan wondered if she looked as horrified as the others. She certainly felt it.

Arch was the first to speak. ‘Sorry, did she just say—’

‘Sometimes they get out?’ finished Anah, her bottom lip quivering.

‘What did she mean by “the inhabitants of the books”?’ asked Cadence.

‘She was joking, wasn’t she?’ said Hawthorne. He looked directly at Morrigan, who didn’t have an answer for him.

‘Come on, you lot!’ came Miss Cheery’s voice, and they all clambered reluctantly out of the coach.

Morrigan could almost forget they were outside. The rows of tall shelving made everything feel closed in, as quiet and serious as the Jackalfax Public Library, which she had visited once or twice back in the Republic.

But this was so much vaster than the library in Jackalfax. Morrigan looked left and right along shelves that seemed to go on forever in both directions, lining every street and alley and dotted with enormous wheeled ladders. Every fifteen metres or so, a gas lamp made of riverglass was hung on a hook protruding from the shelves, providing a small amount of greenish illumination. She wasn’t sure if she was imagining it, but occasionally Morrigan thought she saw something dart through one of the puddles of light, or flit from one ladder to the next.

‘You can go have a look around,’ Roshni instructed Unit 919, who had instinctively gathered in a tight knot, intimidated by their surroundings, ‘but don’t stray too far from the coach. Be mindful if you open any books. Don’t crack the spines, don’t dog-ear the pages, don’t hold them open to one page for too long, always shut them and shelve them in their proper spot when you’re finished, and shout my name if anything jumps out at you. If something really dangerous shows up, I want you all back here and into the coach immediately. Riverglass will protect you from most inhabitants.’

‘Is it true the Gobleian Library has the only known copy of Fitherendian’s Compendium?’ The question burst out of Mahir as if it couldn’t wait a second longer.

Roshni eyed him appraisingly. ‘Elvish culture buff?’

‘Linguist.’

‘Ah! Well it is true, but I’m afraid you won’t be seeing it today; rare books are over in Swordsworth. Plenty here in Old Town to interest a linguist, though! On Cordelia Street you’ll find all eighty-seven volumes of The Odyssey of Goyathlay the Wakeful, printed in the original Old Draconian.’

Mahir clutched his chest, making a very high-pitched sound of what Morrigan assumed was happiness.

‘Go on now, have a wander,’ said Roshni. ‘Listen for my whistle, that’s your signal to meet back here.’

The scholars peeled off in groups of two or three, but Morrigan stayed hovering around Roshni and Miss Cheery. She needed to talk to the librarian.

‘What about a visit to Lilith Gate?’ Miss Cheery was asking her friend.

Roshni gave her a look of exasperation. ‘Lilith Gate? Are you mad? You want me to take a bunch of children into Lilith Gate?’

‘Well … it is the children’s section.’

‘Which makes it the most dangerous part of the library, Maz, you know that. It’s riddled with dinosaurs and evil sorcerers.’

Morrigan’s eyes widened.

‘And puppies,’ protested Miss Cheery. ‘And picnics! Remember that lovely picnic we had with Little Miss Muffet?’

‘Yeah, I also remember the spider who came to sit down beside her. It was the size of a dog, Marina.’

Morrigan cleared her throat timidly. ‘Excuse me, er … Miss Singh. Is it true that there are sections of the library just for members of the Wundrous Society?’

The librarian turned to her in surprise. ‘Oh! Still here? There are a few private Wunsoc collections in the Gob, so it