over cherry wood bookshelves. Library lamps with green glass shades lined the tops of several long tables stretched across the room.
We’d landed in a reading room I recognized.
Fear grabbed me, but I sucked it back, willing myself to stay calm. My arms and legs betrayed me, though, trembling uncontrollably. “I think we’re in the library from the photo in that book. The one in Paris.” My voice came out shaky. Though certain we were in that library, I hardly believed it myself. I had to stay calm and figure this out.
I turned to Afton and asked, “Are you hurt?”
“I’m fine. I think I just fainted.” She wobbled a little before righting herself. “Do you think that guy had something to do with this?”
“Maybe,” I said, searching under the scattered books for my sandals. I found them and struggled to put them on with trembling hands. “I don’t know. What time was it back home?”
“Three or so,” Nick said. “Why?”
“This library’s closed. Isn’t it like a seven or eight hour difference between Boston and Paris?”
“It’s six hours,” said Afton. “What’s your point?”
“Then it’s about nine at night here, and I’m guessing we’re stuck in this library until morning.”
“Th-this is a dream,” Afton stuttered and clung to Nick. “We’re going to wake up. We have to wake up.”
“You’ll be okay.” Nick wrapped his arm around her.
“We should see if anyone is still here,” I said.
Nick raked his fingers through his thick, dark hair. “How can you do that?”
“Do what?”
“Act like we took a trip on Delta or something, instead of being warped here by some insane magic.”
“Look, I’m freaked out, too, but let’s not panic.”
“Hello, already panicking here,” Afton said. “I just want to go home.”
Pounding my feet and shrieking wasn’t going to get us out of this mess. Funny how I normally was the one scared of everything—with reason—but here I was keeping everyone calm. I looked around. “Crap. I don’t have my bag. Do you guys have your cell phones?”
“No.” Afton swept a strand of hair away from her mascara-soaked cheeks. “It’s in my purse.” I handed her an unused tissue, and she wiped her inky tears away.
Nick dug his cell phone out of his front pants pocket and stared at it. “No service.” He held it up and walked around, searching for a connection. “Nothing.”
“It’s because you don’t have international roaming on your phone,” Afton said.
I headed to the door. “Let’s find something.”
“Like what?” Nick snapped.
“I don’t know…something…a landline maybe.”
“Oh yeah, let’s call our parents. I can hear it now.” Nick imitated my voice by raising his to a higher pitch. “Hello, Pop. My friends and I got warped to Paris. Can you pick us up? They’d think we were on drugs or something.”
“Oh, please.” Afton’s voice sounded strained. “Could you just stop with the sarcasm already?”
“What do you want to do, then?” I asked him.
Nick shrugged. “Go find a phone, I guess.”
I glared at him before crossing the ginormous reading room to the nearest door. Nick and Afton trailed behind me. When I touched the doorknob, a loud wail came from the other side of the door, and I snapped my hand back.
“Is that an alarm?” Afton asked.
“I don’t think so—”
Something like an animal’s claws scratching across the floor screeched from behind the door. I gulped. That didn’t sound like any guard dog I’d ever heard before.
“What the hell is that?” Nick said.
Afton grabbed Nick’s arm tighter, her eyes wider than her makeup compact.
I stumbled back. “Wh-whatever it is—” Thud! Something heavy slammed against the door. “Hide!”
Chapter Three
I grabbed a stapler and crouched behind the nearest cabinet. Nick and Afton ducked down beside me. I pulled the leg down on the stapler, held it up, and readied it to shoot.
“Yeah, that’ll work,” Nick said.
“What are we doing?” Afton squeaked out. “If it’s security, they can help us.”
“How are we going to explain us being here after closing?” I whispered. “We’re trespassing. And we’re in a foreign country, we could get arrested—”
The door slammed against the wall, followed by heavy panting.
“That sounds like one big puppy,” Afton said.
“Be quiet.” I motioned for them to follow me as I squat-walked down the length of the cabinet to the other end. The dog sniffed the air, making a sound like an overheated game console.
“Gross,” Afton said in a small, choked voice. “Seriously, gross. What is that smell?”
“A security dog with road kill breath, I’d say,” Nick whispered back.
I peered around the corner but couldn’t see it. Its howl skittered down my