“It touched me! It touched me!” One of the books cried, while most books in their own groups caved in as deep as possible in their shelves. Titus can be seen nearby, jumping from his shelf on to the floor and calling for the shelf representatives to go to him.

“Me too! Me too!” said by the book on the adjacent shelf.

“I couldn’t see the person’s face, did you?” A book from a distant lower shelf said.

“No, he was wearing a mask.” Said by the book beside it.

“He?”

“It’s just my assumption based on the footsteps.”

“That was scary, what if I was the one taken?” A research journal in another bookshelf said. As they stared at Titus and the remaining shelf representatives running around and talking to each other on the floor.

“No one would be worried.” Replied by another research journal on the shelf just below it.

“I’m not talking to you, okay?” The other one snapped.

A series of ‘Complete’ can be heard being announced in different areas of the library. Slowly, everyone started to calm down realizing that no one was taken.

“We have to tell them, let’s go!” Tina said as they watched the library in a total commotion from the bottom of the front desk.

“But won’t Warren, Ponty, and Cookie get into trouble? Are we even allowed to leave the library?” Momo hesitated, grabbing Tina’s arm.

“They will be in a bigger trouble if we don’t help them, and we can’t be---”

“You three,” Titus’s voice dominated the room, “tell me everything you know about what just happened.”

Tina, Momo, and Daye looked at each other and started to walk slowly towards Titus who was standing on the floor in between the long tables. Tina inhaled as deep as she can and began summarizing everything that has happened.

“You’re not planning to go after the thief, are you?” Ponty asked. Warren was already on the rocking chair and motioned the other two to follow. “If we don’t get Tere back, we can’t fix Daye. Come on.” He added.

Ponty and Cookie were able to reach the rocking chair after numerous times of Cookie falling flat on the floor. As they struggled to reach the windowsill, which was still an arm’s length away from the seat of the rocking chair, Cookie who was determined not to fall again, thought of an idea.

“Hold on, I know I have it within me.” Cookie said as she started rummaging through her pages.

“Aha!” She exclaimed, as she found a chopping board. She copied the picture as many times as possible to create a pile of chopping board beneath them, increasing their height to match with the windowsill. The problem was each time they try to jump and reach the windowsill, the rocking chair moves in the same rhythm, making them fall over again and again.

Titus made a deep sigh after hearing Tina’s report. There are so many things running through his mind, but the prompt retrieval of the stolen book takes the top priority. ‘We need the original to fix the altered book before Mr. Basil and the two girls see each other again on Monday.’ He thought to himself. Then, he remembered something.

“Hold on, where are the rest of you?” He asked.

“They went to chase the culprit.” Tina replied.

“What?!”

Titus, in complete disbelief, ran towards Mr. Basil’s room with the rest of the books following behind him. As they entered the room, they heard a noise and saw Warren, Ponty, and Cookie on the floor buried with a pile of chopping boards. Titus stared at them for a moment, looked at the swinging rocking chair, then looked at the window, and made a deep sigh again.

“So, this is your plan?”

Nobody answered. Either the books didn’t hear him, or their response was muffled from being buried underneath the pile of chopping boards. Titus continued, “Idiots, if you’re going to chase someone, you need someone with speed.” All books inside Mr. Basil’s room frowned and turned to Titus.

“Mohan.” Titus called one of the representatives. “Get someone with a bird on their pages.” Small gasps were uttered, as everyone was starting to get an idea as to what Titus is planning. However, they still can’t believe Titus would go for something very risky.

“Wait,” Titus added, and the murmurs around immediately stopped.

“Bring someone with a telescope, or binoculars too.”

Author's Note: Part 1 of 2 due to character limit per publication. Also, please check out my landing page: https://linktr.ee/msjenjana