Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians

brave library patrons finally pushed past me out onto the street.
    “Your dinosaur friends are just going to get caught again,” Bastille said.
    “Charles said he’d try to get them to leave in the confusion,” I said, joining her as we ran across the street. “It’s the best we can do.”
    And it really was. Honestly, you have no idea how hard it is to work with dinosaurs. It’s no wonder the Librarians made up the myth about them going extinct – pretty much everyone in the Free Kingdoms wishes that one were true.
    Sing set Grandpa Smedry in the passenger seat of the car, and Quentin squeezed into the backseat. Then Sing took the driver’s seat – holding the useless steering wheel as the car took off. Bastille’s silver sports car pulled up just a second later. She climbed in, but I paused. My door had no handle. Finally, Bastille opened the door by rapping on the inside dash. “The inner door handle is gone,” she said, frowning.
    “That’s very strange,” I said sliding into the car. “Now, can we get going?”
    She smiled, throwing the car into gear, then she slammed down on the pedal. I turned, watching out the back window. Behind us, a bunch of Librarians had finally managed to push their way out of the building. They watched in dismay as Bastille’s car squealed away.
    I smiled, turning back around. “I assume you have ways of making sure that the Librarians don’t just have some of their police pick us up?”
    “They don’t work that way,” Bastille said. “The Librarians keep as few people as possible informed about the true nature of the world. Most governments don’t know that they’re being manipulated. Now that we’re outside of the Librarian central base, we should have a little breathing room. Especially since we neutralized their Oculator.”
    I nodded, resting back in my chair. “That’s good to hear. I think I’ve had enough sneaking, chasing, and other ridiculousness for one day.”
    Bastille smiled, taking a sharp corner. “You know, Alcatraz, you’re a bit less annoying than most Smedrys.”
    I smiled. “Guess I’ll just have to practice some more, then.”

Chapter 20
    All right. It’s true. I lied to you.
    You have undoubtedly figured out that there is no altar made of outdated encyclopedias in this book. There is no harrowing situation where I lay, strapped to said altar, about to be sacrificed. There is no dagger-wielding Librarian about to slice me open and spill my blood into the void to complete a dark ritual. No sharks, no pit of acidic magma.
    That’s all in the sequel. You didn’t really think I’d be able to tell my entire story in one book, did you?
    Grandpa Smedry’s car puttered along the street. It was dark out – after escaping the library, we had evacuated the gas station, then spent the night and entire next day recovering in the team’s safe house (a mock hamburger stand called Sand-burgers).
    “Grandfather?” I asked as we drove.
    “Yes, lad?”
    “What do we do now?”
    Grandpa Smedry sat for a moment, turning the wheel in random directions. He looked far better after a night’s rest – he had gained back enough strength to begin arriving late to his pain again, and now he was doling it out in very small amounts. He looked almost like his chipper old self.
    “Well,” he finally said, “there is a great deal to be done. The Free Kingdoms are losing the battle against the Librarians. Most of the outright fighting is happening in Mokia right now, though the work behind the scenes in other kingdoms is just as dangerous.”
    “What will happen if Mokia does fall?” I asked.
    “The Librarians will fold it into their empire,” Grandpa Smedry said. “It will take a decade or two before it’s fully integrated – the Librarians will have to begin changing the history books across the entire world, making up a new history for the region.”
    I nodded. “And… my parents are part of this war?”
    “Very big parts,” Grandpa Smedry said. “They’re very important people.”
    “So important,” I asked quietly, “that they couldn’t be bothered to raise me?”
    Grandpa Smedry shook his head. “No, lad. That’s not it at all.”
    “Then why?” I asked, frustrated. “What was this all about? Why leave me to the Librarians all these years?”
    “It will make sense if you think about it, lad.”
    “I don’t really want to think about it at the moment,” I snapped.
    Grandpa Smedry smiled. “Information, Alcatraz. It