Unexpectedly, another figure soon appeared. Some of us frowned suspiciously.
"Who's there?" Richard asked.
The figure, looking familiar, stepped closer.
"The Pagemaster." Adventure said as the books bowed.
"Hey! How'd you get here?" Richard asked angrily.
"Quit it!" Fantasy said through her teeth. "We're in the presence of The Pagemaster."
"I know who he is!" Richard snapped. "He's the guy who did all this to us! Do you have any idea what we've been though?"
"Tell me." The Pagemaster smiled.
"We were nearly torn apart by a crazed doctor! And I myself was made a slave by a bunch of mangy pirates and eaten – got that? – eaten by a fire breathing dragon!" Richard said angrily.
"He don't mean it my Pagemaster." Horror said nervously. "He don't mean it."
"Not to mention being tossed, squashed, and scared practically to death!" Richard finished. "Plus my friends almost got killed countless times!"
"Actually that was Voldemort's doing." James reminded him.
"Okay forget that, but even so we were in a lot of danger!" Richard snapped.
"Yet you stand before me." The Pagemaster smiled.
"Well…yeah." Richard said, confused.
"That's not the point!" Clover snapped.
"Actually it is." I smiled.
"Huh?" Alex said.
"Think boy!" The Pagemaster said to Richard. "What kind of an adventure would you have had if I'd brought you here with the turn of a page?"
We suddenly heard familiar evil cackling, and the image of Mr. Hyde appeared in the twister! We all gasped, but then Mr. Hyde turned back into Dr. Jekyll.
"You prevailed over evil." Dr. Jekyll said to Richard.
Dr. Jekyll then turned into Captain Ahab!
"Ah, you looked Moby Dick in the eye boy." Ahab said.
Captain Ahab then turned into John Silver!
"Ah, you had pirates' tough me lad, and don't no one speak any different." Silver said.
"If I had brought you here from the start, you never would have found the courage to face your own fears." The Pagemaster explained.
The dragon, Silkin, then appeared in the twister with a roar…but then stopped and waved to us. I waved back, and even a few members of the team and the other Superwolves slightly waved.
"And in doing so, you triumph here and always." The Pagemaster finished.
A familiar image appeared on the dome…it was the live-action Richard unconscious on the library floor!
"Hey is that…that's me!" Richard said.
"That was you." The Pagemaster corrected.
"Uh Pagemaster…." Sheen said, looking uncomfortable.
"Yes?" The Pagemaster smiled.
"If we're down there too please don't show us." Carl finished for Sheen.
"Don't worry, that sort of thing only happens to live action people." The Pagemaster smiled.
Jimmy N and his friends looked very relieved.
"I'm ready to go home now." Richard said.
The team and other Superwolves and I stared at him as Horror sighed sadly.
"I mean: we're ready." Richard smiled, looking at his old friend and new friends as he and Horror hugged.
"The world awaits." The Pagemaster said, lifting us into the air magically.
"Whoa!" Richard said.
"Godspeed to you everyone!" The Pagemaster called after us.
"Hey wait for me!" Horror called as he entered the twister last.
We screamed as we spun around in the twister. Soon the team and other Superwolves and I landed in Rip, but Richard and the books continued twisting around in the twister as it turned into paint. The paint also began to turn Jimmy N and his friends back into their 3D selves. Rip then fell through the dome and landed back into the live-action library, landing a few feet away from Richard's body.
We looked up again and saw what looked like a stormy sky as the cartoon Richard fell down and landed back into his live-action self. The three books then landed next to Richard, except they were now live-action and inanimate. We looked up again, and saw that the stormy sky had turned back into the mural. Boy were we disgusted to find that the mural actually had images of characters that we had encountered with Richard, talk about a cruel irony. We then noticed Richard's library card floating down and landing next to him. Richard opened his eyes and stared at the image of the Pagemaster on the mural.
"You took quite a spill young man." A familiar voice said.
"Huh?" Richard said, still looking at the Pagemaster.
The librarian appeared and looked down on him, covering up the Pagemaster's image in the process.
"Are you all right?" The librarian asked.
Richard only got up and automatically ran towards the exit.
"Careful, you'll slip again!" The librarian called after him before starting to pick up the three books.
Richard stopped and realized that he forgot the books.
"Hey, wait a minute! Wait a minute!" Richard called, running back. "Wait! Uh, I forgot something."
Richard picked up his library card.
"Here." He said, taking all three books from the librarian and giving the librarian his library card.
"I'm afraid you can only check out two." The librarian said, taking a book from the top of the pile.
"Horror? But I promised him." Richard said.
"You promised whom?" The librarian asked.
"Horror." Sirius said. "The other two are Adventure and Fantasy."
"He promised all three of them." Lily added.
"Look I need…just this once?" Richard asked.
"Shhh. I have a talent for guessing what people need." The librarian said.
The team and other Superwolves and I gave each other a knowing smile.
"Just this once." The librarian said, giving Richard back Horror.
Richard ran back towards the exit, and we started to follow but then I stopped Rip. The librarian's voice was a little too familiar and I had just realized why.
"Say, uh, next time you do that to us can you lay off the headless horseman and the lava?" I grinned.
The team and other Superwolves stared at me.
"Can I…? It was your warlock enemy who did all that to you!" The librarian said sternly. "Oops."
"Got ya." I smiled.
"You're the Pagemaster?" Molly stared wide-eyed.
The librarian/Pagemaster just smiled a knowing smile. We grinned back and waved good-bye before leaving in order to catch up with Richard.
When we got back outside Richard ripped off the front part of the bike so that it looked like a regular bike, put the books in his bike basket, and then pedaled away without even putting his helmet back on. We left and soon got to the bike ramp that the neighborhood kids set up. Richard paused for a moment.
"He isn't gonna…is he?" Addy whispered.
Richard suddenly started pedaling towards the ramp! He then pedaled up the ramp and leapt over the metal pipe that was in the middle!
"Yes!" Richard cheered as he landed; he then stopped and waited for us.
Kevin left through his compartment, and came back up with his bike. As we expected, he followed Richard over the ramp. Rip did too, and the rest of the team and other Superwolves and I laughed. Richard grinned.
"Good. That was definitely good." He said before pedaling away.
"That was the first time he had ever said that." I smiled, proud of him. "At least so far as I know."
When we arrived at his house, he did something else that his old self would have never done….