"She'll be alright. She's gonna be alright, isn't she? C'mon, she'll be alright..."

The sound of her partner Oswald's nervous babbling slowly pulled Orla up from the depths of the darkness unfolding her. There was a flash of pain as she struggled back to consciousness and bright, blinding light as she struggled to open her eyes.

"See?" Oswald smiled and looked around to the others. "She's waking up. She's gonna be alright..."

Orla's eyes fluttered open and she took a ragged, gasping breath.

"You're alright, right?"

Orla blinked. "I..." She tried to sit up but it hurt. Opal gently pushed her back down.

"You need to lie still, Orla. You've been through a lot."

Omar nodded. "We found you on the floor in the bullpen. It looked like you'd been mauled by a bear."

"The doctor bandaged you up and told us you needed to rest," Opal handed her an orange juice box. "So rest. Please."

"I cannot," Orla struggled to rise. "For a dangerous creature is loose in the van and it must be captured!"

"We know about the dangerous beast!" This time Oswald restrained her. "It came out of the book! We'll take care of it, don't worry! Octavius and I know all about these kinds of..."

He looked around. So did the others.

"Where's Octavius?"

#

"Octavius!"

Oswald and Omar had gone looking for the missing librarian. They found him in the cloakroom just off the main hallway, kneeling on the floor. Oswald ran over, Omar trailing after.

"Don't wander off like that, man! You had us scared to death!"

"I'm sorry, my friends. I guess I didn't think." Octavius sifted through the odds and ends piled up on the floor. "Have either one of you seen my overnight bag? I brought some bells with me to keep any escaped demons at bay. I thought I left it in here but now I can't seem to find..."

They heard something huge move in the hallway around the corner just out of their line of vision.

"...It. Oh dear."

The three of them peered out from the cloakroom. There was a shadow on the floor before them, the shadow of something gnarled and twisted, vaguely humanlike but not at all, stretching across the hallway from the distance. It lengthened as they watched and they heard a strange, rattling hiss and a loud thud.

"Okay..." Omar swallowed hard and nodded. "Okay, it's out there."

Oswald turned to Octavius. "You're SURE you can't find your bag?" He started digging too. "Maybe it's behind these galoshes or..."

"It's not in here," Octavius shook his head. "I've looked everywhere!"

The shadow stopped, then receded, shrinking away down the hall until it vanished completely.

Something slapped into the wall above them, then slid down, falling at their feet.

They discovered the remains of Octavius' overnight bag on the floor, completely empty and slashed to pieces.

#

"I feel foolish to have been taken by surprise so easily," Orla winced as she shifted position in bed. "I fell for its tricks like a rank novice."

"It's okay," Opal assured her. "Oswald said the book-things can read your mind and make themselves look like anything they want. They probably turned themselves into someone you trust to catch you off-guard."

"Yes," Orla stared ruefully into space. "That is what happened."

Opal nodded. "Who'd you see? One of us?"

"No," Orla said flatly.

Opal sat quietly as Orla struggled.

"It was... I should have known better... I should have known it was... But I wanted it so much... And I thought it was...I was so certain..."

Orla dissolved into tears. Opal sat with her, holding her hand.

#

"We need bells," Octavius insisted. "Bells are the one thing the beast fears.. It's the only way we can drive it back into the book." He turned to Oswald. "Would you have any bells on you?"

"No, I don't have any bells on me!" A flustered Oswald shouted back. "Who carries bells around with them?"

Octavius sniffed. "Well, given the circumstances, it might have been prudent. I brought bells, after all..."

"Yeah, and you left them in the hallway and didn't tell anybody!"

"Well, I thought we wouldn't need them!"

"Well, we DO, don't we?"

"Guys, guys!" Omar interrupted the two arguing librarians. "It's okay! We got this! There's gotta be some bells in my souvenir collection! It..."

They heard a crash from the bullpen.

Omar's face fell. "Oh NO..."

#

"WHAT WAS THAT?" Orla struggled to rise from her bed.

"Don't worry!" Opal said a little too quickly. "I'm sure the boys are taking care of it!"

She ached to go investigate but she knew if she left, not only would Orla try to get out of bed and possibly hurt herself more, but the... thing, the book monster, might come after her again. And she wasn't sure if even Orla could survive that.

"It'll... It'll be okay." Opal forced a smile. "It'll be okay."

#

"My souvenirs..."

Omar's voice was barely above a whisper. He stood there staring at the wreckage that had been his souvenir cabinet, fighting back tears. Oswald tried his best to look supportive as he simultaneously scanned the debris looking for anything resembling a bell.

"That thing smashed all my souvenirs..."

"I guess it wasn't taking any chances," Oswald patted his friend's shoulder. "Maybe it's not as bad as it looks. We might be able to salvage some stuff..."

Then they saw the hand, huge, grotesque, and horrible, with long, talon-like fingers, emerge from behind the cubby. It raked the walls, leaving long, deep gouges in the metal.

"OUCH!" Van Computer exclaimed.

"Does... Does anyone have any ideas?" Octavius asked, shrinking back with the others. "Because I would certainly hope somebody might have some ideas now..."

#