"Give it up, Anna," Lily commanded. She began to turn around to walk away. "Whatever you say, you are a boy who cried wolf. Oh, I'm sorry. A girl who screamed-." Her voice died as she opened her eyes and saw it. The statue seemed to glare at her. Its eyes seemed to be saying, 'Seriously? You just noticed me?'

A gurgle escaped Lily's lips.

"Angel?"

There was a moment of silence, like after the pledge of allegiance, only longer, and way tenser. I was waiting for the man to come on over the loud speaker to say, 'You may be seated.' While Lily processed what she saw, my heart had moved upward to pound in my mouth. By the time she spoke, my heart felt like it was pounding in my brain.

Lily screamed.

The books in her arms exploded into the air. One book landed open between the angel's arms, so it looked like the angel was reading. Under any other circumstance I would be laughing my head off, but at that moment my jaws felt like they were fused together with old, expired jam. Not that I know what that tastes like…

Lily almost backed into me.

"It moved!" she squeaked. I turned my head and stared at her as we backed into the corner of the library. We were about three yards away from the angel.

"Guh-doy!" I replied.

"But this has to be a prank," Lily croaked. "I mean, statues can't move!" Her eyes flickered into mine, then back to the statue. She shrieked. My eyes quickly moved and focused on the angel, which- and I gasped at this- had moved two and a half meters in the time Lily had glanced away, which had been a millisecond. It hit me suddenly.

"Lily, it can't move when it is being watched. Whatever you do, don't blink! Don't even blink!" And I didn't. I kept my eyes on the angel. I stared into its eyes. Its stone-cold eyes. My head suddenly started aching and something in my gut told me, not the eyes.

"Lily, don't look at its face, look at its clothes." Out of the corner of my field of vision, I saw Lily's eyes flicker downward to the angel's toga-like-thingamabob.

"How do you know all this?" Lily asked fearfully.

"I just do!" I snapped. I thought for a moment. "Maybe there is something in these shelves that can help us?" Lily groaned.

"Awesome!" she snapped. "Great idea! Leave me to a starring contest to the death with a vicious, book-loving statue while you go do your homework! Why don't you go to the store and buy a piñata and make this a freaking party! Go on, Anna! Go buy a freaking piñata!" I clenched my teeth at that comment.

"Well I'm trying here," I retorted. "We need to leave the library without taking our eyes off it."

"Why, thank you for stating the obvious, Captain,"

"Ok, are you going to shut up anytime soon?"

Lily groaned. Then she shut up. I took advantage of the quiet moment to speak.

"I have an idea. We have to leave the library, but once we get on the other side of the case, we won't be able to see the angel. I have a plan, but I am going to have to take my eyes off the angel. Just don't blink."

"What?" Lily shrieked. "You can't leave me!"

"Just trust me!"

"The last time I did that, you nearly got me suspended." She grumbled.

"Just don't blink," I ordered. "I'll be right back."

"Are you going to do your homework, or are you buying the piñata?" she muttered as I inched around the statue. I ignored her. I kept my eyes on it once I reached where I wanted to go.

"You ready?" I asked her.

"I dunno. Are you stupid?"

"Yep, you are ready. Just don't blink."

"Do me a favor, and stop giving me that advice," she snapped, angrily. "It's making me want to blink."

I spun around and pulled several books out of the shelf behind me (the one that would block our view if we tried to leave the library). Once the shelf was clear, my hopes were confirmed. There was no wall between the front and the back of the shelves. I reached through the shelf and pushed the books on the other side onto the floor. Perfect. If I stood on the other side of the shelf, I would be able to see the statue through the case.

"Genius!" came Lily's remark from behind me. She must have realized my plan. I went along the shelves pushing every book out of place until the entire bookcase was empty. I stepped back, pleased with myself. Then I noticed the enormous pile of books snaking along the front and back of the shelves. I shrugged. If we survived the angel attack, and Ms. Hawkman saw the mess we made, she might just suspend us and be done with it, instead of making us work in the library. Oh well, a girl can dream.

Something grabbed my attention. On top of the piles of books, was a small, dark blue book, that for some reason, I was interested in. I picked it up. It was about as big as my hand, and on the cover were eight little indented boxes in two rows going down the cover. The back cover was identical. I peeled open the yellowing pages. Melody Pond was written on the inside cover. I closed it and slipped it in my pocket.

"You good, Lily?" I asked.

"If by good, you mean alive, then yes. But I am tired of blinking one eye at a time. Almost done?"

"We're good to go." I told her. I turned around to look at Lily and the statue. Thankfully, the angel hadn't moved an inch.

"Let's get out of here," Lily whimpered, running up to my side. We began to back up.

"Just don't blink and everything will be fine." I told her. She gulped.

"How are we going to get away from this thing?" she cried. "It's too fast to escape from."

"Why don't we just take it one step at a time," I said, taking a step back. "See? I just took one."

"Let's take another," Lily responded.

"Agreed."

We made it to the library double doors. Clearing the shelves had worked, and we made it that far without letting the angel move an inch. I was about to savor my victory, when Lily pointed out the next problem we had to face.

"How do we leave?" There was silence.

"Any more bright ideas?" Lily tried. I gulped.

"Why am I doing all the thinking?" I whimpered. "You are the brain of our friendship."

"And you know this brain fails under pressure," Lily moaned. "You are the one who does all those extra activities, like sports, music, and drama. Did you happen to take a class on how to escape from moving angel statues?"

"Nope." I replied sadly. "There is only one thing we can do; we have to run."

"But that's suicidal!" she moaned. Her voice was filled with desperation and despair. "We can't leave! It'll get us before we can spot it again."

"Well, what do you suggest we do?" I questioned.

"Buy it a bouquet of flowers and ask it to be our friend?" Lily asked quietly. I huffed.

"Good idea," I replied sarcastically. "I'll head to the flower store right now. While I'm out, I'll buy that piñata you were talking about."

"Running it is then."

"In that case, RUN!" I shouted.