Chapter 10

The next place Mrs. O sent them was the library, and instead of the normal, peaceful library, there was pure loudness.

"What seems to be the problem, Mr. Fonts?!" Olympia asked, shouting over the loud music that filled the entire library.

"This is a library, Odd Squad! Please keep your voices down!" Mr. Fonts told them, shouting himself.

"But how are we supposed to talk to you if we don't?!" Otis asked.

Mr. Fonts then realized. "Oh! I guess you're right! Well, the problem is this noise!"

"That's what I assumed!" Olympia yelled back. "Do you know where it's coming from!"

"Yes! I need to help these people check out, but I'll have Dustin take you back!"

"I also find this very annoying!" Dustin yelled. "Follow me!"

As Olympia and Otis followed Dustin, Mr. Fonts put his hands to his head. "I never thought I'd have to bring earplugs to work!" He said as he grabbed a pair of earmuffs and placed them over his ears.

"I came back to check on our furnace when I discovered these!" Dustin told them, opening the door to the furnace room. There was a trumpet and drum playing as loud as they could, floating, by themselves.

"I have a floating trumpet and drum, but I don't think I brought them to work today!" Dustin said.

"I think I have a pretty good guess whose these are!" Olympia said.

"Did Font's bring his?!" Dustin asked.

Otis shook his head. "They're Noisemakers!"

"I know they're noise makers, but whose are they?!"

"No, we mean," Olympia tried, "You know what, just forget it!"

"Why would Noisemaker attack the library?!" Otis asked.

"Well, maybe he just hates the quiet!" Olympia guessed.

"That makes sense!" Dustin agreed.

"So, how do we stop it?!" Otis asked.

"I guess just ask Noisemaker!" Olympia said as she pointed behind her. There stood the infamous Noisemaker. "Noisemaker! Could you please get these instruments to stop?!"

"Only if my friend Otis asks!" Noisemaker said with a smile on his face.

Otis rolled his eyes. "Noisemaker! Could you please tell these instruments to stop?!"

"Oh, of course!" and with that, Noisemaker snapped his fingers and the instrument dropped to the floor, going silent.

"So, why did you do it?!" Olympia yelled.

"You don't need to keep shouting." Otis told her.

Olympia chuckled. "Heh, sorry. Just kinda got caught up in it."

"So, why'd ya do it, Noisemaker?" Otis turned his attention on the villain.

"Well, you know how good of friends we are, Otis, and when I heard that I could help you, I jumped on the chance!" Noisemaker smiled.

Otis's expression dropped. "What?"

Noisemaker realized his mistake and his smile disappeared. "Oops, sorry, I said to much."

"No, you didn't say enough." Olympia said. "What do you mean 'help Otis'?"

Noisemaker laughed. "Sorry, not allowed to say, even though I really want to."

"Could you take this somewhere else?" Dustin asked in a hushed tone. "Interrogating people isn't very quiet."

"You're welcome for stopping the noise." Olympia said sarcastically.

When they returned to HQ, Olympia took Noisemaker to the interrogation room. Otis wanted to talk to him about what he had said to him, but Olympia told him that they should forget about it for now. Ms. O then called them to her office.

"You wanted to see us Ms. O?" Olympia said with a smile.

"Yes." Ms. O said. "I have two questions for you. Number one: do we need to replace the ceiling?"

They both looked up at the ceiling, almost instinctively.

Otis looked back at Ms. O. "I don't see who that's-."

"You guys are teenagers, meaning you're taller and closer to the ceiling. So, I'm asking you, do you think we should replace it?"

Otis slowly looked back at the ceiling. "I think it looks fine."

Olympia looked at him. "Are you serious? Don't you see that huge crack, right there?"

"Olympia, that's three inches long."

"I know!" she exclaimed. "You're right, Ms. O," she said as she looked back to her boss, "It needs replaced."

"Good, just what I wanted to hear." Ms. O said. "Now for question two:" she said as Otis looked back to her. "Why haven't you found Dementia yet!?" she yelled particularly at Otis.

That kind of took them by surprise.

"Ms. O, I was just on a case with Olympia." Otis tried.

"That's just the point, Otis! You need to stop paying attention to these 'smaller cases' and focus on the bigger problem."

"Ok, guys. We have a big problem!" Olive said as she walked into Ms. O's office, and semi-speech.

"What is it, Olive?" Olympia asked.

"Guess where Dementia threatened this time."

"Where?"

"The Bears Stadium!" Olive said in a panic. "And this time, he actually did it."

Otis's face paled. He dropped onto the sofa as he realized, his dad was actually hitting places now. He was not just threatening people this time, he was actually hurting them.

"How long ago?" Ms. O asked.

"Two, three minutes ago." Olive got out before she took a seat at Ms. O's desk.

"Olive, are you ok?" Olympia asked.

"Not really. I mean, you know how much I like the Bears!"

Olympia nodded. "Good point."

"What did Dementia tell them?" Ms. O asked.

"Dementia made them believe they were actually bears." Olive said. "We contained them in the stadium, but they won't be able to leave until we figure out how to change them back."

Ms. O looked at Otis, who was still in shock sitting on the sofa. "This is why you need to focus on your job, Otis!" She yelled, standing from her seat. "If you would have done your job, the Bears wouldn't be trapped away. Who knows when Dementia will strike next and since you don't know where he is, we can't stop him!"

"Ms. O-." Olympia tried to interject.

"Otis, you need to focus on the Dementia problem, and until you do, don't leave headquarters." Ms. O said.

"What?" Olympia questioned. "Ms. O, you can't be-."

"She's right, Olympia." Otis said, standing from his seat. "She might be rude and unforgiving, but she's right."

Olympia face turned to one of confusion, but also empathy. "Otis, what are you-."

"I'll go work on it right now, Ms. O." Otis said. He turned and started to the door. But then he paused. "At least it's nice to know you care about my job." And with that, he left.

Ms. O growled and sat back down at her seat.

This whole incident confirmed something in Olympia's head. "Alright, this has gone far enough." She said. "Olive, you take Ms. O. I'll go find Otis."

Even without hearing Olympia's plan, Olive knew what she was asking. "Go." Olympia rushed out of the room and Olive turned to Ms. O. "Why won't you forgive Otis?"