Pencil of Doom! (15 page)

The seconds turned into minutes . . .

. . . the minutes turned into hours . . .

. . . the hours turned into days . . .

. . . the days turned into weeks . . .

. . . the weeks turned into months . . .

. . . the months turned into years . . .

Well, it probably didn't take quite
that
long for Mr Shush to remove the books alphabetically and stack them in neat little piles, but it sure felt like it.

‘Do you think we'll ever get out?' asked Newton.

‘Yes,' I said, ‘of course we will.'

‘But what if we don't?' he said. ‘What if we're trapped here forever? What will we eat? What if we have to eat each other? That will make us cannibals. I don't want to be a cannibal. I'm scared of cannibals!'

‘Snap out of it, Newton!' said Gretel. ‘You're getting hysterical!'

‘Yes, calm down, Newton.' Jenny's voice was more gentle. ‘You don't have to be a cannibal if you don't want to be. None of us do.'

‘But what are we going to eat?' said Newton. ‘Books?'

‘There'll be no book-eating in my library!' cried Mr Shush, as he finally removed the books that were blocking the end of the row. Our space flooded with light.

We could see Mr Shush, Fred, Clive, Gina, Penny and Jack peering in at us.

‘HALLELUJAH!' I yelled. ‘WE'RE SAVED!'

‘Shush!' said Mr Shush. ‘Keep it down! This is a
library
, you know, not a church!'

After Mr Shush had slowly and methodically removed as many of the books as possible, he was—with Gina, Penny and Jack's help—finally able to lift the shelf off us.

Fred and Clive, who couldn't help with the shelf because of their injuries, tried hard to hide their disappointment that we were mostly injury-free.

The only person who seemed hurt was Jack, who was rubbing his head and looking confused.

Jenny leaned in close to him. ‘Are you all right?' she asked.

Jack stared at her, as if he was having trouble focusing. ‘Jenny?' he said.

‘You've got your memory back!' she said. ‘That's great!'

‘Yeah, but my head really hurts!'

‘A book fell on him when he bumped into the shelf,' Gina explained.

‘
Poor
Ponyboy,' said Penny, patting Jack's head as if he were a horse.

Jack pulled his head away and gave her a dirty look. ‘Quit it!' he said.

‘What's the matter?' said Gina. ‘Don't you want to play ponies anymore?'

‘No!' said Jack, looking horrified. ‘As if!'

Gina and Penny looked at each other sadly.

Fred and Clive smirked.

And then I saw something amazing.

Something I could hardly believe.

I saw the pencil lying on the carpet.

Only it wasn't a pencil anymore.

It was just a pile of crushed splinters and broken lead. It had been completely shattered by the weight of the falling bookshelf. There wasn't much left of the eraser either—just little crumbly bits of white rubber.

‘Look,' I said to the others, breathlessly. ‘Look at the pencil!'

‘What pencil?' said Newton. ‘There's nothing there but splinters!'

‘That's my point exactly!' I said. ‘
That's
the pencil! It's been completely crushed!'

‘Really?' said Newton, open-mouthed and wide-eyed.

‘
Really
,' I said, putting my hand on his shoulder. ‘It couldn't be buried, disposed of, crushed or compacted, but it was powerless against itself. You can stop worrying, Newton. The nightmare is over.'

‘I'll never stop worrying,' said Newton, smiling weakly. ‘But at least I have one less thing to worry about.'

‘The poor pencil,' said Jenny, blinking back tears. ‘I feel kind of sorry for it. If only it could have used its power for good instead of evil.'

‘The only
good
thing about that pencil is that it's gone!' said Gretel.

‘You mean
ruined
!' moaned Jack. ‘That pencil was not
evil
. It was the best pencil
ever
. And now it's wrecked!'

‘Yeah, ' I said. ‘It drew its own doom.'

‘I can't believe you guys!' yelled Jack. ‘When are you going to get it through your thick heads? It
was not a magic pencil
! All that stuff that happened—
including this
—was just
bad luck
!
Coincidence
, that's all! Just a BIG FAT CO——'

‘SHUSH!' yelled Mr Shush. ‘STOP YELLING THIS INSTANT! MAY I REMIND YOU THAT THIS IS A LIBRARY!'

The following morning, Mr Brainfright came into class dressed in a top hat and tails and carrying a shiny black cane.

‘Okay, everyone, please take your seats,' he said. ‘The show is about to begin.'

We all rushed to our seats.

The bell rang.

Mr Brainfright took off his tall black top hat and sat it upside down on his desk. Then he tapped the brim of the hat twice with his cane and said, ‘Abracadabra'.

Then he reached into the hat and pulled out a fluffy white rabbit. A
real, live
fluffy white rabbit.

‘Oh it's
so
cute!' said Jenny.

We all applauded.

Mr Brainfright put the rabbit back in the hat, tapped the brim twice again and turned the hat right side up. The rabbit was gone.

‘Oh,' said Jenny, ‘bring it back! Pleeeeeease!'

Mr Brainfright put the hat back on the desk, upside down, said ‘Abracadabra!' as he tapped the brim with his cane, and pulled the rabbit out once more.

‘What's the matter, Newton?' asked Jenny.

I looked over. As usual, Newton was looking pale and wide-eyed.

‘I'm scared of magic rabbits,' he said.

‘There's no need to be frightened,' Mr Brainfright assured him. ‘The rabbit is not
magic
. I am simply demonstrating what is known as sleight of hand. It's a perfectly ordinary rabbit, I assure you.'