Olive and Philip find a hidden door in their school library and hear something impossible waiting behind it.
Olive liked the library best when the hallways were loud. She could bury her nose in a book about volcanoes and let the rest of the school blur away. Today, though, she was not alone.
A boy from her class sat beside her with his hands flat on the table and his eyes on the shelves, as if he were searching for a missing page. Philip had only arrived at the school two days ago, and Olive still wasn’t sure what to make of him.
He leaned closer. "Have you ever heard about a secret cupboard in here?"
Olive lowered her book. "A secret cupboard?"
Philip nodded. "I saw something yesterday. At the end of the encyclopedia shelf. A door that didn’t match the others at all."
That was enough to pull Olive to her feet.
They moved quietly between the bookcases, slipping past the long reading table and Mrs. Irena, who sat at her desk with the sharp, watchful look of a hawk. Every time Olive thought the librarian might glance up, she froze. Philip only pointed ahead, straight-faced and sure, as if he had been waiting for this moment all day.
At the very end of the shelf stood an old wooden door half-hidden behind a leaning stack of books. It was narrow and plain, except for a brass handle dulled by age and a tiny frosted window that showed nothing at all.
Philip reached for the handle first. The door gave a slow, complaining creak and opened a crack.
A soft rustling drifted out from the dark beyond, like pages turning on their own.
Olive held her breath. "Maybe we should go back."
But Philip was already pushing the door wider.
Beyond it, a spiral staircase curved down into the floor, lit by a pale, flickering light that seemed to breathe against the stone walls.
Then, from deep below, came a sound that made Olive’s skin prickle.
Someone was laughing.