archway into another long hallway with a marble floor and several closed doors.
He stood up and carefully tried the first door he came to. It was locked. Surprised, he tried the ornate door handle again. In all of his exploring he had yet to find a single door that had been locked. Until now.
Now thatâs interestingâ¦.
Chapter Ten
I F THIS DOOR WAS LOCKED, then it was pretty obvious that the master of the house did not want anyone to go into that roomâwhich made it precisely the place Tim wanted to be.
But how could he get in? Tim shoved his hands into his pockets as he thought about this. He felt the stone that Tamlin had given him. It hadnât worked before and he didnât think it would work now. Not in its present, dull state.
The fingers of his other hand wrapped around something hard. He pulled it out of his pocket.
Tim stared down at an old-fashioned key. His brow furrowed. He had completely forgotten that he had brought it with him.
This key had nearly cost him his freedomâperhaps now it would save him.
He hoped it would work. He didnât think another world lay behind that doorâjust safety orinformation. He stepped up to the door and slid the heavy key into the lock, hoping fervently that this plan would work. He heard a satisfying click, and the door swung open.
Tim was in an enormous library. There were more books in this room than Tim had ever seen in a single place in his life. More than at school, more than at the bookshop. Even more than at the library three streets over from Mollyâs place. He put the key back in his pocket and took a step deeper inside.
The bookshelves rose from the floor to the ceiling, and there were rows and rows of them. Most of the books looked dusty and old, but there were some newer ones, too.
Tim walked around the first bookcase, hoping to get a sense of the size of the room. Along the wall were more of those horrible display cases. This time, Tim forced himself to look. He knew his life depended on figuring out everything he could about how Toothy operated.
The first case held a large beast, some sort of cross between a lion and an eagle. The display card hanging beside it read G RIFFIN . S PECIMEN N UMBER 21. Tim walked a little farther along the wall and came to a pedestal with an animal that also seemed to be part lion. Only this one had the head of a woman. He recognized it from ancientcivilization in history class. It was a sphinx. He remembered learning that the giant sphinx that still stood in Egypt was a large version of thousands of little statues of these creatures that were found all over Egypt.
Maybe they had so many statues of them because they once were real , Tim thought. And theyâre all gone now, maybe thanks to this guyâs extermination plan. What had he called it? Oh yeah. ââSimplifying the world,ââ Tim murmured.
He came to a low platform. There was nothing on it. âThatâs weird.â He glanced at the label on the wall and his heart did a flip-flop. F AIR F OLK , it said.
So far, Tim hadnât seen anything set up to display humans. âWell, duh,â Tim scoffed at himself. âYou donât display your meals.â
Tim peered down a row of bookshelves and realized there was a large open space in the center of the library that he hadnât seen before. Curious, he moved to where he could see more clearly.
âOh no,â he gasped.
An extraordinary creature stood on a pedestal in the center of the room.
âYouâre so beautiful,â Tim whispered. âAnd he got you, too.â
A unicorn stood before him, silent andmotionless, surrounded by the phalanx of bookshelves. Tim knew it was no longer alive, but he had to move closer. He wanted to touch it, pet it, stroke its white mane. He didnât care if that was silly. The unicorn was so magnificent it simply drew Tim toward it.
As he moved toward the unicorn, he realized he had stepped onto a
He stood up and carefully tried the first door he came to. It was locked. Surprised, he tried the ornate door handle again. In all of his exploring he had yet to find a single door that had been locked. Until now.
Now thatâs interestingâ¦.
Chapter Ten
I F THIS DOOR WAS LOCKED, then it was pretty obvious that the master of the house did not want anyone to go into that roomâwhich made it precisely the place Tim wanted to be.
But how could he get in? Tim shoved his hands into his pockets as he thought about this. He felt the stone that Tamlin had given him. It hadnât worked before and he didnât think it would work now. Not in its present, dull state.
The fingers of his other hand wrapped around something hard. He pulled it out of his pocket.
Tim stared down at an old-fashioned key. His brow furrowed. He had completely forgotten that he had brought it with him.
This key had nearly cost him his freedomâperhaps now it would save him.
He hoped it would work. He didnât think another world lay behind that doorâjust safety orinformation. He stepped up to the door and slid the heavy key into the lock, hoping fervently that this plan would work. He heard a satisfying click, and the door swung open.
Tim was in an enormous library. There were more books in this room than Tim had ever seen in a single place in his life. More than at school, more than at the bookshop. Even more than at the library three streets over from Mollyâs place. He put the key back in his pocket and took a step deeper inside.
The bookshelves rose from the floor to the ceiling, and there were rows and rows of them. Most of the books looked dusty and old, but there were some newer ones, too.
Tim walked around the first bookcase, hoping to get a sense of the size of the room. Along the wall were more of those horrible display cases. This time, Tim forced himself to look. He knew his life depended on figuring out everything he could about how Toothy operated.
The first case held a large beast, some sort of cross between a lion and an eagle. The display card hanging beside it read G RIFFIN . S PECIMEN N UMBER 21. Tim walked a little farther along the wall and came to a pedestal with an animal that also seemed to be part lion. Only this one had the head of a woman. He recognized it from ancientcivilization in history class. It was a sphinx. He remembered learning that the giant sphinx that still stood in Egypt was a large version of thousands of little statues of these creatures that were found all over Egypt.
Maybe they had so many statues of them because they once were real , Tim thought. And theyâre all gone now, maybe thanks to this guyâs extermination plan. What had he called it? Oh yeah. ââSimplifying the world,ââ Tim murmured.
He came to a low platform. There was nothing on it. âThatâs weird.â He glanced at the label on the wall and his heart did a flip-flop. F AIR F OLK , it said.
So far, Tim hadnât seen anything set up to display humans. âWell, duh,â Tim scoffed at himself. âYou donât display your meals.â
Tim peered down a row of bookshelves and realized there was a large open space in the center of the library that he hadnât seen before. Curious, he moved to where he could see more clearly.
âOh no,â he gasped.
An extraordinary creature stood on a pedestal in the center of the room.
âYouâre so beautiful,â Tim whispered. âAnd he got you, too.â
A unicorn stood before him, silent andmotionless, surrounded by the phalanx of bookshelves. Tim knew it was no longer alive, but he had to move closer. He wanted to touch it, pet it, stroke its white mane. He didnât care if that was silly. The unicorn was so magnificent it simply drew Tim toward it.
As he moved toward the unicorn, he realized he had stepped onto a
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