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librarian if he thought big books were evil? Why would he want to seal it off?” Oliver wondered, and then saw his sister glaring at him again. “You know, as if I cared,” he added.
    â€œThat is an excellent question,” Dr. Navel said, thrilled his son was taking an interest. Their mother always said that their father had “selective hearing.” Celia never knew what that meant until now. “Callimachus was from the noble class, and he hated the idea of common people having access to all that knowledge. Knowledge is power, after all, and all the knowledge in the world would mean all the power in the world. Callimachus thought that that power should be kept for only a few—”
    â€œDad,” Celia interrupted, because she just didn’t care about ancient librarians. “We have to warn you about—”
    â€œLook at what your wife says,” Choden Thordup interrupted Celia, who was getting really sick of being ignored.
    Dr. Navel ignored Celia too. He also forgot what he was talking about, and immediately flipped the page over to look at his wife’s handwriting. He read aloud what she had written:
    â€œ ‘November fourth’—She wrote the date! We know when she was there!” he said, as if it were the most exciting news in the world. “ ‘November fourth, little time left; they are close behind me, letting me search for the missing pages until they strike’—She was being chased!” Dr. Navel looked around the room to see if anyone else shared his concern, but all the explorers wanted to hear was what she said about that parchment. “ ‘I’m closer now than I’ve imagined. No one thought the Great Library might be in Shangri-La. Only the shamans’ eyes can tell the way from here.’ ” Dr. Navel fell silent for a moment. “That’s all she wrote,” he sighed. “She did some strange sketches of skeletons and demons and things. . . . I’ve never seen anything like them before.”
    â€œWhat’s going on?” Oliver whispered to his sister.
    â€œDon’t ask me,” she whispered back. “I’m supposed to be watching the Duchess in Business Class tango with Captain Sinclair.”
    â€œI hate dancing,” Oliver said. “And I’m hungry.”
    Celebrity Whisk Warriors would just be coming on after The World’s Greatest Animal Chases Three . It was one of Oliver’s favorites. Celebrities had to make exotic meals for famous chefs in dangerous situations. The best meal cooked with the fewest injuries won money for charity.
    Celebrity Whisk Warriors reminded him of his mother, who loved to cook, though she always made weird things like roasted caterpillar pie or scorpion soufflé. Oliver was getting really hungry just thinking about food, and all this was taking too long. He craved fried chicken and strawberry shortcake, or an ice cream sundae and cheese puffs. His mouth watered, but he didn’t dare eat any of the food the waiters were carrying on trays. It was all weird things his mother would have liked.
    â€œAll right, Dad!” Celia finally said, fed up with how long it was taking to tell their father that someone wanted him dead. These things should really be easier to do. “We have to tell you something!”
    â€œNot now, Celia!” Dr. Navel snapped. “Can’t you see that your mother might have made the greatest discovery of the past two thousand years? She might have found Shangri-La and the Lost Library at the same time!”
    â€œBut Sir Edmund is trying to kill you!” Celia shouted.
    The room went silent for what felt like forever.
    â€œCan we get cable now?” Oliver muttered, staring down at his feet.
    â€œWhat?” said Dr. Navel.
    â€œCan we get cable?” Oliver repeated quietly.
    â€œWe heard Sir Edmund plotting to kill you,” said Celia. “And we thought if we warned you, we could get