The Library - The Complete Series Read Online Free PDF Page A

to my ribs, too, and overall I feel as if I've been through some kind of fight. Somehow, though, I'm still wearing my old pajamas.
    Taking a deep breath, I think back to the last thing I remember. I was in my parents' house, late at night, and there was some kind of creature scuttling about. He was stealing books, and when I confronted him, he started beating me up. I take another deep breath, hoping against hope that somehow everything will suddenly become clear; unfortunately, my memory is still a little hazy. Wherever I am, I'm pretty sure I'm nowhere near home. For one thing, the air seems so much clearer and cleaner; for another, I don't hear any cars or trains or anything that might indicate civilization. The only noise, apart from the gentle rustling of the grass as a breeze blows through the area, is a very distant rumble; looking over to the right, I see a thick cloud of black smoke rising into the air. It looks pretty dramatic, but it's also clearly a long way off: at least ten miles, probably more. I might not have paid much attention at school, but this place doesn't seem like anywhere I've heard of before, although I suppose it could be somewhere like China or Russia.
    Supporting my weight against the tree, I slowly manage to get to my feet. Although my ankle is throbbing and my ribs are sore, I figure I can move about so long as I don't put too much weight on my left foot. Now that I'm standing up, I can't see much more than before, but it's clear that the stone wall is longer than any I've ever seen. If I look to the left, I can see the wall running off to the distance; to the right, I see the same thing. My first thought is that this must be some kind of dream. Leaning against the tree, I start pinching my arm, hoping that perhaps I'll wake up. I pinch harder and harder, until eventually I raise my wrist to my mouth and bite down hard on the skin.
    "Fuck!" I shout eventually, letting go. I'm pretty sure I would have woken up by now, so I guess this isn't a dream. Still, I need to stay calm. Wherever I am, it can't be impossible to find my way home, and I can't have been dragged very far. That creature was about the size of a beach-ball, and he was clearly struggling with his little sack of books, so it's hardly likely that he could pull me to the...
    I pause for a moment as I realize how ridiculous this whole situation has become. I'm treating the events of last night as if they actually happened, when it's pretty clear that I must have suffered some kind of seizure. Right now, in the real world, I'm probably in a hospital, hooked up to a bunch of machines while doctors try to work out how to wake me up; maybe I'm in a coma, and my parents are sitting by my bed, reading stories to me from the newspaper and praying for me to recover from some kind of horrible accident. I guess, in the long run, that's the most likely explanation. Dr. Martindale warned me that I could get an infection in my back, so I guess that's what must have happened; I've probably got a fever, and right now I might well be hovering between life and death.
    Huh. I'm in a coma.
    Figuring that I might as well get moving, I take a deep breath and then hobble away from the tree. It's an awkward journey over to the wall, and I almost fall over a couple of times, but eventually I clatter to a halt and grab hold of some stonework in order to steady myself. After a moment, I look up at the top of the wall, which is a few feet above my head. Looking left and right, I realize that the wall seems to just go off in each direction forever; I turn back and look back toward the shallow grave, and I see that there's nothing over there other than a dauntingly high mountain range.
    "Coma," I repeat to myself. "You're in a coma."
    I make my way along the wall, being careful to avoid putting too much weight on my left foot. It's a slow, tiring process and after a few minutes I've only managed to travel a short distance. Stopping again, I start to feel that any