Read Online Agents of the Glass by Michael D. Beil - Free Book Online

meeting, and today you came to the studio to watch her audition. You have a crush on her?”
    “She’s my SA!”
    “There. You see, you didn’t answer my question. In my experience, people who don’t answer questions are usually trying to hide something.”
    “I’m not hiding anything. I don’t have a crush on her. For one thing, she’s about a foot taller than me. We would look ridiculous.”
    “Ah, so you
have
thought about what it would be like to be her boyfriend. Interesting.”
    They arrived at the library—and the end of the interrogation, much to Andy’s relief. As Jensen reached for the doorknob, the door swung open. The librarian, Mr. Brookings, with keys in one hand and a worn leather briefcase in the other, was on his way home.
    “Sorry, folks, closing up for the day.” He closed the door and stuck his key in the lock.
    “Just one minute, pleeeaaase?” begged Jensen. “I’m working on a story about the new library.”
    “Oh?”
    “I’m Jensen—”
    “I know who you are, Miss Huntley. Everyone knows who you are.”
    Jensen grinned at him. “Wow. That’s good. Means I’m making a difference.”
    “Yes, aren’t we all?” said Mr. Brookings as he opened the door and ushered Jensen and Andy inside. “Welcome to the new library.”
    “So…it’s actually happening. Everly is really going to go through with it. I thought she was bluffing.”
    “What the…Where are all the books?” asked Andy, twirling around the room as he took in the miles of empty shelves. “What’s going on?”
    “Progress,” said Mr. Brookings, practically spitting the word out. He pointed at a stack of boxes—hundreds of them—against the back wall. “There are your books.”
    “Wait…back up a second.
Where
are they going? Why?”
    Mr. Brookings shook his head. “All I can tell you is what I know. A week before school started, I got a call from Dr. Everly, who very matter-of-factly told me that the library was, to use her words, out of date. All this paper and ink is just taking up valuable space, she said. Without the shelves, she can get more tables in here. Like it or not, we’re going all-digital. I tried to argue with her—there are many, many studies showing that people who read traditional paper books and magazines read faster, more accurately, and with better comprehension. She didn’t want to listen. The board had already decided, she said. They made a deal with some new Internet company.”
    “It’s a company called 233dotcom,” said Jensen. “They’re replacing every real book that we pack up and send off with an electronic version. According to Dr. Everly, we’re going to be the first school in town to go one hundred percent digital—as if that’s a
good
thing. No more shelves to browse, no more library. Instead of a library card, you get a password.”
    Andy glanced at the mountain of boxed-up books. “What’s going to happen to these?”
    “Supposedly, they’re going to libraries in poor places around the world,” said Jensen, “although I don’t know what a bunch of kids who speak Swahili are going to do with them.”
    Mr. Brookings scoffed in agreement and headed for the door. “Lock up when you’re done.”
    Winter Neale stuck her head in the door as the librarian exited. “Hey, Andy—what are you doing in here?”
    “He’s with me,” said Jensen, stepping in front of Andy.
    Winter was momentarily surprised to see Jensen but didn’t seem at all intimidated by her. “Oh…hi. I was just leaving school and saw that the door was open….Wow, this is going to be so cool. A real twenty-first-century library. I can’t wait to see it when it’s all done.”
    “It’s a travesty,” said Jensen. “They’re always bragging about the tradition of Wellbourne, how everything here is tried and true. And then they do this, without really even talking about it.”
    “But it’s going to be
better,
” said Winter. “You’ll be able to download any book you could