Read Online The Island of Dr. Libris by Chris Grabenstein - Free Book Online

too small, trudged in behind them, swinging his cudgel.
    “Fear not, good Sir William!” cried Robin. “We shall protect thee!”
    “Aye,” said Maid Marian, aiming her arrow at Porthos’s belly. “For the portly one doth make a most excellent target.”
    Walter tugged on Billy’s sleeve. “Are these guys friends of yours?”
    Billy grinned. How cool was this? Some of the most famous characters ever were now his buds.
    “Yeah,” he said modestly. “We met the last time I rowed out here.”
    “You
imbéciles
!” shouted Porthos, staring down at the leaking barrel. “What have you done to my liquid refreshment?”
    “What we shall soon do to thee!” laughed Robin.
    “Now then,” said Maid Marian, pulling out a burlap sack, “if thou love thy lives, kindly give up all of thy gold!”
    “You would dare to rob us?” demanded D’Artagnan.
    “Indeed we would!” said Robin.
    “We are merry people,” added Hercules. “We rob from the rich and pour it on the floor.”
    “No,” said Robin. “We rob from the rich and
give
to the
poor.
”
    Hercules nodded. “Right. Got it. Sorry.”
    “Silence!” D’Artagnan said, seething. “Prepare to die!”
    Flaring swords, aiming arrows, and swinging clubs, the seven fictional characters circled each other.
    Billy and Walter ended up in the center of that circle.
    “Oh, man,” said Walter. “Billy? Those weapons look super realistic.…”
    “Hang on,” said Billy. “Let me think. There has to be a way out of this.…”
    “We need the Junior Wizard.”
    Billy was confused. “What? Who?”
    “The Junior Wizard.” Walter yanked the trading card out of his pants pocket. “We need to somnificate these guys.”
    “What?”
    Walter flipped over the card and read what was printed on the back. “ ‘The Junior Wizard can cast a level-four slumber spell if he has collected enough snoozle powder.’ ”
    Suddenly, a spry little man in a star-spangled robe and wizard hat appeared in the square and started wildly waving a wand.
    “Wow!” said Walter. “It’s him. It’s really him! How’d I do that?”
    “I don’t know,” said Billy. “Honestly. I don’t know how any of this works!”
    Especially now that Walter had conjured up a character who wasn’t even from a book, let alone a book from Dr. Libris’s special bookcase.
    The Junior Wizard reached into his twinkling robe and flung up a fistful of golden glitter.
    As it fluttered down, Hercules yawned. “Oh, me. My club feels so heavy.”
    “My bow and arrow, too,” added Maid Marian, rubbing her sleepy eyes.
    “Ah-ha-ha-ha,” mumbled Robin drowsily.
    “I fear I ate too much,” said Porthos, dropping his sword and stretching like a cat. “I need a quick nap.”
    The other musketeers’ swords clinked, plinked, and clanked on the cobblestones. They all (except Billy and Walter) slumped to their knees, toppled forward, and fell fast asleep.
    The Junior Wizard smiled, bowed, and disappeared.
    “Wow,” said Billy. “That’s a pretty incredible card.”
    “Yeah,” said Walter. “I am
so
glad I traded for it.”
    “Any idea how long they’ll be asleep?”
    “Don’t worry. It’s a level-four spell.”
    Billy nodded as if he understood what that meant. “You know what I’m thinking?”
    “Yeah,” said Walter. “Me too.”
    “Let’s get out of here!”

Neither Billy nor Walter said anything for a very long time as they rowed back to the mainland.
    And then Walter exploded.
    “Okay—what was all that? The three musketeers, Hercules, Robin Hood, Maid Marian,
and
the Junior Wizard? Did I miss anybody?”
    “D’Artagnan,” said Billy. “He was there, too.”
    “Right. The
fourth
musketeer.”
    “And yesterday Hercules was wrestling a rock man, Poseidon was swimming around the island, and Mother Earth talked to me through a sinkhole.”
    “There was a rock man?”
    “Yeah.”
    “Billy?”
    “Yeah?”
    “This is ridiculous.”
    “Tell me about it. But since we could both