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

see and hear it once we were on the island, I think it’s real.”
    “Wait a second. Could you see and hear stuff
before
we stepped under the dome?”
    “If I am in Dr. Libris’s study, I can hear things. If I’m out on the back porch, I can see things, too. I thought it was all somehow coming from the books in Dr. Libris’s special bookcase.”
    “But the Junior Wizard didn’t come from one of Dr. Libris’s special books. He came from my deck of Magical Battical cards.”
    “I know. It doesn’t make sense.”
    Billy kept working the oars. The boat kept sliding across the lake. The two boys kept quietly trying to figure out what the heck was going on.
    “Wait a second,” said Walter. “Dr. Libris is a professor, right?”
    Billy nodded. “At the college where my mom works. It’s how come we were able to rent his cabin. Of course, we had to go to his office to meet him first. Actually, my mom is the only one who
met
Dr. Libris. I just had to take a test.”
    “A college test?”
    “It was just a bunch of ink blots. To keep me busy while Mom talked to Dr. Libris, they showed me these black blobs and I had to write down what I saw. One sort of reminded me of a dinosaur juggling spaghetti. Another one I said was a bunny rabbit playing linebacker for the Pittsburgh Steelers.”
    “But why did Dr. Libris give you a test?”
    “I think he was really testing to see if I would chuck the ink blots and start messing up his waiting room. He probably wanted to see if I was the kind of kid who’d trash his cabin if he rented it to my mom. So, since the camera was watching, I played along. Wrote up descriptions for a dozen different squiggles.”
    “There was a camera?”
    “Yup. Dr. Libris loves security cameras. Has them all over his cabin, too.”
    “Well,
maybe
,” said Walter, “Dr. Libris is doing some kind of research project for the college’s English department to encourage kids to read. So he uses all those cameras in the cabin to see what book you’re reading, and then someone tells the actors out on the island what costumes they need to put on to make the story come to life for you.”
    “But the Junior Wizard showed up like two seconds after you read his card. And don’t forget: Yesterday, I was ten feet away from a monster made out of mud and rocks. They’re not actors, Walter. I thought the same thing at first. Now I think it’s like that Escher print hanging on the wall in Dr. Libris’s cabin, the one with the sideways staircases. It seems impossible, it looks impossible, and it probably should be impossible, but somehow it just isn’t.”
    Walter and Billy thought about that for a few minutesas they drifted across the lake. The sun was starting to set.
    “I guess it could be a parallel universe,” mumbled Billy.
    Walter nodded. “I’ve heard about those.”
    “My mom’s writing her dissertation about ’em. She told me that in a parallel universe, things turn out differently than they do here. Animals that are extinct in our world might still be alive in a parallel world.”
    “Like dinosaurs?”
    “It’s possible.”
    “Awesome. Tell your mom I can’t wait to read her dissertation. Especially the part about the dinosaurs.”
    “Will do,” said Billy as he tugged on the oars.
    “I have another idea, too,” said Walter.
    “What?”
    “This is all a dream and we’re both asleep right now.”
    That made Billy laugh.
    “So,” said Walter, “do you want to go home and pretend none of this ever happened?”
    “Really?”
    “It’s an option. I’m just putting it out there.”
    Billy looked at Walter with a mischievous grin. “Quit now? And pass up a once-in-a-lifetime chance to go on adventures with the greatest characters of all time?”
    “Well, when you say it like that …”
    Billy decided it was time to let Walter in on his other big secret.
    “Besides, we may need their help,” he said cryptically.
    “Help? For what?”
    Billy showed Walter the crinkled message