"Now, these books I understand," she said. Grace loved reading science books, and Wolfe had hun dreds of them, carefully organized and labeled by subject.
Oceanography...Geology...Astronomy...
Meteoology... Chemistry... Mammals... Birds...
Marty will love this section, she thought. Although I had better keep it to myself for the time being. He's already too excited about the island and Wolfe.
Reptiles... Fish... Insects... Dragons. . . Grace stopped. Dragons? She looked at the next section. It contained books on Sea Monsters. Next to this was Lake Monsters, then a large section on Bigfoot and the Yeti, then Mermaids and Mermen, then Little
Humanoids, which was divided into subsections: Fairies, Leprechauns, Gnomes, Pixies, Ogres, Brownies, Trolls, and finally, Elves.
Oh no, Grace thought with a racing heart, Wolfe believes in Santa's helpers. If Mrs. Kouts was right about the books a person reads, then her uncle was a lunatic. Grace completed the circle, stopping at the last section labeled General Cryptozoology. She looked back at the shelves she had passed. Clearly, three quarters of the books were about monstrous impossibilities. Why had their par ents made Wolfe their guardian? They couldn't have possibly known about all this.
She pulled out a book called The Hidden Ones: A Compendium of Cryptids and started to read.
INTRODUCTION
Cryptozoology is the study of animals that are
believed to exist, but cannot be proven to exist scientifically. Cryptids are the rarest animals on earth, hidden by their isolation and low numbers. Perhaps the best known examples are the Yeti (Abominable Snowman) in Asia, or the Sasquatch (Bigfoot) in North America, but there are hundreds, if not thousands, of other cryptids. of no lesser importance scattered around the globe waiting for scientific verification. These other cryptids include "Nessie" the Loch Ness monster of Scotland; the Giant Squid, or. Kraken, of which no living specimens have been found; the Chupacabra (Goat Sucker), found in the American Southwest, Mexico, and Central America; the...
Grace became so involved in the implausible subject that she didn't notice Marty walk into the library until he called her name. She thought about answering him, but instead she scooted farther into the shadows. On occasion Marty loved to scare the day lights out of her by jumping from concealed places when she least expected it. She swore that one day she would pay him back. This just might be the day, she thought.
Marty didn't see Grace anywhere and was disappointed that the Gizmo didn't work as he had thought. He slipped it into his pocket and walked over to the first aquarium for another look at the odd fish. "Come on, Carp Lips, show me some life."
He tapped on the glass. The fish didn't move. Grace rather liked watching Marty talk to himself and decided not to give herself away. At least not yet.
Marty got bored with the passive fish and wan dered over to the squid tank. "Hey, squids, it's Captain Nemo from Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, but this time I'm bigger than you." When he finished berating the squid he went over to the fire place. He squatted down on the hearth and moved the embers around with the poker, then he picked his nose and flicked the harvest into the flames. Grace covered her mouth to stop herself from laughing. Marty and Luther were always calling people nose pickers. Who was the nose picker now?
Marty went back over to the aquarium for a final look at the fish. "Tell you what I'll do, Carp Breath. If you show me just a little bit of personality, I'll scoop a squid out and feed it to you." He waited a full minute. "Fine, then," he said. "No calamari for you." He headed for the door.
Grace took a deep breath and was about to let out a bloodcurdling yell, but changed her mind at the last second. She was comfortable sitting up on the bal cony. It was the first time in nearly a week that she had felt reasonably content. She let him go, then slid out to the railing where the light was better, and returned to the cryptid book.