Page 113 - The Midnight Library

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‘Mrs Elm? Hello? Yoo-hoo! Can you see me? ’

She tapped her shoulder. at seemed to do it.
Mrs Elm’s face broke out in massive relief as she turned away from the
computer. ‘Oh Nora, you got here?’
‘Were you expecting me not to? Did you think that life would be the one I

wanted to live?’
She shook her head without really moving it. If that was possible. ‘No. It’s
not that. It’s just that it looked fragile.’
‘What looked fragile?’

‘ e transfer.’
‘ Transfer?’
‘From the book to here. e life you chose to here. It seems there is a
problem. A problem with the whole system. Something beyond my

immediate control. Something exter nal.’
‘You mean, in my actual life?’
She stared back at the screen. ‘Yes. You see, the Midnight Librar y only
exists because you do. In your root life.’

‘So, I’m dying?’
Mrs Elm looked exasperated. ‘It’s a possibility. at is to say, it’s a
possibility that we are reaching the end of possibility.’
Nora thought of how good it had felt, swimming in the pool. How vital

and alive. And then something happened inside her. A strange feeling. A
pull in her stomach. A physical shi. A change in her. e idea of death
suddenly troubled her. At that same time the lights stopped flickering
overhead and shone brightly.

Mrs Elm clapped her hands as she absorbed new information on the
computer screen.
‘Oh, it’s back. at’s good. e glitch is gone. We are running again.
anks, I believe, to you.’

‘What?’
‘Well, the computer says the root cause within the host has been
temporarily fixed. And you are the root cause. You are the host.’ She smiled.
Nora blinked, and when she opened her eyes both she and Mrs Elm were

standing in a different part of the librar y. Bet ween stacks of bookshelves
again. Standing, stiffly, awkwardly, facing each other.