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What would you imagine a reading room looks like? Well, you would imagine a reading room to look like The Book Room right? With a huge fireplace and a cheery fire; bookshelves filled with books; large, comfy, squashy chairs; dark wood paneling; and a lovely place where you could put your feet up and drink hot chocolate with extra whipped cream and chocolate sprinkles, right?

This was not the case at all. No huge fireplace with a cheery fire, no bookshelves with books, no large, comfy, squashy chairs, and no dark wood paneling.

Instead, dark purple curtains hung on the walls. On the walls, if you can imagine! There was only one window, and it was dirty, save for the smudged mark Jackson had made. The room was completely bare.

Except for the large, brown tent in the middle of the room.

Chapter 37

In Which We Learn about the Book, the Author, and Fred the Turtle

An eerie light glowed within the tent, casting strange shadows on the walls.

Meeka lifted the flap. “Eleissa, we’ve come to visit you!”

There was no answer.

“Eleiiiiiiiiiiiiiiisaaaa!” she sang.

A loud irritated sigh came from within the tent. “I told you that I’m reading!”

“But I want you to meet Jackson!”

“I’ve already met him.”

Meeka climbed into the tent, the flap closing behind her. Jackson heard angry little whispers and then a pleading voice.

Then quiet.

The tent flap opened.

“Well, come in then,” the grouchy voice said.

Jackson pulled back the flap and climbed in.

It was a nice setup actually. Especially for a tent. A huge, comfy-looking, orange sleeping bag lay on the floor. It was surrounded by purple cushions edged in gold trim. A battery-operated lantern hung from the middle of the tent, softly lighting the inside. Eleissa sat scrunched up in the corner, her long hair hanging in her face. She put her book down and looked at Jackson with large, blue, serious eyes.

“So, what do you want to know?” she asked.

Jackson looked at Meeka, who sat with her legs crossed as she chewed on the ends of her long brown hair. Jackson sat beside her, pulling off his satchel.

“Uh…” Jackson articulated. (Articulate is when you’re describing something really well. But given Jackson’s vocabulary at this moment, the word is actually used in irony. Irony is when something opposite of what should happen happens. Like when you find money on the street and then you lose it.)

Eleissa slowly tucked a piece of long blonde hair behind her ear, er, elf ear.

“What should I ask?” he whispered to Meeka.

Eleissa rolled her big blue eyes in exasperation.

“I’m a Reader,” she said, as if that explained everything.

But that didn’t explain everything, did it? It didn’t explain why she was sitting in a tent in the middle of a room or why the window was dirty or why her job was to read. Nor did it explain the cosine of 7.88 or what the word for “couch” was in Spanish.

Jackson just stared at her. Words were not forming in his mouth.

“It means that I read things. I can read anything,” she said superciliously. (Supercilious is when someone is very arrogant and grouchy. Like when your cat is sleeping on the couch, but then he rolls over and hits the floor, and he stands up and shakes all over? It’s the look on his face as he walks away. If you don’t have a cat, maybe you could YouTube one or something.)

Jackson looked at Meeka, who nodded very seriously.

“What do you read?”

Eleissa picked up the large book she was holding. It was leather bound with very thick pages. It was the size of an extensive dictionary. Her tiny fingers caressed the pages.

“Right now I’m reading about the progression of a butterfly in our backyard. I want to know if he ends up migrating or not.”

“That doesn’t sound like a very interesting story,” Jackson snorted.

Eleissa flipped her hair off her face. “I’m a Reader. I read and find out what happens. And then I know.” She looked at him through lowered eyelashes. “Haven’t you ever wanted to know everything?” Jackson shrugged. She smiled. “Well, I read and find out. So now I know a lot. I probably know more than you do.”

Jackson