The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Prisoner's Dilemma by Trenton Lee Stewart

Author:Trenton Lee Stewart
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Action & Adventure - General, Social Issues, Family, Action & Adventure, Juvenile Fiction, Children's Books, Children: Grades 4-6, General, Science Fiction, & Detective Stories, Mysteries & Detective Stories, Ages 9-12 Fiction, All Ages, Family - General, Mysteries, Juvenile Mysteries, Friendship, School & Education, Espionage
ISBN: 9780316045506
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Published: 2010-09-01T07:00:00+00:00

The children soon discovered that the fastest way to reach the library was to cut through the downtown buildings. The streets were too congested to move freely, and though the buildings were dark—indeed, because they were dark—they were relatively empty. The boys had unthinkingly left their flashlights behind, but Kate still had hers, and she led the way through whatever hotels, late-night restaurants, and corner malls they could find whose doors had been left unlocked. In some cases, doors had even been propped open to allow people to pass through, for the electrical mechanisms that opened them were not functioning.

It won’t be long till that changes, Reynie thought. If the power stayed off much longer, people would forget about convenience and start worrying about security. Everything that could be locked would be locked. But for the time being people seemed to think the blackout would end any moment—or hoped it would, anyway, and were acting as though they believed it.

In some places they found it necessary to backtrack, in others to cut across a parking lot, which was what they were doing when Kate suddenly stopped in her tracks and looked up. Even in all the hubbub, she thought she had heard a familiar piercing cry. Sure enough, circling in the darkness above, along with a dizzying number of nighthawks and bats, was the much larger, instantly recognizable shape of her beloved peregrine falcon.

“Oh, Madge! You followed me!” Kate shook her head wonderingly. She was very impressed—Madge must have seen her get into the limousine and followed it, then followed the taxi, then kept track of her despite all her shortcuts through buildings. She wanted to call the falcon down and reward her with a treat, but there simply was no time. “Oh, do be careful, Madge!” she cried, already pressing on. “I know it’s confusing out here tonight!”

The boys took little notice of this exchange. Sticky was too busy keeping an eye out for well-dressed businessmen with briefcases, and Reynie was busy berating himself for not thinking clearly. Why, for instance, had he not thought to leave the Ten Men’s instructions with Mr. Benedict? Sticky could have memorized them with a glance and folded the paper into Mr. Benedict’s hand. Too late now. And shouldn’t he have realized sooner what the mysterious code in his head was? After all, he knew what Constance was capable of now—or at least he thought he did—and there had been other clues, too. Hadn’t she been confused when she ran off? Hadn’t it seemed she was reliving that fateful day when she’d sought refuge in the library? It should have been obvious to him that the code was a call number, Reynie thought. He needed to get his head straight and keep it that way.

The Stonetown Main Library was a massive structure with columns in front and a peaceful courtyard in back. Like many of the buildings in the city, it was equipped with emergency lighting, but this consisted mostly of dim, battery-powered bulbs posted above doorways and in stairwells.

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