Locked with Him by Ellen Dominick Page B

know was on the shelves," he said.
    "Yeah, right," I said. "I've looked at every book here more times than I can count."
    "But you haven't noticed this one, " Matt said. His voice was insistent. "If you're right, I'll be out of your hair. And if I'm right I get to choose my reward."
    I crossed my arms over my chest. Who did this guy think he was?
    "And what's that?" I asked.
    Matt smiled and grabbed my hand. "First, lets see who's right."
    Before I knew it, we were off and running. Matt tugged me down the winding corridors of the stacks, turning left and right, looking for a destination I couldn't figure out.  
    Instead of resisting, instead of pulling away, I felt something different. My heart raced in my chest. We were probably the only people in the entire library, and we were running around like the kids. It felt… fun .
    Finally, we stopped. Matt looked around, scanning the shelves for something. Whatever it was, he wasn't going to find it. I'd been here enough times to know that there wasn't a revolutionary surprise hiding amongst the books.
    "Here!"
    Matt pulled out a small, unassuming book from the shelf. It didn't look like much. Sure, it was old, but that was all.
    " Tamerlane and Other Poems, " Matt said.
    " This is the surprise you had?" I said. "I've seen that book a thousand times. It's pretty old, but it's just an anonymous print."
    Matt turned the book over in his hands, opening it to the title page.
    "'By a Bostonian,'" he said. "But what's important is which Bostonian, and it happens to be a very famous one. Mr. Edgar Allen Poe.
    "He printed it when he was just eighteen. Just 50 copies, and they sell for $600,000. Only twelve are known to still exist, all in private libraries. Well, twelve plus this one."
    Matt turned to me with a smile on his face.
    "Guess that makes thirteen, huh?"
    No way . After all this time, how could I have missed that? How could all of us have missed it? A discovery like this would be enough to make this library famous. Or rich. Or both!
    I grabbed the book from him, careful not to damage the old paper. If he was right, it wasn't the sort of thing just anyone should be handling.  
    "I have to report this to the head librarian," I said.
    "But shouldn't she be gone?" Matt asked. "You know, with that forecasted blizzard and everything."
    Shit. The blizzard!
    "We need to get out of here," I said.
      I started to rush towards the exit of the stacks before I even finished talking. I pressed the book against my chest and tried to keep myself from running.
    "I just hope the storm isn't already too bad," I said.
    We rushed through the darkness and up the stairs where Linda had left. The staircase was long and a little dangerous in the dark. All I could hear was the sound of our footsteps climbing.
    "Sorry I kept you back," Matt said. " I wasn't trying to get you in trouble. I just was happy to talk to someone about these things."
    "What things?"
    "Books."
    I didn't want to admit it, but I felt the same way. Even the other librarians didn't care as much as I did. Talking to him made me feel less of a nerd. I felt like he actually cared about all these bound stacks of pages with words scribbled on them.
    "I just hope it's not too bad out there now," I said.
    "Yeah, we wouldn't want to get stuck in the library together," Matt said. "Although, that doesn't sound like the most terrible idea."
    I blushed and didn't answer. My heart beat raced so loudly in my ears that I could hear it. He meant it would be fun to be locked up with the books , right? That must be it.
    We finally made it to the top of the long staircase, and I pushed the door open. Cold air hit me, making my whole body shiver. For a moment, I was blinded by the bright light streaming in through the windows.
    Then, when I saw it, I froze. I had expected snow, maybe even a lot, but not this much. Snow blanketed everything that I could see, making the entire landscape stark white. There were no cars, no people outside. Nothing. Just