Coffin Island Read Online Free Page A

Learning kills,” Madison
snorted.
    The flaming ape was bouncing up and
down on the ceiling. He kept jumping up and down. He was landing
back on the ceiling with a fiery thud. Gravity was reversed for
him. Or rather gravity was reversed for us. He was screeching fire.
He was pounding his flaming chest.
    “ We call him Flash because
he moves pretty fast,” Madison said. “He protects the mother cloud
of books.”
    “ Flash is stuck to the
ceiling?” I asked.
    “ He can’t come down here for
a proper fight,” Madison said.
    “ That’s too bad,” I said
sarcastically. “He has to stay up there and do his illuminating
thing.”
    “ You’ll feel differently
when you have to fight him up there in the ceiling,” Madison said.
“His gravity is the opposite of ours. We are not made out of water.
Flash is made out of fire.”
    “ I don’t plan on going near
him,” I said.
    “ You can hear the books from
here?” Madison asked.
    “ Hear the books?” I
asked.
    “ The books speak in a
language that no longer exists,” Madison said. “We call it mumbo
jumbo because the books are kind of insulting. You’ll
see.”
    “ The books speak?” I asked.
“What are they saying?”
    “ They are in communication
with each other,” Madison shrugged.
    “ The writers are talking to
each other?” I asked.
    “ The writers are dead,”
Madison said.
    “ How are the books talking
to each other?” I asked.
    “ The books have taken on a
life of their own,” Madison said.
    “ They’ve moved past their
authors,” I said.
    “ Or the dead writers are
living in a new capacity,” Madison said. “Perhaps they are ghosts
after all.”
    I had several ghosts growing
up.
    “ What are they saying?” I
asked.
    “ They’re debating literary
theory,” Madison said.
    “ That’s a good occupation
for ghosts,” I said.
    “ And then there is the more
practical matter that they have up their dust jacket,” Madison
said.
    “ What’s that?” I asked. “I
shudder to ask.”
    “ Do remember how I told you
that the teachers are in a prison within this prison?” Madison
asked.
    “ The teachers are in the
books?” I gasped.
    “ Where else would they be?”
Madison asked.
    “ Why would the books take
them prisoner?” I asked.
    “ The teachers tried to burn
the books,” Madison said.
    “ Why did they do that?” I
asked.
    “ To prevent us from
learning,” Madison said.
    “ How did the teachers get
into the books?” I asked.
    “ The books devoured them,”
Madison said.
    “ Serves them right,” I
said.
    “ The books have been holding
the teachers for four hundred years,” Madison said. “Library time
is relatively reliable.”
    “ When do they come up for
parole?” I asked.
    “ They don’t,” Madison
said.
    “ Don’t do the crime if you
can’t do the time,” I said.
    “ I’d like to free the
teachers,” Madison laughed.
    “ They don’t sound like very
good teachers,” I said.
    “ We have to demonstrate that
we are more powerful than the teachers,” Madison said. “We have to
demonstrate that we are more powerful than the books.”
    “ How do you propose to do
that?” I asked.
    “ We have to burn the
library,” Madison said.
    “ Burn the library?” I
asked.
    “ Why do you think that Flash
is here?” Madison asked.
    “ I hadn’t really considered
that flaming apes theoretical underpinnings,” I said. “I just
figured him for a lamp and a guard.”
    “ You better think fast,”
Madison laughed.
    “ Flash is the protector of
the books,” I said.
    “ Witchcraft delights in
confounding its creator,” Madison said.
    “ You’re saying that Flash
was created to destroy the books?” I asked. “He just went
haywire?”
    “ What are the books?”
Madison asked. “Think beyond the surface.”
    “ They’re safes that cannot
be opened,” I said.
    “ What is within them?”
Madison asked.
    “ Witchcraft,” I
said.
    “ How do you propose we break
into the books if not with the fire