Mad at Mouse Part 29

Libraries are useful things. Quiet. Peaceful. Interesting.

You can always find out what a World considers important in a library, just look at the number of books gathered on the subject.

Danville’s Public Library was much the same.

There was a lot of information available on engineering and the sciences. Well, most of the sciences, magic didn’t seem to be noted although I noted some of their texts would be considered magi-tech on other Worlds.

What the boys did was definitely Magi-tech, It was such a shame they weren’t older. If the coming War got as bad as I thought I might not have a choice.

But I didn’t just come to the library to check out the books, interesting through they were. I came for the silence.

Most of the time I wouldn’t try listening for a Heart song, not in a crowded town such as this, but I suspected the one I was looking for would be a discord in the song, off beat, a tin whistle in the middle of a chorus.

Danville was loud. So loud I was surprised the Heartless hadn’t come already. How could they resist? Anyone with ears to hear could have listened from half a Universe away.

I was right. Someone was off beat. Several some ones. I listened for several minutes trying to separate out the discords.

It wasn’t something I had done before. I could match beat to beat, I could follow a tune through the darkness, I could sync up my song to another, I could silence a song for a short time, or nudge it slightly.

Finding one song among thousands? Finding that one discordant note? It’s not anything I’ve tried before, and considering the effort it took, it’s not something I would like to try again.

Still listening, ears wide open, I drifted out the library and towards the nearest of the discords.

Somehow I was still stunned to find myself outside a building labelled as Doofenschmirtz Evil Inc.

“But... there’s... seriously?” And lost the thread of heart song I had been listening for.

Well... evil...? Who calls a company ‘Evil’? Who puts ‘Evil’ in massive letters on their building? What kind of mixed up World had I fallen into?

There were a dozen call buttons, but my eyes were drawn to the top where neatly written were the words Doofenschmirtz Evil Inc.

What were the chances that the discord I had heard was because the heart behind it was insane?

I sighed and shrugged, sanity was a limited commodity anyway, and pressed the button.

“Hello? Hello?” A heavily accented voice called out.

“Hi. I’m here to...”

“Oh! You must be the Party Planner! Come up! Come up!” The voice continued and buzzed open the door.

Insane. Completely insane. It was the only answer.

I entered and found the lifts, and almost started banging my head against the wall when I heard the jiggle. He was insane. I had found a madman. What was I doing here?

The doors slid open, revealing a tall man in a lab coat, and a mop of brown hair.

Oh.

Oh dear.