Hello again, R. L. Stein story club members. I'm Ivy, your ghostly host and custodian of those

strange and spooky tales from the hidden vault of R. L. Stein. Today is another chilling tale.

This particular ghostly tale story club members might make you run for the hills rather than pop into your local library.

It's one I call, The Time is Now.

Molly Taylor loved to read.

She read fiction, nonfiction, and everything in between.

But she didn't like e-readers. Nope.

She preferred the touch, feel, and even smell of books.

Molly had quite a few books at her house, many of which she read and re-read often,

but she was also a regular at the school library.

During recess and after school, Molly would frequently spend time there.

She loved the coziness of being surrounded by books.

To her, they each contained ideas and you could be anyone you wanted to be in a book.

All you had to do was open it and you'd become the character you were reading,

seeing the world through his or her eyes. Molly secretly wished

something exciting would happen in her real life, and not just in her literary one. Molly had

returned all the books that were out on loan, so it was time to check out more. She chose five

new library books and put them in her backpack. However, when Molly returned home after school, she noticed that one of the books in her backpack

wasn't one she'd chosen.

Molly figured she must have picked it up by mistake.

It was an old-looking book with a black leather cover.

The Time Is Now, was printed in gold letters on the cover and the spine of the book. But the really strange thing is that the book did not have an author.

...