006

Adam waited in the doorway with the golden leaf secure between his robes. All his plans had changed, and now he had to head home as fast as he could; to save the little treasure from him.

Finally, Adam noticed the person who was coming out of the door: he was very old and had too many gray hairs on his head, he was wearing red robes and each step was made with the slowness of a turtle. The old man was accompanied by three other people wearing black robes. The companions always walked a few steps below him as if they were not looking to pass him.

Seeing the other colored robe: Adam quickly covered his shoes; he knew that this old man was someone important and it was better that he did not discover any imperfections.

—Boy, shouldn't you be at school at this hour?— asked the old man, looking at the young man standing in the doorway.

—Teacher Achilles told me that he had to do homework at home with my parents— Adam answered quickly, showing him his yellow book.

—Achilles... As lazy as when he was a student... — Said the old man with some anger — Don't worry, young man. Then I'll go say a few words to that bum, and you'll see how he helps you with your homework for the next class.

Adam nodded and waved goodbye to the old man, always careful that he didn't discover his shoes. With some haste, he started down the stairs. There were 100 stairs and he was 10 years old; logically, Adam was quite tired when he achieved it. But the young man did not stop when he reached the 3 middle floors, but he kept going down until he reached the first floor. It was a total of 400 steps that he went down; this was also the real reason why he had been late.

Four people were guarding the ladder to continue down. All 4 looked at Adam curiously. One of them with a somewhat dazed look; he pulled a red book out of his tunic, but didn't open it, just stared at the boy.

Adam ignored them and headed down one of the corridors of Hexagon 3 on the first middle floor.

Adam continued his march until he reached one of the corners; he glanced down the aisle to see if anyone was there and headed toward one of the bookshelves. The shelves on this floor were quite old, some were broken, some were empty and dusty.

Adam went to a full bookcase. The bookcase was placed on one of the exterior walls of the hexagon, and its wood seemed very old. The damp wood had some colorful fungus and very green moss, giving it a certain magical appearance.

Adam looked at her carefully and took one of the books from him, they seemed quite old and their pages were yellowed, very different from the book in perfect condition that the granny-faced bookshelf had given him.

Taking the book, a face appeared on the shelf: it seemed to be a very old face. The face had only one mouth; in which sharp teeth could be distinguished that would scare anyone. In a hoarse and fierce voice, the bookshelf said:

—Don't you know who I am, rookie? —He told the bookshelf with a smile full of greed —If you want to read my books, you must answer my question first. But pay attention, because if you fail, you will be another one of the mushrooms on my shelves! So tell me: if I wanted to be able to resurrect, what are the steps of the ritual to perform?

—It's me, old man, I just want to pass by— Adam said, looking around somewhat worried.

—Is that you, boy?— A pair of eyes appeared on the wooden face, and he looked at the boy with red hair and freckles—Come in! Be quick or someone will notice you!

The book in his hand disappeared and was placed on the shelf. Then, the books on the shelf began to move as if they had their own volition, the moldy and damp wood began to bend to form a door, inside it was a spiral staircase.

Adam entered the spiral stairs, heading to the 5th floor of the lower level.