Levi spent the next few days trying to focus on school, though he kept coming back to the book, reading those thirty pages again and again. He couldn't help it, the hinted at mysteries called to him. Still, somehow his homework got done, and he doubted he was in danger of failing any classes... yet. Of course it helped that he wasn't taking chem this semester.

Now and then he’d take out his stone, looking through it, half hoping to spot something out of the ordinary. One time he thought he caught a glimpse of something small and colorful flying outside his window, though it was gone so quickly so he wasn't sure whether he imagined it. Another time he thought he saw a gnarled figure, with a face like a wrinkled old apple, walking along the hall on campus. The hall was busy though, and the figure was gone in a moment, lost in the crowd.

He wondered if he was imagining things. Still, he couldn't deny what he'd seen back in Kansas. What's more, he couldn't deny this miserable tattoo on his arm. It itched.

This morning though, he wasn't thinking about much besides his English quiz. He'd stayed up late studying and overslept. Now he was hurrying down the street, as fast as the icy sidewalk would allow. He checked his watch again. It'll be close.

His tattoo started itching again, so he scratched at it through the coat. Then, in a flash, it went from itching to burning. It hurt so much it made him stop, grabbing his arm.

After a moment the burning subsided.

What on earth was that? It felt like being blasted with a welding torch. Still, it was gone and he had the quiz to think about.

He hurried on a few more steps, only to have his arm flare up again, hotter than before. He tore at the coat sleeve, trying to see the source of his torment. It hurt so bad his eyes watered.

The tattoo was actually shining with a ruddy glow. Even the eyes were glowing red. As he stopped, again the burning subsided, till it was nothing more than a faint irritation. As it faded, so did the glow.

Again he took a step forward, only to have it flare angrily. Staggering, he stepped back. As he did so, the thing calmed down. Curiously, he kept going backwards. The further back he stepped, the cooler it got, till it was back to its normal burnished sheen. He kept going back till he hit something soft.

“Hey kid! What do you think you’re doing?” The man he’d bumped into glared at him, then went on down the sidewalk, grumbling about dumb kids.

Levi felt his face glowing with embarrassment. He was puzzled too, and stuck.

"So it doesn't want me going that way, well that sucks, I have to get to English. What do I do now?"

He looked ahead, wondering why it was acting up. It’s like it was reacting to something, but there was nothing there. Then, he had a thought. Fishing out his stone he peered through it. Nothing, nothing, nothing, and then there it was. No more than fifty feet ahead, a dark gloom poured out of a shop door, engulfing the nearby sidewalk. As he watched, the man who he’d bumped into, plowed straight through the haze, oblivious. It was too late for Levi to stop him, but it didn’t seem to bother him anyway. The man was almost past the gloom when he stumbled, clutching his head.

Forgetting his tattoo, Levi ran forward. three steps forward and again his arm burned. The pain was so bad he felt sick. The burning was pulsing up his arm, and with each pulse a burst of bright flecks danced before his eyes.

Unable to handle more he retreated again, tears springing to his eyes. Once again it passed. Remembering the man, he looked up, alarmed.

The man was still there and, to Levi’s relief, he looked alright. An elderly lady with a flowery hat was helping him up from where he'd fallen in the snow.

He worried that the lady was going to get caught in that stuff too. But then, she was in the middle of it and nothing was happening. Then the man was up and the old lady was fine. He lifted the stone to his eye but the strange gloom was gone, the street once again ordinary. He might have been looking through an ordinary rock for all the difference it showed.

Remembering the burning, he took a few hesitant steps forward, then a few more. No burning. Still his step was tentative as he approached the man and the old lady.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"He'll be just fine I should say," the old lady said, supporting the unsteady man. "Likely breathed in something he oughtn't to have."

"Wait, what did you mean by that?" Had she known what was there.

She looked back at him, a half smile on her wrinkled face. "I only mean that walking along with the fumes from all these cars can't be good for a body. Back when I was young we didn’t have to worry about all these fumes; what with all the traffic now, it’s dangerous just to breathe. What's got you worked up?"

"Sorry, I'm just a little off today.

"No problem, no problem at all," she said, easing the dazed looking man onto a low wall. "I wouldn't go in there though if I were you."

Levi had been trying to catch a glimpse inside the shop where the gloom had come from. Feodore's Antiques the block lettering on the window announced.

"Why?" he asked, still looking. The lights were off and a closed sign adorned the door.

"It might not be good for your health, I can't be lugging two men around now can I? This one's a handful as he is. No, take my advice and stay away from that shop. Besides, don't you have someplace to be right now?"

"Oh no." he said, looking at his watch, alarmed. "Wait, how did you know?"

"Old ladies like me keep a few secrets, now get along or you'll be late."

Levi wanted to ask more, but she was right, he really was late, and he'd hate himself if he missed his quiz. He hesitated a moment, then he thought better of it and turned and ran; backpack bouncing against his shoulders.

He made it in time for the quiz, though he was out of breath and his thoughts were far from the chapter readings. He got through the thing alright too, though he figured he'd missed that one on the author's intent. Not like it mattered, not after what he'd just seen. Somehow he made it through the rest of that class, and the two after, before he was finally free to look up Connolly.

###

Levi was in luck, Connolly was talking with a student outside his office. He edged over so he was in Connolly’s line of sight, hoping to catch his eye. Connolly didn’t seem like he’d take well to being interrupted, but this was important. The grey haired man acknowledged him with only the faintest flicker of his eye, otherwise ignoring him till the other student had gone.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

"Your appointment isn't till tomorrow, did you misplace your calendar?" His professor sounded impatient.

"No, but I just saw something, and it attacked someone, and this burned me really bad," Levi said, baring the serpent on his forearm for the professor.

"Alright, come with me, and put that away." Connolly said, reaching in to his office to grab a brimmed hat and brown overcoat before closing and locking the door.

Put it away, ha! You're the one that gave me this stupid snake tattoo, is what Levi thought, but all he said was "Where are we going?"

"I'm going to grab some lunch, and you may come with me if you like," Connolly said as he strode down the hallway.

Levi had to walk quickly to keep up with the older man's long stride. How the professor moved so quickly while remaining so dignified was beyond him.

"So, professor, I saw this black smoke, and it came out of a shop." Levi began, but Connolly cut him off, sounding irritated.

"There are some subjects best suited for other venues Mr. Grant, please keep your conversation to what is appropriate among so many of your peers."

Chagrined, Levi closed his mouth, falling slightly behind the professor. He tried to think of something else to say that was ‘appropriate,’ but couldn't and so remained silent.

Connolly didn’t head to the food court. Instead, leaving the school grounds, he crossed the street to a nearby construction site. Confused, Levi followed. Connolly led him to a food truck parked on the street where it was doing a fair amount of business, despite the cold weather.

Connolly finally broke the silence. "The tacos here are quite good, you should try them." Stepping up to the window he said, "Hey Mark, a number three please, easy on the pico." He turned to Levi,

"you want anything?"

"Oh, uh, yeah whatever's good," he said.

"Give my friend a number five."

They soon were sitting on a frozen bench nearby, eating their tacos and looking out across the parking lot to the campus. The food was good, better than any Mexican he'd ever had. But then Taco Bell probably wasn't really the gold standard for Mexican food.

"So you had something happen today," Connolly said, as he finished up the last of his meal.

"Yeah I did," Levi said, eager to finally share his story. He launched into the narrative, telling everything from the moment he left his place that morning. After he finished he sat there expecting some response from Connolly.

Connolly sat there looking at him for a moment, before asking, "So you're not hurt?"

"Well, no, I think I'm okay. But like I said, the gloom, or whatever it was, it attacked that guy. And then that thing on my wrist burned me. It really hurt."

"But you're not hurt now, that's good, now did you figure out the book?"

"Yeah, but what about this morning? It could be really serious, I can take you to where it happened."

Connolly sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "you're fine and I doubt anyone else was hurt either. I would likely have heard if that were the case. You were burned because the adjutor binding your arm was protecting you. It sensed danger and prevented you from approaching that danger in the most direct way it could."

"What, you knew it could do something like that? You told me this thing was just part of the contract. That really hurt."

"As I said, it’s a defense put in place to protect you. It is, a guide to help you through this dangerous transition into our world."

"Well that's something I wish I'd known sooner. So, you're not worried about what I saw though? You're not going to do something? Someone could have been hurt."

"No, by the sound of it the situation's already been handled. You were the only one in real danger. What do you think you would have done had you not been stopped?"

That made Levi stop. He figured he would have been able to help somehow, but what would he have done?

"Well, I, I’d have figured something out, that man was in trouble." He trailed off at the end, withering under Connolly’s hard stare.

"Had you managed to get to him you would have been caught in the same mess. Though, with your specific circumstances, the effect would have been far worse than dizziness and some confusion. Remember that ignorance and the inability to use magic are, at times, a defense in their own right. Do you understand?"

"Oh." He didn't really understand, but he felt foolish enough as it was, so he just nodded. Then a thought struck him. “Wait, I can use magic?”

"That’s still to be seen. Remember, there will be time enough for acts of bravery once you can defend yourself. Till then, you are less than useless. Remember too, we've invested in you already, don't waste that investment too readily." Then, perhaps seeing the frustration in Levi's face, his expression seemed to soften slightly. "I understand your frustration. The desire to help others is one of your greatest strengths, and will serve you in good stead. For now though, you are little more than a child among lions. Leave the lions to the lion hunters.”

“But what are you going to do about that shop? It sounds like there’s something going on there.”

“It has nothing to do with you. Leave it alone. Now, how did you manage with the book?"

Levi wasn’t reassured at all. At least he didn’t have to wait till Friday to talk about the book though, that was something. "Like I said, I figured out your little puzzle if that's what you mean. And, yeah, it was quite the read. Is everything in there actually true? I mean where we come from, and about magic and another world and all?"

"As far as I can tell, it is, and I don't have any reason to doubt it. For obvious reasons I haven't been over there myself."

"Yeah, what was that bit about them crossing over here but us not going the other way?"

"As you may have read, there are selective barriers that keep humans, and anything without innate magic from crossing over. Beyond this, the rift is not left completely unguarded. For over a thousand years there have been guardians on the other side, keeping us divided. Then something changed around the 1920's. More and more cracks were left unguarded, allowing all sorts of creatures across. Most came over unintentionally, a few were fleeing trouble, while others sniffed out the way for reasons more nefarious.

While most are harmless, or at least not malicious in nature, there are those who come with malice.:”

“Like the ogre?”

“Yes, like the ogre. That is our purpose: Hal, myself, and others. We hunt down the monsters, and those causing harm. For the rest we mostly leave them alone. There aren't enough of us to fix everything."

"That's quite the job, how'd you end up with it?"

"That is a story for another time." The way he said it was final.

"So, I read everything I could open, what’s next?"

"Initially the ‘puzzles’ as you called them, will be your training, and the adjutor will prompt, teach, or restrain you as need be. Only when you have completed this training will you move on to more hands-on studies. When you go home today, look at the book again, there should be directions of some sort for opening the next portion."

"I don't understand, I didn't see anything there before, and I read over it like five times. Can't you just open it for me?"

"No,” Connolly looked irritated again. “How would you learn anything if I just fixed everything for you. Besides, that’s not how it works. As you read before, the book is meant as a manual and the adjutor as teacher. It will teach you much of what you need to survive in this new world. Not all that it teaches will be from the pages themselves. The adjutor itself senses you and will test you as it sees fit. It will make sure you are worthy and able to handle the information found within. Even I can't interfere in this. It has bound itself to you, it will open the book only for you, and will do this only when you prove you are ready. As I said, go back and look again, I'm sure the adjutor will show you what it wants from you soon enough."

Levi didn't say it but he was really starting to get fed up with this whole mystery thing. He just wanted to know what was going on and how he could protect himself; now and in the future. Connolly watched him, as if daring him to complain. Levi instead just nodded.

"Good, then," said Connolly, rising. "Come see me when you have figured out the next riddle and this time please use my posted office hours."

Levi summoned up courage for one more question.

"Um, sir,"

"Yes?"

"Sorry, but I still don't understand, is the adjutor part of the book, or is it a key, or what?"

"It is not part of the book, though it is bound to both you and the book. It is a key and a teacher and it will sense your need and readiness, showing you what you are ready to handle when it feels you worthy of it. It will also challenge you as needed, so as to guide you along the path to understanding our world.”

“So, it sounds like it’s alive.” “It is. And, as you will learn, it is much more powerful than you can imagine. That it would deign to seek you out is an honor that you don’t yet deserve. Now, If you will excuse me, you are not the only one with classes to attend."

He turned and walked off toward the campus, leaving Levi looking at the tattoo, puzzled and reassessing the thing on his arm. He didn’t much like the thought of something or someone monitoring him 24/7. It could have been his imagination, but the snake’s eyes seemed to be staring up at him. He quickly covered it with his sleeve.