Adam was scared; his godfather's words seemed to make a lot of sense. But what scared Adam the most was learning that the bookshelves could also deceive him.

He looked at the wooden bookshelf and slowly moved away, approaching the stairs and the old man standing beside them.

—You don't want to try my rules?— the old lady asked, still with a kind smile—Well, no matter, if you ever want to try, I'll be here to help you.

Adam ignored the bookshelf and headed to the stairs to go home. But before he could leave, the old man stopped him with some words:

—Young man, could you help me? I need to get to a hexagon, but I can no longer see.

Adam looked at the old man with doubts. While he didn't want to follow a stranger, this person had helped him with their warning, so he didn't seem like a bad person. Thus, the boy agreed and asked:

—Where are you going?

—Hexagon 0 out of 18— the old man, dressed in rags, replied.

Adam stared at the old man for a few minutes, somewhat stunned, and asked again:

—I'm sorry, I misheard, where are you going, old man?

—Hexagon ... 0 ... out of ... 18— the old man responded in a robotic voice.

—But there's nothing in hexagon 0— Adam said, looking at the old man with suspicion; it seemed like he was playing a prank.

—... Out of 18— the old man added angrily, as if it wasn't right to say it in an abbreviated way—I'm looking for something in its surroundings. If you don't want to help me, you can go. I'm not in a hurry; I can wait by the stairs for someone else's assistance.

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—Alright, I'll take you there...— Adam replied; he didn't want the person who had helped him to have to wait.

The old man reached out and took Adam's shoulder. It wasn't uncommon to see blind people on the lower floor, many of whom were even Adam's neighbors, so the boy didn't find it strange to help him. Although Adam was somewhat uncomfortable with the moribund appearance of the old man's hands.

The path wasn't very long; they just had to cross hexagon 3 halfway, as hexagon 0 was always in the middle of the floor.

All the hexagons surrounding hexagon 0 were the main hexagons from 1 to 6, while the rest were the secondary ones from 7 to 18.

However, the old man walked very slowly, so the journey was taking quite some time.

—How many pages did you manage to read, young man?— the old man asked, seeming eager to talk.

—30 pages— Adam replied somewhat abruptly, unsure of what to talk about. But then he remembered that the old man also wore white robes and asked the same question—How many pages did you manage to read, old man?

—I read them all a long time ago...— the old man replied, walking calmly and without haste.

—If you already read all the pages, why do you wear white robes?— Adam asked, looking at the ragged clothes of the old man.

The rest of the people ignored them, thankfully, almost as if they couldn't see the old man or didn't want to see him.

—Because it's the beginning...— the old man replied, with a hint of melancholy in his voice, changing the monotonous tone he had before somewhat abruptly.

Adam didn't understand what the old man meant and continued his walk to hexagon 0, not paying much attention to the old man. But the old man still seemed eager to talk and asked:

—Do you usually talk to the bookshelves like that?— the old man asked with some concern; probably the previous question had only been to soften Adam and get him to talk about this topic.

—No, but we just learned something in class about them— Adam replied, also somewhat worried about the topic.

—You should stay away from the bookshelves and the school, boy...— the old man warned, returning to his monotonous voice—At least now that you're young. When you grow up, you'll only think about the bookshelves and their books until one day you realize that you spent your life reading books...

—But you won't regret that either...— the old man added, showing a wide smile on his face.

Adam didn't reply; he didn't know what to say. They could already see the surroundings of hexagon 0 in the distance, so he accompanied the old man to his destination.