With great care, the children ventured into the labyrinth.

After walking for some time, it seemed that Aquiles had found what he came for because he stopped. Adam was somewhat puzzled; the place didn't seem to have anything special, and they were still in the middle of the labyrinth, seemingly not reaching any important destination.

—We're here. Look at the wall: do you notice anything?—Aquiles asked, murmuring, pointing to one of the walls of the labyrinth.

Adam looked at the wall, but all he could see was tree bark. It was then that Bianca answered in a hushed voice, pointing to a corner of the wall:

—There are stickers here...

Adam and Franco looked at the corner, and indeed, there were stickers in the shape of animals and people. They were quite cute and the size of a finger.

—Very well...—Aquiles murmured. —Those are little books. They can swim on the walls, but when they eat, they show their body in three dimensions. Do you know what they eat?

—Books—Franco replied, murmuring. He remembered seeing these stickers stuck on some bookshelves.

—No, no, no, and of course not—Aquiles murmured —They eat the dust from the bookshelves, which means they help to clean them. They are essential for the bookshelves because they use them as messengers and cleaners.

—Why do we have to speak quietly?—Adam asked, murmuring. The little books didn't seem very dangerous; they were just living stickers.

—Because the bookshelves are stressed out...—Aquiles murmured —During this time of war, the little books take care of a lot of tasks, from attracting librarians to serving as intermediaries in non-aggression pacts. That's why we shouldn't disturb them when they rest.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

Aquiles carefully took a bag of dust and dirt from his waist, took a handful, and sprinkled it on the ground. Then, a little book in the shape of a dinosaur slid down the wall and then along the floor until it was underneath the dust. Slowly, the little book started to emerge from the ground, forming a miniature three-dimensional dinosaur, and began to eat the dust calmly, ignoring the three children who watched it with tenderness.

—The little books, in general, don't worry about librarians...—Aquiles murmured —The bookshelf that forged the school created this home for them using one of the ascents from this floor. What do you think it did that for?

Bianca raised her hand and murmured:

—To protect them because they are small, and some bad librarians could hurt them.

Upon hearing the childlike response, the miniature dinosaur stopped eating dust and raised its head to look at the girl with concern. Then, the dinosaur looked at the small head on Professor Aquiles's forehead and resumed eating dust peacefully, ignoring Bianca.

Meanwhile, Aquiles stared at the girl for a while, then looked at the other two boys, who also seemed to agree with the explanation. The professor put his hand on his forehead and massaged it for a while until he remembered that his students were only 10 years old. He calmly explained in a hushed voice:

—No, remember this: 'bookshelves never act selflessly.' There's always a hidden motive, especially when it involves something as valuable as an ascent. In this case, the bookshelf on this floor created such a spectacular home for the little books to monopolize the flow of information from all the middle floors; almost all the little books from those floors came to live here.

The three kids nodded, somewhat dazed. Aquiles massaged his forehead again; his super-instinct as a teacher told him that these kids hadn't understood anything and were only nodding just because. Very calmly, the professor added in a hushed voice:

—I know you're young, but you happened to live in a complicated period for the bookshelves, but a very useful one for librarians. That's why today I'm explaining to you how the bookshelves' messaging network works. If you understand it, you might gain some advantage and get something useful out of all this. Remember that success in life is not only achieved by learning languages.