It took a second to realize she’d changed the
subject. “Which test?”
“All of them.”
“Well, my anatomy test was fine and then my
psychology test was fine. My European/American history test was grueling. And
by the time that was over, I could barely read the questions on my bio test.”
“What about your chemistry test?”
I checked my watch. “It’s not for another hour. I was
trying to take a nap when you came in.”
“Don’t take a nap in the cafeteria. Go home, eat some
bread, and get a coke.”
I tried to sit up and was rewarded with a new wave of
nausea. “I’m not getting out of this seat. Do me a favor and bring me one of
the tests.” She was already standing and trying to pull me up. Normally, I
would have fought against her, but it wasn’t worth it.
I managed to grab my book bag before it was out of
reach. She gave me a gentle kiss and pushed me away. Luckily, I made it home
with just enough time to eat before I had to go to class. It didn’t bother me
until much later what she had been saying about the accidents.
* * *
There was someone at the door. I looked at my alarm
clock and jumped out of bed like it was on fire. It was seven in the evening
and I was half an hour late for work. My habit of turning off the alarm in my
sleep was going to get me fired for sure. I grabbed my pants, pulled them over
my baggy black shorts, and was putting my shirt on as I got to the door. Trying
to answer the door and dress while half asleep and late for work was a recipe
for disaster. I mean, there were four holes in my shirt, so it was a
hit-or-miss operation.
The knocking sounded light and unsure, thus I opened
the door expecting some cute young girl. Instead, there stood a man.
He had shaggy, dark brown hair, no facial hair, and
the darkest brown eyes I’d ever seen. His skin had an ambiguous tone that made
it difficult to determine his race, but I could guess he was in his
early-to-mid thirties. He was about six-foot-two, a good five inches taller
than me, and had an athletic build. All of that was hard to notice over his
slick sense of style. The man wore a thick, light brown tunic with baggy black
pants made of the same rough material and heavy-duty work boots. Strapped over
his right shoulder and hanging at his waist on the left side was a thin, black,
leather book bag. He was clearly a student at the college.
He gave me a tight, forced smile. “Hello, I’m Edward.”
Of course he was. His voice was startlingly gentle
for his feral appearance, though it was rather deep, and his accent sounded
almost Asian. There was enough self-confidence in his tone that felt like his
gentle manner was a façade, as if he were trying to lure an unsuspecting
animal.
“Good for you. I’m an atheist. No bibles today,” I
said. His smile faltered with confusion and I got the idea that he might not
have been selling bibles. I sighed. “What is it you want?”
“Just to meet my new neighbors.”
Did he say “meet,” or “eat”?
Did it matter?
This guy looked like a predator. Not the pedophile kind, more like a wolf in a
sheep farm.
Don’t mind me; I’m just reading the menu.
“Well, I’m late for work. Nice to meet you. See you
around.” I tried to shut the door, but he stopped it. Edward no longer wore a
forced smile and he wasn’t even looking at me. Despite that, his angry, excited
glare made me shake. People usually didn’t do that to me, save for Mr. Luis.
Then he turned his glare on me and his mien cooled… along with every organ in
my body.
“I found you,” he said. My body shook violently.
Nobody could sound that psychotic and not be about to eat me. At least he got
me before Mr. Luis did.
I am not the sheep you are looking for.
I was
about to say something, probably unintelligible, when he pushed me aside and
went to my bookshelf. I realized it had been the focus of his glare. He grabbed
the little black book and started flipping through it, then paused in his
inspection and frowned at me, puzzled.
“You haven’t written your name in this?”
“Why would I have?” My voice came out a little
unsteady.
“Don’t you know what it is you have found?” He
glanced down at it. “No, I guess not.”
I looked at my door pleadingly, silently begging it
to pull him back out. It didn’t. “Mr. Edward, you really do need to leave. I
have to go to work.”
“There are more important matters to attend to. Does
anyone else know of this book?” he asked, his expression calm.
“No. I’ve only had it for a couple of weeks. I hadn’t
even thought of it in days. What is it, some kind of gang heirloom or
something?”
“I hope you are not lying. They would be able to
smell it on you and anyone you’ve come in recent contact with. It is
unfortunate for you, but soon they will realize it is gone again, and the
killing will stop.” His voice had slowly gone from gentle to harsh.
“What are you talking about?!” The lights flashed
violently with my frustration.
“You…” He watched the other head light for a moment.
“Did you do that?” he asked, his voice suddenly gentle again.
“Who the hell are ‘they’ and what’s unfortunate for
me?”
“Maybe this book didn’t come to you by accident.”
I was angry then; I didn’t like that he was talking
to himself instead of me or that he was ignoring my questions. I closed the
door and tried to calm down, not wanting to provoke him into anger until I got
my answers. He acknowledged my conflict by setting the book down on the coffee
table with a sigh.
“Do you know that there are beasts after you?”
I was startled. “What beasts? Why?” He just stood
there as if he hadn’t heard me. “No, I didn’t.”
“There are three of them. I don’t know what they are,
but they want this book. They have tracked it down to this area, and very soon,
they will find you and kill whoever smells of it until they find it. This place
reeks of the book.”
“And you’re just gonna take the book and run off to
safety?”
“I was, yes, but now I’m not sure. If you are a
wizard then maybe it’s wrong to take it.”
That was the last thing I expected him to say and it
made me pause. I wasn’t really an atheist, just an agnostic, so I had no
religious grounds to reject the idea, but this was teetering on the line of
ridiculous. I figured that if there were monsters after a book, this man
wouldn’t be here. Nothing that interesting ever happened to me.
On the other hand, just in case he was telling the
truth… “If I’m not a wizard, you’d take the book and leave? How long before
they stop killing people here?”
“They will stop when they realize it’s gone; when
everyone who smells like it is dead. Are you a wizard?” My first instinct was
to laugh at him, but I remained silent. What would he do if I said yes? “Answer
my question!”
I snarled. “It’s a stupid question. There are no such
things as wizards.”
Edward nodded. “Then I will leave now.” He started
for the door and I blocked his path, getting angrier.
“If they want this book so much, I can use it to get
rid of them!”
“I will not let this book fall into their hands. It’s
my job to protect it,” he argued.
His carefree voice made me shake with anger. The
lights finally gave out and we were bathed in darkness. My anger went out with
them and I opened the door to let light in. I was startled to see that Edward
was grinning.
“So, you
are
a wizard. I can’t take the book
from you if it chose you and you accept it.”
Part of me wanted to just walk out the door and go to
work, leaving him there, and the other part of me wanted to walk back into my
bedroom and sleep more. I had no intention of giving this man anymore of my
time, but the words came out of my mouth before I could stop them. “So if I
accept it, what happens then?”
“Your greatest priority in life becomes the
protection of this book. However, it is also my purpose to protect the books,
so I will have no choice but to protect you and the book until you are fully
capable of guarding it on your own, which may take several years. In other
words, you would become my apprentice in magic.”
I stared at him. I wanted to say something, I just
didn’t know what. Magic. Surely this man was insane. The lights had nothing to
do with magic; the electric company just liked to mess with me. However, I’d
always thought it would explain things. This would also explain the recent
murders.
“What does this book have to do with magic? Why are
those beasts after the book?”
“I’m not allowed to tell you unless your name is in
the book.”
I realized he had been holding the book when he
raised it, open, for me to sign.
The devil wants me to sign his black book.
I studied it, as if it would give me the answers Edward wouldn’t.
“It’s not polite to keep me waiting,” he said
impatiently.
I shook my head. “I’m not signing anything without
knowing what I’m getting myself into.”
He closed the book and put it in his bag next to an
identical one. “That’s very wise of you,” he said, as if he had been expecting
my answer.
“Is that another book?”
“It is. I’m the Guardian of this book.” He pulled out
the other book, just a little, before sliding it back into hiding. “The
Guardian of the book you found died, and I was assigned to collect it. I was
supposed to find it a new Guardian, but now it seems it has already chosen
one.”
“You speak as though it has its own personality.”
“It does. Take three things into consideration before
I tell you anything more about the choice you have to make: These books and
their worlds are magical, the creatures that are after these books are very
strong, and I really have very little patience. I am pleased that you are
reluctant to sign your name in one of the books without knowing what you’re
getting into, but you need to decide quickly so we can leave.”
“Then get to explaining.” I checked my watch as he
sighed, annoyed. “Oh, shit. Explain on the way to my work. I’m gonna get boiled
alive.” Edward gave me the most confused stare. “Come on!” He followed me out
the door and I locked it behind us. Edward kept up with me easily as I
fast-walked across campus.
“Are you sure you want to get involved with this
book?”
“I’m already involved, right? The ‘beasts’ will kill
me if I don’t.”
“There are dangers far worse than them.”
I stopped and turned to him. “Like what? Wait, what
did you mean earlier by the books’ worlds?”
He observed me with a gentle, patient countenance.
“I’ll explain it all to you, but I would prefer not do it in front of
witnesses,” he said. It was the typical university weeknight crowd, but there
was no one within twenty feet of us. “Also, you must really be sure you want to
get involved with this.”
We started walking again. “I thought you didn’t want to
waste time,” I said.
“It is never a waste of time to think before deciding
something that will change your future. I simply do not want to be here for
long; I want you to decide now. I am under a lot of pressure because as long as
I’m here, both the book in question and my own book are in danger.”
“Where do you come from?”
“You have never heard of it.”
“Is your outfit common there?” I felt impolite when
he looked down at his clothes with a frown. We arrived at the fast food
restaurant and the yellow arches beamed down at me, as if to mock me and my
miniature paycheck.
“It’s not abnormal. It has been a long time since I
visited this world,” Edward finally answered when we got to the doors.
“What do you mean? You’re telling me you’re not from
this world?” I asked, skeptically.
“Obviously.”
Oh, sure, how silly of me.
“A book can only represent one world, so obviously
mine is from another. It’s only reasonable that I be from that world. Honestly,
is it that unusual to you next to everything else?”
The alien had a point. “You go get a seat. I’ll be
over when my shift ends. I’m covering for someone, so I’ll only be a couple
hours.” He took a seat without arguing, but I could feel impatience emanating
from him. I went behind the counter. “Hey, Jean,” I said. Jean stuck her head
out from behind the stove and smiled.
Jean was seventeen in a fifteen-year-old body. Her
small, shapely body fit her personality quite well. Naturally platinum blond,
long, fluffy hair framed her youthful round face. Her eyes were dark blue and
her skin was fair for a teenager. Despite her trucker’s eating habits, inhuman
energy that made her unable to act like a normal person also kept her at a
healthy weight.
“Malcolm was looking for you. I told him you had an
emergency dental appointment.”
“Thanks. Much better than the small pox you told him
I had last week or the rabies I had the week before.” She turned back to the
stove and her earbuds returned to her ears. Her short, school girl skirt shook
as she started dancing. Jean was interesting. She was smart without being too
smart, had a wild imagination, and liked certain things that I did.
Unfortunately, she tried too hard to make people happy. Still, having to work
with her was difficult because she tended to forget that she was barely a high
school student and I was a college student. Nevertheless, I had a girlfriend
and was much older than her, yet she seemed to make it her goal in life to
trick me into a date.
* * *
Three hours of Hell later, I finally crawled out from
behind the counter and sat across from Edward, who seemed fascinated by the
cars. He studied me as I applied burn cream to my hand where the fries loved to
spit on me. The fries taunted me.
“So? Lay it on me.”
“Are you completely sure?”
“Another hour of this and I’m going to beg those book
hunters to put me out of my misery. Talk fast before I pass out.”