I'm looking good.

Lola's holding me in front of a mirror, allowing me to see my new cover. I was just a little worried about Lola holding a knife, but she clearly knows how to use it. My previous cover, whatever it looked like, has been replaced with a lovely brown leather. Three triangles on top of each other rest in a symbol underneath my albeit slightly creepy eye, the socket of which is now framed in gold leaf. Four metallic gray squares are imprinted symmetrically around the first symbol, and my corners have been reinforced with nubs of metal.

"See, father? He looks happy!"

I mean, I only have the one eye, so it should be pretty difficult to tell how I'm feeling, but yes! And not just because you've made me a new cover, but because I'm vertical now! Status!

Codex: Lvl 1

Health: 57

Agility: 0

Strength: 0

Intelligence: 75

Intuition: 11

Spells: Basic Fireball (1)

Mutations: Magic Eye (1)

Perks: Knowledge is Power, Bibliophile

I narrow my eye. I remember most of this, and I'm attributing the health boost to the new cover, but what's a perk? Knowledge is indeed power. The more a creature knows, the more one can improve, adapt, change to its surroundings. What I don't understand is how being a book addict is a perk. I don't even have hands, how am I supposed to read anything?

Lola hugs me tightly, the status board vanishing. I look up at her gratefully. How many people would purchase a book as ugly as everyone says I looked, and go to such extents to repair me?

...Okay, maybe a lot of people do that. I've only met five people so far. Maybe books with eyes are like winning the jackpot or something.

"Let's go learn some spells!"

Yeah, let's go and get spell money!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

This is not what I expected.

Lola had taken me to what I assume is her room and set me on a table. What exactly is going on?

I watch curiously as she picks up a huge book, and then carries it over to me. Setting it down, she flips me open and pulls out a pen. Wha - wait a second, you're not planning to do that, are you?

Yes. Yes, she is.

Since my eye is now facing the ground, I can't see what's going on, but I can distinctly feel the pen pressing into my pages.

(Bibliophile activated.)

Oh, hey, universe. How are you doing? I haven't heard from you in a while. It'd be nice if I could actually see what the 'perk' was doing, but you know, I spy with my little eye nothing at all.

Quite suddenly, I can feel ink pouring into my pages. Significant amounts of it. Since Lola let go of me when she set me down, I can't hear what's going on either. As it happens, I can feel information pouring into my head, settling in and feeling... new.

(Knowledge is Power activated.)

Okay, seriously, what's going on?! Where's a status board when you need one?

Lola flips me over after a few moments, her eyes wide with excitement. "I didn't know you could do that!"

Neither did I. So what happened?

Out of the corner of my eye, I can see the book lying open, utterly empty. The pages are looking a little ragged as if they were vacuumed repeatedly.

Lola, holding me in the air, opened my cover and squealed in happiness. "You have so many spells now!"

I WHAT? Status!

Codex: Lvl 1

Health: 63

Agility: 1

Strength: 0

Intelligence: 75

Intuition: 23

Spells: Fireball (1), Ice Shot (1), Fire Breath (1), Freeze Floor (1), Acid Stream (1)

Mutations: Magic Eye (1)

Perks: Knowledge is Power, Bibliophile (1)

Okay, what? What?!? How did I learn all of these?

Lola flips open, and I can sense more than see the new spells written in fancy ink on my pages. Well, that's a bit rude. What if I didn't want to share?

Oh yeah, I'm a book. My rights are negligible to say the least. And anyway, Lola's such a sweet girl. It's really unlikely that she'd do anything crazy with a spellbook.

[WARNING! Extreme potential danger! Repairing future timeline... Complete!]

I start thinking about Isaac and Francis. I think I've figured out the dynamic between those two and Lola. Isaac acts all tough with the business and the scary face but is secretly made of fluff when it comes to his daughter. As for Francis, he strikes me as a sort of unofficial uncle. He seems like a fairly genuine person, but seriously, what the heck does that guy eat?

"Coming!" As my cover is closed, I can see Lola pick me up and carry me out the door of the homey workshop.

Huh? Oh, someone must have just called her. It's nice to be able to hear things, but I get the feeling it's going to be annoying to only hear one side of the conversation.

The woman running the store sees Lola and smiles, then says something. Scratch that, it's going to be very annoying.

"I think he's really happy with it! And he already learned some new spells!"

She opens me up, showing the three people the results of whatever the heck Bibliophile does. As a direct consequence of that, I miss the expressions of the adults as they change dramatically.

"I'm really sorry about your spare spellbook, Antoine. It's all blank now."

As she's closing me, I catch the tail end of Isaac's mouth moving. Francis' smile is a little strained and the storeowner - Antoine? - looks very suspicious about it.

"No, he sucked all of the ink out of it, like whoosh!" She gestured wildly to indicate the ink-sucking.

Well, at least I know what happened now.

Francis says something, and Isaac agrees promptly.

She hugs me tightly. "What if he doesn't want to be Appraised?"

Appraised? What does that mean? Visions of long white coats and needles fill my mind.

Okay, whatever I used to be was very afraid of lab coats.

Isaac walks over and gets down on one knee, gently but firmly placing a hand on me.

"...saying is that we don't know everything about... Codex... and having an Appraiser take a look at him would probably help him a lot. What if he turned out to be a super grimoire? Wouldn't you want to know that?"

Lola pouts slightly, raising me to her chest and hugging me even tighter. Her lip curls up and she looks down, kicking the ground slightly before responding quietly, "He's already a super grimoire."

You are my new favorite person.

"Of course he is, little sugar cube. But if he's a super-duper grimoire, then we'll be able to help him a lot more! And then, maybe you can go to Weatherton with him."

Lola lights up like a candle. "Really? I'll be allowed to cast and everything?"

I feel like I'm losing my handle on the situation faster than I can respond to it. Not that I can respond to it to start with.

"But how do we know he'll be nice?"

Yes! Exactly, Lola! You took the words right out of my mind!

"Do you remember uncle Chris? He's the best one in the city, and I'll ask him to be extra gentle just for you."

No! Don't fall for it! If he's related to Isaac he's going to be scary!

"But what if he isn't?"

"Oh, I'm sure he will. He gave you candy when we visited for his birthday, remember?"

"But that was his birthday! Everyone's happy on their birthday!"

I make a mental note to both figure out how dates work here, and to remember what today is. I need a day when I can be happy, even if I wasn't technically born.

"...I guess we can go."

"Don't you feel better now that we'll know more about Codex? I'm sure he's as glad as you are!"

No. I'm not.

Standing, Isaac says something to the shopkeeper and shakes hands with Francis. The huge man smiles, pats Lola on her head, and then manages to leave through the too-small door.

Taking Lola's free hand, he gently pulled her through the exit, and I gazed longingly at the shop. Anywhere would be better than the place we're going to now.

As they walk through the busy store-goers, I check my status again. How exactly does agility work when I don't have limbs? I may only have one point, but I'm going to use it as much as I can. Provided I figure out how it works.

I spot a small squad of dangerous-looking people sporting a wide variety of - noticeable, shall we say - armor and weapons. All in all, they stand out like a sore thumb in this city of fancy people and suits. They appear to be arguing about something or another, indicating a piece of paper. Lola points at them. "Father, look! It's an adventure club!"

Isaac squeezes her hand, refusing to look at them, and increases his pace.

Hmmm... Isaac doesn't seem to like adventure clubs very much. They sound like the sort of group where teenagers and young adults got together to go do dumb activities.

As we walk past them, I get a closer look and realize that my assessment likely isn't too far from the truth. I don't think a single one was older than thirty.

I wonder what those people do?

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

We're here. The dreaded place that no book escapes from alive, the final gauntlet, the jaws of death.

I just wish it looked as scary as I think it should be.

But no, we're standing in front of a small, two-story shop built from bricks. The wide, carefully framed windows and heavy oak door combined with the cheerful sign above it mix to create an atmosphere that I can only really describe as cheerful. Flowerpots with fresh bouquets sit on small metal tables and there's a sizable awning hanging over the street, with benches for the people waiting in line. And there are a lot of people waiting in line.

As Isaac and Lola make their way up to the shop's entrance, quite a few people step aside to let them go through, most of whom are dressed very fancily. Just how rich are these people?

The inside of the store is as nice as the outside, with a tank full of water connected to a small faucet to the right. The secretary at the desk is neither cold nor standoffish, but seems to be very firm about who did and did not enter through the sliding door to her left, instead indicating the already-full chairs nearby.

Isaac walks straight up to her and smiles, saying something I can't hear. The secretary smiles politely, flushing somewhat, then slides the door open. I look back at the people waiting in line, expecting to see disappointment and frustration, but they don't seem to be annoyed.

Behind the sliding door is a staircase leading up to the second floor, and it's here that the cozy feeling in the air goes away. These stairs are designed for function only, with no purpose other than to get people from the first floor to the second.

As we walk up to the next floor, I can feel Lola gripping me a bit tighter. It's comforting in a strange way, knowing that I'm not the only one terrified out of my mind.

Unless she's excited about this, that is. I can't see her face from my position tucked under her arm.

At the top of the stairs is a nondescript wooden door, and as Isaac opens it, I brace myself for the torture chamber that surely lies behind.

Instead, I'm greeted with a warmly lit study, a desk with a lamp to one side, and a variety of paperweights on top of the wood. Documents were carefully organized and stacked several inches high in their rack, the pens sitting in their small container next to the inkwell. Several landscape paintings decorate the dark wooden walls, and the backside of the room is made up of several shelves lying on top of each other, decorations and small sculptures resting in no particular order. Another one of those strange flaming (and weirdly cute) gel creatures is napping in the ornate lantern hanging from the ceiling.

If I had to build the optimal room, it would probably look like this. I could comfortably spend the rest of my bookish life if it weren't for the person standing from a lovely armchair in front of an end table.

He's got an average build, with slightly curly black hair and a slight grin, as though someone had made a joke only he could hear. His brown eyes practically sparkle with excitement, as though he can't wait to find out the secrets of the universe, one person at a time.

He smiles at Isaac and Lola and pulls a piece of candy from who knows where, offering it to the shy girl.

Oh yeah, I'm about to be tortured for my information, and Lola's being bribed to let it happen. Oh, joy.