Slowly Jonathan moves the hand lens over the book cover. We look closely, trying to get any minimum detail from it. "Why are these lines so.. huge? It's so confusing." He mutters.

"Maybe you should distance the hand lens a little from the book, just saying." I answer, as if it was obvious.

He gives me an astonishing gaze, "you're something else."

I smile pridely, before moving my attention back the book. As he distances the hand lens, the white lines start to get shape, and some letters are formed from them.

"N.. O.. C.." I read out loud the letters formed on the cover.

Jonathan keeps moving the hand lens up and down, right and left, but nothing else seems to be written. "N.O.C?" He asks, bewildered.

I take the hand lens from his hand, and he doesn't seem to bother. I distance it a little more, in order to get a better view of the whole cover, but no other words are on it except those three. Is this the title of the book? N.O.C.?

I sigh, frustrated. "What do they mean?" I ask myself, knowing perfectly that Jonathan has as no clue as I do.

"I reckons we should open it and read some pages. If we stare at the letters, we won't figure nothing out." He affirms.

"Mmh, you're something else." I repeat his words, making him giggle.

He opens the book, and the first white empty page shows up, but as soon as I position the hand lens on it, thousand of black minuscule words appear on it. I start from the bottom, careful to get every single word.

"F.A? Why everything is a dilemma in this book?! Ugh." He claims, frustrated.

"Don't deconcentrate yourself," I mutter, "look down here. It says first accomplishment, so that's the meaning of it." I comfort him, but not for much.

He seems more confused and beaten than before. "It doesn't have any sense, anyway."

I decide to ignore him, giving my whole attention to the page. As I start reading the following lines, my mind starts to figure out all the possible meanings behind them.

F.A.

(first accomplishment)

• Control over all World Wide Banks:

J.P. Morgan Chase.
Bank of America.
Wells Fargo.
Citibank.
U.S. Bank.
PNC.
Capital One.
TD Bank.
Bank of New York Mellon.
State Street.
IDCBY.
JPM.
JPHLF.
CICHY.
WFC.

And other three columns filled with strange Banks names that I've never heard of. I scroll my eyes on the next page.

S.A.

(Second accomplishment)

• Control over World Wide Politics:

America: base in Washington D.C.

Europe: base in Buckinghamshire - Italy, Rome.

Asia: base in Hong Kong.

Africa: base in Cairo.

Wait, aren't we in Buckinghamshire? And does this mean that they have more settlements around the World?

"Avelyn, you should read down here." Jonathan's voice distracts me from my thoughts.

He indicates with his finger the end of the page. It seems to be a signature. I focus my eyes on it, trying to get a word, but all I detect are scribbled letters.

"T.. A.. no, it looks more like an H." He mutters.

"And that's an.. E." I finish.

"THE?" He asks, bewildered.

I look more carefully, and at the bottom of each word there's a sign. "Actually, I think it's T.H.E." I correct him, indicating him the signs similar to points.

"Yeah. Well, it doesn't change that much," he affirms, still with his head burried on the book. I'm about to rebut, but he adds, "wait, there's something else."

He moves away, giving me enough space to see. As I pose my eyes closer to the signature, again, I detect some more letters written so swiftly that are unreadable. However, my detective eyes seem to get something quite interesting.

"J.. K.. G..?" I say, confused.

"No, I think it's.." he stops, focusing his eyes on it, "that's not a G, but an.. R? What does that even me-?"

I stop his talk with a firm sign of my hand. The sound of something outside the door captures my attention. I indicate him the door, and he seems confused for a few seconds, before widening his eyes.

We stand petrified, with our ears strained for any sound and with our eyes pointed at the door. My heart starts to hit faster and faster, with fear flooding my whole body.

"Are you su-?" He gets interrupted by another sound, and this time I know I'm not the only one who has heard it.

I move my head towards him, and he seems to be more terrified than me. "What was that?" He whispers, trembling.

"I have no idea. But it seems like someone's.. heavy breaths." I affirm, quietly. "Does someone lives in this floor, too?" I ask, suspiciously.

"No, I'm the only one." He answers, but his expression changes from puzzlement to fear in a few seconds.

"What?" I ask, urgently wanting to know the reason of his sudden reaction.

"Maybe I shouldn't talk to you about.. but.." he starts stuttering, " there's someone on the sixth floor, and.."

"Yes, I know there is. So what?" I say, indifferent.

His eyes widen at my affirmation, "You KNOW? How the-"

"Oh, it's a long story." I turn my head on the opposite direction. Just remembering that day, my body shivers, and, besides, I shouldn't tell him that I followed him.

"So? Please, talk faster." I order him.

"Okay. I think it may have been him." He affirms, still trembling.

"Why would you think it's him?" I ask, more curious than frightened.

He looks at my eyes deeply. Why does he seem so scared?

"Because, besides me, he is the only one living up here."

I move my eyes to the ground, more confused than before. "Who is he? I mean, why is everybody so scared about him?"

"He's.." he stops again, "I don't know. All I know is that I'm his consignor and that he frightens me every single time I see him."

Oh, well, what a reasonable explanation.

We get silent as soon as we hear some heavy steps moving away from the door, careless of being heard. Now, we are one hundred percent sure that someone has been spying us, and maybe even eavesdropping our secret conversation about prohibited secrets.