* * * walking down to the water 's edge , i tried to picture myself the way my new friends saw me , or wanted to : not as jacob , the kid who once broke his ankle running after an ice cream truck , or who reluctantly and at the behest of his dad tried and failed three times to get onto his school 's noncompetitive track team , but as jacob , inspector of shadows , miraculous interpreter of squirmy gut feelings , seer and slayer of real and actual monsters-and all that might stand between life and death for our merry band of peculiars .