Look around you. What do you see? If you're inside, you might see walls, carpeting, furniture. If you're outside, you might see grass, buildings, sky. But the world is a lot more complicated than it seems.

What do I mean? Here's an example: people. Most are just, well, people, but certain others are special. I'm one of those others. That person next to you could be too, and you'd never know.

What makes us so special? The Books.

I'm not talking about the books you read for fun or for school or, in fact, anything you could buy in a store or find in a library. No, the books I mean are so important, they deserve a capital letter. They are called Books.

You see, everything around you—everything in the entire universe—has rules. Laws. And the Books contain the laws. Explain them. Control them. In ways that even I don't fully understand, the Books make sure the universe doesn't fall apart.

Those of us who know about the Books call ourselves the Union. We are the ones who, through the Books, keep the universe running smoothly (aside from occasional glitches like psychic visions or the way pens sometimes vanish when you're not looking).

Everyone else who's not in the Union is an Outsider—they don't know about the Books or understand how the universe works. Even Outsider scientists making discoveries, inventing things, and trying to explain why the sky is blue, how birds fly or why chocolate tastes so good know only a small part of the truth.

The Union has always been somewhere behind the scenes, secretly watching over the Outsiders throughout history as they progress and evolve. Many pose as instructors—often professors or teachers—to better keep an eye on the Outsiders.

Nobody, not even those of us in the Union, knows where the Books come from or what they really are. Several of us, and I'm one of them, are convinced that the Books are living, thinking beings that actually had a hand, so to speak, in creating the universe. We believe the Books are to be respected, cared for, and even propped up in front of the television when there's a good show on.

Everyone in the Union agrees that the Books must be kept secret: with all the power they contain, the Books have the potential to be the most dangerous things in existence.

Why am I telling you all this? Because of my job—I'm a Narrator. I see what others see, hear what they hear, feel what they feel, and put it all in a Chronicle. But like all Narrators, I'm not allowed to interfere. This particular Chronicle is the story of how a magnificent and potentially devastating Book came into the hands of an eleven-year-old boy named Simon Bloom and how he changed the universe forever.