His roommate was still gone when he returned, so fished out the book he’d been given. It was a heavy, musty smelling manuscript, looking more like a Shakespearean prop than his newest study assignment. He examined its outside for a while, but felt reluctant to open those faded pages. Finally he steeled himself.

"Like I can back out now," he said, flipping it open.

The book opened to the last page of the contract. There it still was, his signature written shakily at the bottom of the page; yet something seemed wrong. He looked a second time and stopped.

"What on earth?"

When he signed it, the contract had been in English, a little archaic looking, but still English, he was sure of it. Yet now the only thing legible amidst the flowing script was his signature. Blinking, he looked again, sure enough nothing on that page was in English or even in the alphabet. Flipping back to the beginning, he found the previous pages were filled with more of the same indecipherable script. What was going on?

He flipped forward, hoping to find something that he could read, something that might give him some clue as to how he was supposed to read this.

"Maybe it's made to only be read once?" he muttered as he once again found the end of the contract. No, the next several pages were in the same gibberish. "How am I supposed to figure this out?" he demanded to the empty room.

He tried everything he could think of that night: using a mirror, holding the pages one by one up to the lamp, turning off the lights, shaking it, talking to it, finally he gave up. Throwing himself onto his bed where he lay, frustrated, till finally passing out.

###

The next day he was busy with classes and the homework he'd put off the night before, heartily regretting spending so much time on that stupid book. Still, his thoughts kept wandering back to it. What was Connolly playing? If there was some trick to it, why hadn't he just told him? Was this some sort of a test, or was it some sort of mean joke? Was Connolly laughing at that stupid kid who was trying to read a book of gibberish?

"That doesn't look like math," said a girl sitting next to him in his college algebra class. He started from his thoughts, looking at his notes. He'd covered half the page with sketches of the book and the funny writing.

"Er, it's nothing, just something for an art class."

"Yeah, which one? I'm going into illustration."

"Uh, just the basic course, nothing fancy." He didn't know what else to say, he wasn't in an art class, why'd he say something stupid like that?

"Oh, so who's your teacher," she pressed.

Why wasn't she dropping it?

He was rescued from answering by the teacher, "Miss Abram, Mr Grant, while you are free to come or go as you wish, would you please refrain from talking during my class."

They both apologized. Levi was embarrassed by being called out but was grateful for the interruption. He really was bad at lying.

Even though she didn't say anything else, Levi felt the girl’s eyes on him the rest of that class, at least he thought he did. He focused intently on the board so that he wouldn't risk making eye contact again.

After class, he bolted, leaving his classmate looking surprised. He knew it looked weird, but he’d gotten so worked up thinking how to talk to her that he freaked out and, well, ran away. His face glowed with shame as he wound his way through the crush of people, hoping he didn’t end up near her next class.

###

That evening Levi settled in to the new place Connolly had found.

He felt bad switching apartments so suddenly, although he really didn't know his roommates. He just didn’t want them to think he’d left cause of them. Connolly was right though, he'd never get to study if he had to wait till he was alone before even pulling the book out. Not that he'd had much choice in the matter. He'd been met by his landlord at his door, where he was informed that Connolly had paid off his current contract… and had already had his stuff moved to the new place.

He stood in front of the big colonial, out of place amid the surrounding buildings, wondering what else was in store for him. I guess I'd better check it out, he thought, at least to get my stuff back. He had to admit, it was closer to the school. The landlady was old and hard of hearing, but she was sharp enough with the rules.

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"No partying, no loud music, no smoking, or pot, or crack, or anything like it, you get the cops called, you get kicked out, got it?"

"Yes ma'am"

"Good, here's the key. It’s the place in the back"

That was the extent of the orientation. It was a single bedroom unit above the garage, dirty white and lonely looking. Still, it was heated and much bigger than his old place, and private. His stuff was all there -not like he had that much to begin with- but it was all arranged just like it had been in his dorm.

"Well, I guess this is home now," he said to himself as he tossed his backpack on the couch.

###

He told his mom about the move and, like always, she freaked out.

“What happened? Did you get kicked out of the other one? Is everything okay?”

“Mom, I’m fine, there was a problem with the apartment, so they moved me to a different unit, that’s it. It’s closer to school and I get my own room too, so it turned out good.”

“Bigger? Can you afford it? I know things are expensive out there. Do you need money?”

“No Mom, it’s actually cheaper, and nothing’s wrong with it, I just lucked out. Don’t worry. I told you, I’m fine.”

She kept him on the phone till she was certain he wasn’t homeless or in a bad neighborhood, or, whatever. In the end, he was happy to get back to the quiet of the empty apartment. She must have been having a hard time.

###

That night Levi tried again to figure out the book, and again he was stumped. "I don't get it," he said, dropping the book down on his desk as he slumped in his chair. "Why can't I figure you out?"

He'd been at it for over an hour this time, and was no closer to figuring it out than before. He discovered he could only open the first thirty pages or so, while the rest were stuck together tightly. He tried to open them, hoping to find an answer there, but that was as futile as reading the strange script.

"Think," he told himself, "there must have been something Connolly said that I missed. No way he would put me through all that to just mess with me, would he?"

He'd thought about going to Connolly's office for help, but was worried Connolly might be disappointed with him, or even worse, he might decide Levi wasn't worth it after all and take the book back. What was that bit Connoly'd said about seeing something in him? As nice as it made him feel at the time, Levi wasn’t sure he’d not gotten him confused with someone else. No, he couldn’t go to Connolly, he needed to figure this out on his own.

It took him longer than he would like to admit to remember what Connolly had said about having everything that he needed. It took him a while, but finally it came to him; there was something he hadn’t tried. The stone that Hal had given him, the one Connolly called an adder stone.

He took it out to examine: it was a polished bit of uneven grey stone about the size of a half dollar, flattened like a disc, or more like a ring actually, since the center portion was hollowed out, leaving an opening the size of a quarter. He'd looped it onto a bit of string around his neck and had worn it everywhere. He’d hoped somehow it would keep him safe from any more monster attacks.

Excited, he fished it from his shirt, holding it in his palm as he opened the book again. Nothing. That's right, he thought, I've got to look through it. He placed the stone on the book to see what would happen.

Here is what he saw through the center of the stone:

and myt

nd you will ha

ous rift

Throwing his fists in the air he let out a triumphant whoop, he'd figured it out. Picking up the stone he brought it to his eye and again examined the book. It read as follows:

The Book of Exiles,

Written to provide a defense against the strange, deadly, and unexplainable

It is only natural that legend and myth have an origin in truth, for you who read this, this will likely have become evident and you will have already become aware of a portion of the true reality of this world. There is a tenuous rift between the primordial world and our current home. While this gap has, till recent times, prevented those from this plane to pass across, it has happened, from time to time, that the fantastic and magical will slip through by happenstance or design to trouble those who are defenseless against such dangers.

Should you unlock the mysteries contained within these pages, you will be armed with wisdom of those before you, wisdom chronicled to provide the reader with the wherewithal to combat the worst of these intruders, while handling encounters with the less violent or malicious visitors appropriately.

In your studies, avail yourself of your teacher, and all the wisdom to be offered as you proceed from challenge to challenge, that you may truly know what it is to be a hunter.

Levi sat back after reading those lines, unsure as to exactly what they meant.

“Basically it’s saying there are monsters and this book teaches me how to deal with them.” He said to the ceiling. At least that is what he hoped it meant.

He wasn't sure what it meant about a teacher, but that probably meant Professor Connolly, and he certainly figured he'd have a lot to ask him the next time they met.

Figuring out the book was simple enough but, he thought darkly, it sure would have been simpler for Connolly to have just told him the secret. His exultation at solving the riddle however did not allow for bitter thoughts for long. He had learned the first secret of the book and could now begin his training.

He read through the thirty pages twice over before his enthusiasm began to lag. It was a brief history, unlike any he’d ever read. There were, as Hal had said, two worlds: theirs and the original. The world they lived in now had split from the original at some time in the distant past because of a massive war. Turns out humans were on the losing end.

Since the split, a rift divided the worlds but the rift was imperfect. Gaps and thin spots riddled it and all manner of beings would slip across from time to time. That was the purpose of the hunters; to protect earth from the unknown, and unwanted monsters of this original world.

In the past, there’d been those from the other side who’d helped protect the border but, for some reason not mentioned, that had changed in the past century. And with that change there was an influx of the strange and deadly.

It was an interesting read, answering some of the questions that plagued Levi, while bringing up far more.

Tired as he was, he read over the pages twice more, in hopes he might have missed something. The last time through, he barely made it past the cover page before his head dropped to his chest, the book slipping from his fingers to tumble beside him on the bed.