She came to study a dead language. She discovered she was the keeper of an ancient destiny.
Anna Volkova, a brilliant young linguist from Saint Petersburg, travels to Mexico to continue the legendary work of Yuri Knorozov - the Soviet genius who deciphered the Maya script during the siege of Leningrad. She expects dusty archives and quiet libraries. She expects to study a lost civilization.
Instead, she finds a world where the past is never truly past.
A chance encounter in a rain-soaked airport. A driver named Carlos, who knows more than he reveals. A stone that burns in her hand - and awakens visions of a life she never lived.
Anna discovers she is the reincarnation of a Maya priestess who scattered the fragments of a sacred codex five hundred years ago. Now, the ancient god of fear, K'awiil, is rising - and only Anna can stop him.
With Carlos as her reluctant protector and a mysterious black cat that may be the spirit of the jaguar itself, Anna must race across the Yucatán Peninsula to collect the six fragments before they fall into the hands of a dying man who will use them to reshape the world.
But the greatest battle is not against the god. It is against the fear within her own heart.
