A lost journal of Amelia Peabody has been miraculoursly recovered: a chronicle from one of the "mising years" 1907-1908 shedding light on an already exceptional career and an unexpected terror. Ousted from their most recent archaeologial dig and banned forever from the Valley of the Kings, the Emersons are spending a quiet summer ar home in kent, England, when a mysterious messenger arrives. Claiming to be the teenage brother of their dear friend Tarek, he brings troubling news of astronge malady that has struck down Tarek's heir and conveys his brother's urgent need for help only the Emersons can provide. the family sets off in secret for the mountain fortress from which they narrowly escaped ten yhears before. The Emereson are unaware that deception and treachery are leading them onward into a next of vipers where a dreadful fate may await. For young Ramses, forces to keep his growing love for the beautiful Nefret secret, temptation along the way may prove his ultimate undoing. And a dark past and grim obligation has ensnared Nefret once again, as she is helpless tosae those she loves most from the prison of the Lost Oasis.