Nora Kane, daughter of a Latin Professor and herself a Latin scholar, enrols in Chapman Prep the September she turns 15. It isn t that she likes Latin but after her older brother Andy kills himself and his girlfriend in a car crash, it s the one constant that spans the two eras, BDB (Before Dead Brother) and ADB (After Dead Brother), the one brief moment three times each week when her grieving, withdrawn father becomes visible as they pore over declensions, translations and tricky indicatives. With her family struggling to cope with their grief, salvation comes in the form of a Latin Scholarship to the local college. But when she s asked to participate in the translation of an ancient manuscript with fellow undergraduates, Chris and Max, she couldn t have known of the dangerous secret it holds, a secret that some would do anything to protect, while others would do anything to steal for themselves, including murder. To save her own skin, to rescue the boy she loves and to find the truth even if it destroys her, Nora follows a trail of blood and mystery to Prague, where the past collides with the present and treacherous 16th century secrets finally come to light.