In this second volume of The Serpent Trilogy, following , the history detectives discover the relationship between serpents and the ancient cultures of the Americas, uncovering the predictable histories of growth and collapse due to the serpents. Sensing imminent danger, Quetzalcoatl and Kulcalcan declare war on the human tribes throughout Aztlan, their ancestral home. Unaware of the ability of the serpents to control the minds of humans, the military plots to exterminate the serpents but soon thousands of modern humans experience the mind altering abilities of the serpents. In a panic to exterminate the serpents, the government releases a biological agent which destroys most of the serpents. Unfortunately, in time the biological agent mutates and exterminates all but the most isolated humans on earth. The Anderson family survives by sealing themselves off from all contact with other humans in Serpiente. Quetzalcoatl and Kulcalcan make a truce with the Anderson family and teach their children how to communicate in the serpent's telepathic hieroglyphic language. Will history repeat itself?