Ethan Stanwood may have prevailed over dangerous foes before, but his troubles are just beginning... Ethan arrives in Rome, but his enemies have followed him there, Professor Colbourne being first among them. Colbourne is still intent on getting the prototype that Ethan has been tasked with protecting and returning to his father. But his father's actions and secrets catch up to Ethan, causing chaos and danger wherever he goes. It is not only Ethan's father whose life has been shrouded in secrecy, but his deceased mother as well. A friend of his mother's family has returned to help Ethan, presumably at the behest of the Order of the Crystal Star. He says his intentions are pure, but his actions may just prove otherwise, with terrible consequences. And in the shadows, Aloysius Hardwick, who seeks to turn Ethan to the darkness, discovers that he is not the only one of his kind with those intentions. To protect his claim on the Stanwood family, Hardwick will go to any lengths, and kill anyone necessary, to keep Ethan in his eventual control.