Mongke is called back from the Timeless Realm as Archaeologist Doctor Dillwyn Llewellyn is about to discover an antient trunk in a cave in the Welsh hills near the dig on which she is working. Inside are scrolls and journals that, when translated turn out to be written by the hero of book 2 - Cataclysm. Josias, Grandson of Basilikos, of the family of Balthazar, the clan of Madjid, also known as Josias Basilikos Titus Vespasianus. The first translations tell of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in the year 79 A.D. and of the events that follow.
Upon the death of her mother Dillwyn returns to Indiana and discovers the Ruby Heart hidden in a secret bottom of a trunk in the attic of her family home. As she holds the ruby up to the light, she sees visions and hears a woman's voice repeating the word "Vesuvius".
Remembering that a ruby heart was mentioned in the documents she had found in Wales, she decides to go to Naples, the closest large city near Mount Vesuvius.
But before she can do that, she hears on the news that Interpol has issued a Red Notice for her arrest and deportation back to England for the theft of a precious artifact - the trunk!
Little does she know the adventure on which she is about to embark - or the dangers she must face! Or who she will meet and from which other realm they might be.
What other discoveries will Dillwyn make?
To what countries must she go to find the answers?