After two years and seven months of waiting, Ophelia, a mirror-traveller and reader, realises that it is time to act. It is time to apply the knowledge she has gained from Farouk's book. Under an assumed name, the heroine travels from her native Ark of Animus to the pearl of the world - the most modern and cosmopolitan Ark of Babel, where the wisdom of many generations, from the beginning of time, is stored. It is there that a special secret awaits the girl, which hides the key to the past and the future. Will Ophelia have the intelligence and talent to avoid the traps set by her terrible enemies? Will she ever see Thorne, her fiancé?