She was standing in the Siq, the narrow canyon leading to Petra. The real one. The air smelled of dust and ancient rain. And standing before her, blocking the path, was a figure made of carved rock and shadow—the GhostWriter .

Maya took a breath. She thought about the article she had half-read. "The Nabateans carved into the canyon... because it was defensible. And because the rock itself was soft enough to shape but hard enough to last."

"Good. You opened the lock yourself."

But her textbook was open to page 47. And in the margin, in her own handwriting, she had written a note she didn't remember making: