In this sequel to Ink, Iron, and Glass, which the Kirkus starred review called “exciting and original,” Elsa continues her journey to save her mother and save the world. 

Elsa is a prodigy in the art of scriptology, a branch of science that creates new worlds by writing them in specially crafted "worldbooks." She and her band of fellow geniuses must locate one such book—a particularly powerful one that lays out the rules and functions for our world. In the wrong hands, the history of Earth could be rewritten and whole continents erased. It could undo our very existence. 

In a race to retrieve the book, Elsa will have to become a double agent. Disavowing the order of geniuses who once protected her, she’ll become a spy to get closer to the very villain who wants the book for his own nefarious purposes. But espionage proves tricky as the Italy she knows changes out from under her. Mount Vesuvius erupts. The Venetian canals are choked with mythic sea monsters. And worse, the boy Elsa loves believes that she has betrayed him.